Where recirculating linear guides use balls to support the load, crossed roller slides use rollers. The rollers ride in v-shaped grooves between two parallel guides, and are arranged in a crisscross pattern – each roller is turned at a 90 degree angle relative to the one next to it. Hence, the term “crossed” roller slide. The rollers are held by a metal or resin cage, similar to the caged ball, or “ball chain,” design now found in recirculating linear guides.