Solutions in Motion™

It's easy to think of cars, trucks, and off-road heavy equipment when you think of caliper disc brakes. When in fact, this versatile type of braking system works well with something as light as a bicycle or as heavy as shipping dock or mining equipment. Other types of “vehicles” such as elevators also use caliper disc brakes.

Caliper disc brakes have the ability to slow, hold, and stop very heavy and/or fast-moving units, and quickly, if necessary. For this reason, they are well-suited to applications that require high torque, high energy stopping and/or tensioning. They absorb the energy generated by the braking process, then dissipate that energy as heat.

In this video, W.C. Branham's Chad Randleman demonstrates how to replace the friction pads on your caliper disc brake.

Pneumatic cylinders are useful in a wide range of industrial applications. A rodless cylinder, in particular, offers special advantages for mechanical design, because it is shorter and entirely enclosed. Rodless cylinders save space without sacrificing performance, they can be mounted in any plane, and they can be grouped to accommodate multi-axis design.

For some industrial applications, gearbox design has to consider more than the functionality of the gears themselves. The gearbox may have to withstand particularly harsh or wet operating conditions. Or it may have to operate in a sterile environment. Or it may have to be lubricated with food grade grease.

Right-angle gearboxes are useful across a broad range of industrial applications. To choose the best gearbox(es) for your design, you’ll need to consider size, capability, mounting, and environmental requirements.

Worm gears can be found in everything from acoustic guitar tuning pegs to heavy machinery. Here at W.C. Branham, we specialize in manufacturing worm gears for industrial applications. Typically, these are applications where space is a concern, such as packaging equipment, small machinery, and conveyors.

Simple gears are used to transfer power from one shaft to another, but when the shafts intersect at odd angles, they don’t intersect at all, or you need to change rotational direction of a shaft, things become complicated. It takes a bevel gear to keep things moving. Bevel gear design is commonly used in many industrial applications as well as in all types of vehicles.

In this video, W.C. Branham’s Chad Randleman demonstrates how to adjust the internal cushion screws on your pneumatic rodless air cylinder. Most cylinders come standard with adjustable internal pneumatic cushions. Cushions can be found at either end of the cylinder and are provided to decelerate the load at end of the stroke and provide a dampening effect.

Once you have decided that pneumatic actuators are the best choice for your industrial automation project, you still have a critical design decision to make: which type? Should you use cable, magnetically coupled, or band type rodless cylinders?

Pneumatic actuators are often the most cost-effective solution when you want to create linear motion. Single-acting or double-acting cylinders can be used to accomplish the task:

In this video, Troy Branham is joined by Tobias Suter, Owner and Managing Director of Lanamatic, as he introduces one of their unique products – a variation of their compact pneumatic rodless cylinder. Lanamatic is a Swiss manufacturer of pneumatic rodless cylinders, which can be found under the W.C. Branham DURATRK label.