Electric Actuator FAQs

Tolomatic's Your Motor Here® program provides hundreds of standard motor mounts for many different manufacturers. For the few motors not available in the Your Motor Here® program, the option to do a custom motor mount is always available. 

Tolomatic recommends that actuators are sized two inches longer than the working stroke. This will allow room for end-of-travel switches and prevent the actuator from bottoming out.

Yes, you can select either U.S. customary or metric as a display unit in the Tolomatic online sizing software.

Select "Load supported by external mechanism", and enter the weight of the load. You will also need to calculate the opposing force using the load weight and the coefficient of friction between the load and the external rails.

Magnetic interference in the environment can cause a switch to activate inconsistently. Over tightening of a reed switch's hardware can also damage the internals of the switch.

Inertia ratio is a comparison between the weight, or inertia, of the load to be moved and the motor. Industry standard is within 0.1 < Inertia Ratio < 10 for servos and 0.9 < Inertia Ratio < 10 for steppers.

Add-on instructions can be provided by any manufacturer that is using EtherNet/IP. A user can download them from that manufacturer's web site in order to enter them into the PLC they are using. AOIs require more mapping by the user for implementation than AOPs. Add-on profiles are selectable right from the PLC and ensures that the drive and the PLC are communicating properly. AOPs are much simpler to use. 

The following is taken from the ODVA.org publication PUB00138R2:

"EtherNet/IP has two types of messaging connections. Implicit and Explicit. Implicit messages are point-to-point relationships that are established to facilitate request-response transactions between two nodes. These connections are general purpose in nature and can be used to reach any network accessible item within a device. Explicit messaging connections utilize TCP/IP services to move messages across Ethernet."

"Implicit (I/O data) connections are established to move application-specific I/O data at regular intervals. These connections are often set up as one-to-many relationships in order to take full advantage of the producer-consumer multicast model. Implicit messaging uses UDP/IP resources to make multicast data transfers over Ethernet a reality."

The ACS Servo and Stepper drive are both capable of operating at 12 VDC. 

It depends on customer choice, the economics of the application, and the sanitation requirements. White paint motors are typically less expensive. But if the actuator/motor is in a food contact zone or over food, that is where the most stringent principles come into play. It also depends on the industry. For instance, the meat and dairy industry has very stringent guidelines with sanitation and contamination, so they typically specify stainless steel components.

Static means the actuator is not in motion. The product is meant to be washed down when the equipment is stopped.  It is not rated for wash down while in motion.

Yes it will use the same Tolomatic Motion Interface (TMI) software with additional features specific to servo drives. The interface will have minimal differences.

The RSA can accommodate other third party motors. So if there is a particular motor manufacture specified, the RSA is a great fit. Also if you have several types actuators in a system where size constraints are not an issue, the RSA is a good choice. The IMA is a compact, power-dense product with a servo motor directly driving the actuator. Use it in applications that require high performance and have size/weight restraints. 

The ERD electric cylinder product line is built with stainless steel components with forces up to 7800 lbf. For higher forces, the RSA electric actuator can be modified with a stainless steel thrust rod with a body construction of anodized aluminum. Custom products are also an option.