Ball Screw Vs Lead Screw: How To Choose?

Ball Screws and lead screws are not interchangeable in many cases considering accuracy,stiffness and load capacity.There are some differences between the application of ball screw and lead screws.

In some cases,life testing needs to be performed during the design phase,it can help you save project cost.Ball screws can run continuously,withstand much higher loads,and can be more fast.

The main difference between a ball screw and a lead screw is how the load is carried between moving surfaces.Ball screws use recirculating ball bearings to minimize friction and improve efficiency,while lead screw nuts rotate between sliding surfaces.Therefore,lead screws cann't achieve the same efficiency as ball screws(about 90%). 

Although ball screws have a variety of advantages(load,stiffness,efficiency,duty cycle,predictability),they are costly.The ball screw nut design is more complex,requiring hardened precision bearing surfaces and a ball circulation device. 

Ball screws are widely used for medical equipment,implantable pump,micro robot,miniature lens actuator,optics & photonics,pick & place,laboratory equipment,fin actuator,guidance system etc.

While,lead screw nuts is very compact,the design is very flexible,the noise is very small under the condition of proper operation,and the corrosion resistance is good.The self-locking function can be configured to meet the vertical application requirements.They play an important role in many application areas,such as pharmaceutical machinery,packaging machinery,slide drives,metric valve stems,medical device drives,farm machinery,screw press drives.

To Briefly Recap

When you Choose Ball Screws,key factors are:

1.High loads with high speeds

2.Constant Cycling

3.High precision high efficency

When you Choose Lead Screws,key factors are :

1.Low cost requirements

2.Transmission purpose 

3.Applications where lubrication is a detriment