What is the most common reason carriages bind?

There are many reasons for this but the key ones are: over tightening issues with the parallelism of rails ( when more than one rail is in use) if the carriages require lubrication, then a lack of lubrication can cause this if the carriage or rail is damaged.

How to adjust drylin® T linear rail clearance

Why is adjustment important?

There are numerous reasons why linear systems might need adjustment and ensuring that the adjustment is done correctly is important.

Proper adjustment helps:

reduce play
reduce vibration
Clearance adjustment
improve positioning accuracy
prevent binding and stick-slip
running surface optimised
increase service life

What are the main reasons for adjustments?

Carriages binding
Stick-slip
Excessive preload
Increase or decrease friction

Step by step instructions and images of how to make an adjustment of the drylin T carriages

Step 1-

After removing the protective caps, loosen the lock nuts. Width across flats:
SW 5 for TW-01-15 and TW-01-20
SW 7 for TW-01-25 and TW-01-30

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Hands adjust an igus DryLin T linear guide carriage with a wrench and screwdriver.

Step 2-

Use an Allen key to adjust the bearing clearance for the 3 guide points. Spanner width:
1.5 mm for TW-01-15 and TW-01-20
2.0 mm for TW-01-25 and TW-01-30

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Hand adjusts an igus drylin T linear guide carriage with an Allen key.

Step 3-

After adjusting, check the clearance of the guide carriages. If it is sufficient, tighten the lock nuts and fit the protective caps.

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Hand positioning a DryLin T linear carriage on a rail.

Step 4-

If the clearance has been adjusted too tightly so that the guide carriage is jammed, it is not sufficient to simply reset the Allen screws.
After screwing them back in, also press the reset button on the side opposite the screws to release the sliding elements again. Use a pin of the following size for this:
2.5 mm for TW-01-20 and TW-01-15
3.0 mm for TW-01-25 and TW-01-30

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drylin T linear guide carriage on a rail.

Frequently asked questions

Overtightening is one of the most common causes of failures when it comes to linear carriage adjustment. Removing all "play" in a carriage means potentially excessive friction, sticking or binding; preventing smooth operation and premature failure.

One can help the other. A pre-loaded carriage helps internalise the tension by removing any clearance, it effectively helps reduce the backlash. A carriage with that is suffering from backlash means there is play or clearance when not needed.

There are many reasons for this but the key ones are:

over tightening
issues with the parallelism of rails ( when more than one rail is in use)
if the carriages require lubrication, then a lack of lubrication can cause this
if the carriage or rail is damaged.

Not all carriages can be adjusted. Some don't need to be. We have a wide range of both options

Back to the linear information overview page

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