Bearing Versus Flexures Which is Best? It Depends on the Laser Galvanometer Application
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Hudson NH — Nutfield Technology, (www.nutfieldtech.com), the leader in mirror galvanometer scanner manufacturing, offers laser galvanometer scanners that use bearings. They also offer laser galvanometer scanners that use flexures. Both methods are used to allow the galvanometer mirror to rotate on its axis.
Most galvo laser scanners have ball bearings. Nutfield QS scanners with Optical Position Detectors use extremely high quality ceramic ball bearings for superior performance. Even so, under certain applications, ball bearings may be inadequate, due to wear, the use of lubrication and slower operation. When this is the case, laser galvo scanners with a flexure mount are preferable. With a flexure mount, the mirror rotor is mounted in spring steel flexures which have infinite life and offer smoother scanning which can be critical in areas of microscopy or raster imaging.Â
Flexure mounts are ideal for applications requiring faster raster, heavy duty-cycles or small scan angle. The reason flexure mounts should be limited to small angle use is because additional electrical current is required to move the rotor away from center. If the rotor remains off center for longer times, heat can build up in the galvo.
For more information about the laser galvanometer scanners or any of Nutfield Technology’s line of highly precise laser scan heads, please visit www.nutfieldtech.com.
About Nutfield Technology
Nutfield Technology has been designing and manufacturing advanced galvanometer based optical scanners, scan heads, laser scan kits, and scan control software and hardware since 1997. As the one-stop solution for laser scanning, Nutfield Technology has a full product line ideally suited for most laser scanning applications. Nutfield Technology is located in Hudson, New Hampshire, 30 miles north of Boston with representation in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For more information please visit us at: http://www.nutfieldtech.com.
