Engineering & mechanics
Lead screw motion & torque
Relate screw lead, rotational speed, axial force and efficiency.
A clear answer. Here’s how.
Linear speed=lead×RPM; lead is axial travel per revolution, not necessarily thread pitch on a multistart screw. Input torque=force×lead/(2πη), using your efficiency. Input mechanical power follows force×linear speed/η. Excludes acceleration, bearing drag outside the supplied efficiency, self-locking, buckling and load ratings.
See a worked example
Worked example
A fixed demonstration, separate from the values you enter above.
- Lead per revolution (mm)
- 5
- Rotational speed (RPM)
- 600
- Axial force magnitude (N)
- 1000
- Supplied mechanical efficiency (%)
- 85
Example result
- Linear travel (mm/s)
- 50
- Linear travel (mm/min)
- 3,000
- Input torque estimate (N·m)
- 0.936205547599
- Input mechanical power (W)
- 58.8235294118