Solutions in Motion™

At W.C. Branham, we take great pride in the quality of our products, which are built to last. Nonetheless, wear and tear is inevitable. Pneumatic cylinders used in industrial applications or in heavy machinery, for instance, often face extremely demanding working conditions. They are constantly moving, often fast and under tremendous force.

Most Common Pneumatic Cylinder Issues

Problems can vary according to the type of pneumatic cylinder and application, but there are some common signs you may see that indicate the need for air cylinder repair:

You know that linear actuators move loads in a straight line, forward and/or backward. You know they can be powered by hydraulic fluid, compressed air, or electricity. Each type of actuator has its own pros and cons. So, when should you use electric linear actuators? They are not appropriate for every application, but they can be quite versatile. Here are some examples.

Nobody loves a good challenge more than our design and engineering team at W.C. Branham. We get many opportunities to exercise our creativity because almost 40% of the work we do involves some amount of custom design. It might be a small tweak to a standard product, or it might be something entirely new, designed from scratch.

Ever since Elon Musk announced the first Hyperloop Pod Competition back in 2015, it's been clear that the goal of the endeavor was much more about discovering new ways of doing things than actually winning the competition itself. After all, Musk's end goal is to revolutionize transportation with a high-speed underground tunnel. And now that Hyperloop IV is complete, the idea that learning is more important than winning one of his races is clearer than ever. 

Magnetic couplers convey force without any actual physical contact. Because magnetic forces attract and repel, they can perform this action in a linear or rotary fashion. But how does magnetic coupling work, and why is it so useful? 

The Magic of Magnets

Magnetic coupled cylinders have a carrier that moves from end to end in both directions on a tube.

End caps with pneumatic fittings allow the user to shuttle the carrier from one position to another using air as power in conjunction with a pneumatic control box. It could shuttle a few inches on an industrial machine or move 10 feet on a car wash door (like the DoorTec pictured here on a car wash door).

When Bob Vogler moved to River Falls, Wisconsin back in 2006, he'd never even heard of W.C. Branham. But less than two weeks later, he was already working here, and now he can't really envision leaving. It's an unlikely story that dates all the way back to a "help wanted" ad we posted 13 years ago.

When you’re trying to decide which type of brake is best for your particular application (such as mechanical, pneumatic, or hydraulic brakes), it’s important to understand both the reasons for braking and the differences in the types of caliper disc brakes available for industrial equipment and on- and off-road braking applications.

If you need power, there’s nothing like a hydraulic cylinder to deliver a big punch. It’s the workhorse of the industrial world for the heaviest lifters and movers, including bulldozers and dump trucks. Hydraulic cylinders are commonly used in mobile applications. Hydraulic cylinder bore sizes can range from a few inches to several feet in diameter.

Pneumatic linear actuators offer numerous advantages across a wide variety of applications. However, they must be spec’d properly. Otherwise, the result could be less-than-desired productivity and greater-than-expected problems, downtime, and costs. There are several factors that affect sizing.

There are always numerous factors that go into choosing the right linear actuator for an application. One consideration that is often overlooked is moment loading. Moment load comes into play when the cylinder is located some distance away from the actual load that it's lifting. That distance may be very short, but you have to account for it along with the weight of the load in order to spec the proper cylinder.