The Excitron ZL24-MRT24 Motorized Rotary Table with Z-Lift combines precise 24-inch vertical travel and full 360o table rotation and can be programmed with extreme accuracy to user-defined positions, directions and speeds to perform various automation functions.

New motorized rotary lift workstation ideal for automated assembly, marking, quality inspection and more

Excitron has successfully designed and built motorized products and stepper motor-based sub-assemblies for various government agencies such as NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Defense. Customers also include a host of OEM manufacturers, including Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin, Samsonite, and Rolls-Royce Norway.

Sourcing Components A Perennial Challenge

Excitron’s mechanized product line is quite diverse. Among its popular motion control devices are the company’s XY, XZ and XYZ robots, rotary tables, and Z-Lifts for inclusion in factory automation machinery and systems. The firm also designs stepper motor-based devices for specialized applications, such as precision laser cutting and forming machines, automated pill sorters, motorized digital camera lens controls and gearboxes/encoders used for taking pictures of the earth. 

Excitron builds many of its products around motor sizes that range from miniscule (10 mm in diameter and weighing one ounce) to large scale (NEMA 42, 110 mm in diameter and weighing 28 lbs), with the broadest selection of size and torque to fit virtually all applications. In most projects, controllers can be integrated with the motor, which offers users a highly desirable combination of compact size and rich automation features.

In designing custom machines, company engineers utilize Autodesk Inventor for all metalworking, assembly documentation, product documentation and printed circuit board design. They also provides custom software and firmware to meet customer specifications.  All manufacturing is performed at Excitron’s Boulder, Colorado plant.

According to Vern Bunch, Excitron CEO and chief engineer: “Because of our product diversity, one of our biggest challenges has always been having fast, reliable access to the precision-made mechanical components we need to produce robust mechanized systems, which are the heart of our business – as well as to create rugged, precision-built equipment frames and housings. It was not unusual for us to spend hours conducting worldwide searches for reliable vendors who could make and deliver the hundreds of parts we needed to fulfill customer orders.”

A few years ago, Excitron discovered Misumi, a global supplier of precision-made fixed and configurable mechanical components for factory automation. “Finding Misumi changed the way we source parts,” says Bunch.

“Once we realized we had tens of thousands of Misumi configurable components to choose from − with specifications readily accessible, as well as competitive pricing and quick delivery − our design and production workflow became faster and more productive.” 

Designing The Rotary Lift Table

One recent new product design project illustrates how changing its sourcing strategy has helped to create value for Excitron and its design engineering team, as well as its customers.  

The product is the recently launched Excitron ZL24-MRT24 Motorized Rotary Table with Z-Lift, which is essentially a rugged, yet lightweight, 24-inch vertical lift combined with a motorized rotary table, and a strong platform for mounting devices.

The ZL24-MRT24 is compact in size, highly versatile, and significantly lighter in weight than similar workstations on the market today. “It weighs in at just under 55 lbs versus the 500 to 800 lbs weight of typical lift benches and Z-lifts,” notes Bunch.

“That was by design.  Our goal was to create a unique device with broad appeal across multiple markets and applications, so we could market and sell it as a standard item in our product mix.”

The challenge was sourcing components that would allow the design team to ensure the desired performance specifications were met, while still staying within certain parameters for size and weight. Bunch turned to Misumi for consultation. He says he was “impressed by the engineering knowledge displayed by Misumi’s professional staff, as well as their willingness to help find a solution in specifying components to meet our requirements.”

After evaluating various options, Excitron decided to build the entire framework for the table and lift using Misumi’s high-precision, ultra-rigid aluminum extrusions. These structural aluminum extrusions are dimensionally precise (with variability less than .002 in). They are available in standard and custom lengths, various profiles and a choice of finishes.

Most important, they offer greater load-bearing strength than standard extrusions, while retaining their rigidity and alignment. Misumi also supplies an extensive range of assembly components and accessories for its extrusions including brackets, fitting nuts and fastening screws.

When Excitron had completed the design and parts specifications for the rotary table and lift unit, about 95 percent of the units total parts were supplied by Misumi. 

“This saved time and money for us on the engineering end,” notes Bunch. “In addition, with Misumi’s rapid delivery times − typically days rather than weeks or months − we were able to bring the new product to market faster than anticipated.”  

Product Lift-Off & Launch

In the ZL24-MRT24 Motorized Table with Z-Lift, Excitron has apparently achieved its goal of designing a device with broad market appeal. Since the product launched a few months ago, Bunch has learned that customers are using the lift table as an automated workstation for activities that include laser marking, hot stamping, drilling and machining. Other manufacturers have reported that they employ the unit for measuring, calibrating and quality control inspections.

This project illustrates why Excitron’s engineering team engineers routinely turn to Misumi’s massive component catalog in designing standard and custom products, and why they often deploy Misumi aluminum extrusions for creating equipment enclosures, bases and frames. Bunch and his designers have become adept at using Misumi’s automated CAD Configurator which allows them to configure components online, eliminating the need for detailed engineering drawings. “The CAD Configurator just makes everyone’s job a lot easier,” says Bunch.

Bunch estimates that Excitron has saved tens of thousands of dollars in tooling costs over the past several years by specifying Misumi configurable components, and has also been able to shorten design-to-manufacturing cycle times. 

“Selecting and ordering 90 percent of our mechanical components from a single source rather than multiple vendors saves time and dramatically reduces overall costs. This strategy has helped us increase efficiency and productivity − and has made our products better overall,”  concludes Bunch.

“We could not ask for a better business partner.”