Stages
Here is a list of 13 Stages categories. It encompasses a wide range including rotary tables, motorized stages, pallet stages, piezo stages, etc. You can search for an overview, principle, and usage of each category, as well as find manufacturers and distributors.
Search for Stages by Category
What Are Stages?
In industrial products, stages generally refer to movable tables.
For example, in the case of microscopes, it is difficult to move a magnified object to the point of observation by hand. For this reason, many microscopes can be fine-tuned with a dial to move the object slightly in the X and Y directions or in the Z direction for focusing.
Another example is a processing machine such as a lathe, which moves the workpiece, the workpiece to be cut, closer to the blade and moves it so that it reaches a predetermined depth of cut, which is then in contact with the rotating blade to make the final desired shape.
Some SCARA robots use a movable table to move the first and second axes in the vertical and horizontal directions, while the third and fourth axes are controlled by the vertical direction of the opposing rod and its rotation.
All of the above examples are difficult to achieve with a fixed table, so the table must be movable.
Types of Stages
There are two main types of stages, and they are divided by whether they are automatic or manual.
Automatic tables are powered by motors or other motors and move to a specified position at a specified timing by control software or other means. The manual type uses a feed mechanism to adjust the table position while rotating a handle in each axis.
There are also classifications based on the degree of positioning accuracy and the selection of the degree of freedom from 1 to 6 axes.
Stages Structure
Stages usually consist of a feed mechanism that is guided by a guide rail and achieved by rotating a screw.
When long strokes are required, the screw feed mechanism takes time to move the stage, so some stages have a structure that temporarily disengages the screw feed mechanism and slides a long stroke at a time.
The Ranking of Companies in the Stages Sector
*This ranking is solely among the companies registered with Metoree, sorted by the number of employees. Please use this as a rough guide to understand their scale.
