TOLERANCE RING WITH LOW CONSISTENT INSTALLATION FORCE PROFILE

摘要

A tolerance ring (128) which provides a low consistent installation force profile as a rotatable member, such as a disc drive actuator (110), is installed onto a stationary member, such as a post (126) extending along an axis. The tolerance ring (128) has a substantially cylindrical base portion (156) from which a plurality of spaced apart raised portions (154) radially extend. Each of the raised portions (142) has a contact surface (158) with a substantially elliptical cross-sectional shape in a direction parallel to the axis and a pair of transition portions (160) between the contact surface (158) and the base portion (156). Each transition portion (160) further has a continually radiused cross-sectional shape in a direction parallel to the axis so that, for each raised portion (154), a selected one of the elliptical cross-sectional shapes and the pair of radiused cross-sectional shapes is convex with respect to the axis and the remaining one of the elliptical cross-sectional shapes and the pair of radiused cross-sectional shapes is concave with respect to the axis.