Aerotech ASR1200 Mechanical-Bearing Direct-Drive Rotary Collet Stage

Aerotech’s ASR1200 series is an extension of the successful

ASR1000 direct-drive rotary stage. The ASR1200 adds an

integral pneumatically-operated collet chuck for automated

material handling and a sealed water jacket for wet cutting

processes.

Design Features

• ER16 collet accepts up to 5.8 mm O.D. tubing

• Integral water jacket with scalable O-ring seal for wet

cutting applications

• Clear aperture for product feed-through

• Threaded collet retainer enables rapid tooling changeover

• Low inertia shaft for maximum acceleration

• Direct-drive brushless motor and encoder

• Maintenance-free frictionless rotary union

• High-speed (2000 rpm) and standard-speed (800 rpm) options

Integral Collet Design

The collet chuck on the ASR1200 accepts ER161 series

collets. These collets are readily available in sizes that

support tube diameters from 0.5 mm to 5.8 mm. The collet

is retained with a threaded retaining cap that enables quick

changeover. The collet is configured in a “fail-safe” mode

where full clamping force is applied when no air pressure

is present. Air is delivered to the rotating collet assembly

through a custom-designed frictionless, seal-less rotary

union. This 100% noncontact rotary union design ensures

a lifetime of maintenance-free operation. The combination

collet chuck and rotary union also has significantly less

friction and inertia than external assemblies created from

discrete parts. This reduced inertia improves system

performance by allowing higher peak acceleration and

reducing position error during laser machining operations.

The ASR1200 includes a fluid delivery system and seal

assembly to support wet cutting processes. The rear of the

unit has a quick release fitting for fluid input and an NPT

thread that allows the user to customize the length of the

“water jacket” to match the length of the tube material.

Inside the ASR1200 is an O-ring assembly that seals the

tubing against the I.D. of the ASR1200 shaft. This seal

assembly rotates with the tubing, eliminating troublesome

torsion-induced errors that are present when working with

thin-walled tubing or extremely flexible materials such as

Nitinol.

Direct Drive

The ASR1200 series utilizes direct-drive brushless

motor technology to maximize positioning performance.

Direct-drive technology is optimized for 24/7 production

environments because there are no brushes to replace

and no gear trains or belts to maintain. Direct drive also

provides quicker acceleration and higher top speeds than

gear- or belt-driven mechanisms yielding higher total

overall throughput.

The low maintenance and high throughput characteristics

of the ASR1200 provide a stage that yields the lowest

total cost of ownership while the integral water jacket and

pneumatic collet provide unmatched levels of integration

and ease of use.