# Design your own displacement web guide (live demo of the free Open Web Guide)

> Watch a displacement web guide designed live in the free Open Web Guide, from web path to STEP model, drawings and parts list. Join the waitlist.

**Last updated:** 2026-11-07

**Source:** https://r2r.tech/videos/design-your-own-displacement-web-guide-live-demo-free-open-web-guide

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## What you'll learn

- How a displacement guide works, and why the pivot location and the 90° wrap matter
- A guide designed live in the browser: web path, bearing layout, sensors and clearances
- Load and actuator thrust checks: bearing loads, tension, gravity and orientation
- What you receive: a STEP model, dimensioned PDF drawings and a parts list
- Engineering Q&A from the live audience

## Try the Open Web Guide

We're opening access in waves. Join the waitlist and we'll email you when your access is ready.

[Join the waitlist](https://r2r.tech/open-web-guide/waitlist?utm_source=website&utm_medium=webinar-page&utm_campaign=owg-webinar&utm_content=button)

Questions about your line? Email [experts@r2r.tech](mailto:experts@r2r.tech).

## Chapters

| Time | Chapter |
| ---- | ------- |
| 00:00 | Preview: a design that is ready to manufacture |
| 00:19 | Welcome and agenda |
| 01:35 | What is a displacement guide? |
| 01:56 | Anatomy of a displacement guide |
| 02:59 | How it works: twist in, shift out |
| 04:33 | Displacement vs. steering guides |
| 06:09 | Why the pivot location matters |
| 07:24 | Why a 90° wrap |
| 09:30 | The virtual pivot patent (1978) |
| 10:45 | Correction lag and sensor placement |
| 13:17 | Live demo: the Open Web Guide |
| 15:31 | Bearing layout, loads and actuator thrust |
| 17:50 | The 3D model and the actuator |
| 19:59 | Adding sensors |
| 21:32 | Web path: U vs. inverted U |
| 23:07 | Getting your 3D model |
| 25:39 | What you receive: ZIP and resume link |
| 26:57 | PDF drawings and bill of materials |
| 28:22 | The STEP file |
| 30:15 | Overrides: roller diameter, plates and shafts |
| 31:46 | Size tiers and wide guides |
| 34:10 | Q&A: the virtual pivot point |
| 34:52 | Q&A: how gravity affects the guide |
| 36:57 | Q&A: ordering a guide and choosing actuators |
| 38:40 | Q&A: steering guides and roller deflection |
| 39:48 | Q&A: lighter plates and mounting on OEM frames |
| 42:06 | Access, waitlist and licensing |
| 43:15 | Q&A: end-of-travel limits |
| 44:14 | Q&A: wide webs and bearing count |
| 46:36 | Q&A: guide span and correction range |
| 49:54 | Recording and next steps |
| 50:55 | Poll results and wrap-up |
| 52:03 | Join the waitlist |

## Questions from the live audience

### What is point A?

A is the virtual pivot point: the point the guide rotates about, at mid-width where the entering web meets the entry roller.

### How does gravity affect the guide?

With the base plate down, gravity doesn't come into it. Mounted so the pivot is at the bottom and the guide span rises above it, the guide is unstable: gravity puts a moment on the slides, so the actuator needs enough holding (back-driving) force to keep its position. The tool shows the thrust needed for your orientation. Hanging with the pivot at the top is mechanically stable, but the actuator still needs holding torque to keep the guide away from centre.

### Can we order the guide we designed from Roll-2-Roll?

Yes.

### Which actuator does the design assume?

A hybrid non-captive stepper linear actuator: the rotor turns a nut that drives a lead screw, with no belt, pulley or extra mechanism, so there is no backlash. Guides up to about 500 mm roller face use a NEMA 17 actuator (up to about 350 N thrust); wider guides use a NEMA 23. They are off-the-shelf parts you can buy anywhere, or from Roll-2-Roll. The tool sizes the thrust from friction and the loads.

### Is there a design tool for steering guides?

It is coming. Steering guides are more complex, and we recommend a displacement guide unless a steering guide is really needed.

### Does the model set roller wall thickness or a deflection standard?

No. The default tension is 2 PLI (350 N per metre of roller face) as an example. If you buy the guide from Roll-2-Roll, we do the deflection calculations for your application.

### Large plates get heavy. Can the mass be reduced?

Yes. Only the pivot points and bearing positions matter, so plates can be cut down to bars or square channel, or built from welded steel tube. OEMs can skip the base plate and mount the bearings directly on the machine frame with two crossbars. Optimizing this is part of the paid design option.

### Are end-of-travel switches an option?

Not in the mechanical design, which is kept generic. The Roll-2-Roll controller monitors the actuator stroke and sets limits electronically.

### For a 100 in web at 3 PLI with 6 in correction, should I use six bearings?

The tool doesn't choose the bearing count; it checks whether the bearings and actuator you pick can carry the load. Under Advanced you can add a tension-spike safety factor and a bearing safety factor. The standard igus dry bearings suit most applications; for high-PLI webs use a different bearing (for example THK or Thomson ball bearings) and enter its lower friction coefficient.

### Does the guide span change with web width?

The guide span follows from the correction you need. Rotation is limited to ±5°, so the correction on each side is about the guide span × sin 5°, roughly 0.087 × H (about 52 mm each side for a 600 mm guide span). Stiff materials also need longer entry and exit spans, and the tool warns when a span is too short.

### Where is the total correction shown?

Not in the tool yet. Use guide span × sin 5° on each side; the bearing travel shown in the tool is a lower bound.

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## About Roll-2-Roll Technologies

Roll-2-Roll Technologies designs and manufactures patented fiber-optic web position sensors and advanced web guiding controllers — the precision measurement and control core of modern roll-to-roll manufacturing. Spun out of Oklahoma State University's Web Handling Research Center and trusted by Fortune 500 medical, battery, and nonwovens manufacturers, our patented sensors work without recalibration, with 0.0635 mm resolution and ±0.127 mm repeatability at line speeds up to 760 m/min — typical customer outcomes are 50%+ less downtime and payback under six months. Headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma, our team of PhDs, controls engineers, and industry veterans extends the sensor + controller core into complete web guide systems including stepper-motor-based linear actuators (RLA, BLA, LHS).

- Website: https://r2r.tech
- Phone: +1 (888) 290-3215
- Email: sales@r2r.tech