INDUSTRY FOCUS Medical & pharmaceutical


IN DENTAL TOOL PRODUCTION SPEED AND PRECISION


Stephan Schott, Industry Manager Medical at Rollon, describes how the Nadella AX


needle thrust bearings offer a motion system with speed and precision in machines producing root canal files


I


n medical device manufacturing, precision is not optional - it is fundamental. Whether producing surgical instruments or dental tools,


manufacturers must achieve micrometric accuracy while maintaining high throughput, consistency, and reliability. Increasingly, this is being achieved through advanced automation, where the performance of individual machine components plays a critical role. As production demands intensify, machine builders face a complex challenge: delivering high-speed operation without compromising the integrity of delicate materials. This is particularly evident in applications involving fine metal components, where even minor deviations in motion can affect product quality and performance. Addressing this challenge depends on motion control - an area where component design can directly determine machine performance. Managing high acceleration forces, maintaining repeatability, and ensuring long-term reliability within compact machine designs is essential. Rollon develops high-performance motion components designed to meet these demands, enabling precision-driven automation across sectors such as medical manufacturing. VDW, an endodontic specialist with more than 150 years of experience, collaborated with Rollon to optimise the motion system within its root canal file manufacturing machines. These instruments, while small in size, require a complex manufacturing process to achieve the flexibility, strength, and precision needed to navigate the narrow geometry of root canals.


Root canal files begin as nickel-titanium


wire blanks and undergo multiple stages of processing, including grinding, twisting, heat treatment, and surface finishing. Each stage


30 May 2026 | Automation


must be carefully controlled to ensure consistent quality and performance. To meet these demands, VDW developed a dedicated automated machine capable of producing one finished component every three seconds. This process combines high-speed material removal with exceptional precision, creating a fundamental engineering challenge: applying significant mechanical forces while maintaining the level of control required to avoid damaging delicate components.


Rollon added: “In applications like this, where high-speed machining is combined with micrometric precision, maintaining stable motion under dynamic loads is critical. The bearing plays a key role in ensuring consistent performance throughout the process, even under rapid, repetitive operating conditions. Meeting these requirements is not simply a matter of component selection, but of adapting solutions to the specific demands of the application.”


Speed is a defining factor in this application. The grinding phase in which the bearings operate lasts just one second, requiring components capable of sustaining rapid, repetitive motion without performance degradation. Alongside performance, long-term reliability


The machine must deliver high load capacity and withstand strong acceleration forces, while maintaining compact dimensions and consistent accuracy throughout continuous operation. To address these requirements, VDW integrated Rollon Nadella AX needle thrust bearings (pictured above) into its machine design. Installed in sets of eight to support the movement of the grinding heads, the bearings enable precise motion while withstanding the high dynamic loads generated during the machining process. Stephan Schott, Industry Manager Medical at Rollon said: “The AX needle thrust bearing from the Rollon Nadella range was chosen for its high accuracy. The assembly provides high axial load capacity while occupying minimal space, making it well suited to compact machine architectures.” Adam Hoxey, Technical Sales Engineer at


remains critical – particularly in regulated industries such as medical manufacturing, where consistency and uptime are essential. VDW’s long-standing collaboration with Rollon Nadella, including components used in machines that remain in operation decades later, reflects the importance of trusted supplier partnerships in supporting stable, continuous production. The challenges seen in this application – balancing speed with precision, managing high loads within compact systems, and ensuring durability over time – are not unique to dental manufacturing. They reflect a broader shift across automated production, where increasing performance demands are placing greater emphasis on component-level engineering. As medical manufacturing continues to evolve, driven by new materials and higher performance expectations, motion components are becoming a defining factor in machine capability. Innovation at component level is not simply incremental - it is shaping the next generation of automated manufacturing systems, where precision, speed, and reliability must be achieved simultaneously.


Rollon www.rollon.com/gbr/en/


automationmagazine.co.uk


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