Urethane Roller Coaster Wheels – Roller Coaster Wheels

Urethane roller coaster wheels and custom core fabrication services are available at Plan Tech, whether retreading worn out existing cores or for OEM applications. Plan Tech recently doubled the urethane grinding capability for urethane roller coaster wheels. Most applications demand a 70A urethane material due to it being slightly harder than a car tire yet firm enough to carry immense loads while absorbing vibrations or track mismatch.   Custom cores are also available and we also offer secondary operations on aluminum castings before production. Each core or casting will have a machined groove for added bonding surface and a positive lock against side abrasion and tire flex. Plan Tech has a specialized clean room to de-grease each casting before being media blasted. A light coat of bonding agent will be applied where the urethane will be directly open cast onto.   After each of the urethane roller coaster wheels are machined within tolerance each one will also be inspected to ensure fitment. Any hardness urethane roller coaster wheels can be achieved at Plan Tech with a variety of different additives for special applications, our most popular additives is an antistatic urethane additive which will discharge all electricity that would build up […]

Urethane Hourglass Rollers – Hourglass Polyurethane Rollers

Urethane hourglass rollers are frequently used for processing a variety size of material due to its hourglass profile. Bonded urethane directly to a steel shaft gives our urethane hourglass rollers incredible strength for a superior material against abrasion.   Plan Tech has a full stock of high-performance urethane material from world leading chemical companies with a variety of additives to enhance the physical properties of our urethane. Urethane hourglass rollers are available in any hardness or color with custom profiling to match OEM Urethane hourglass rollers or for new custom applications. FDA applications are also no problem with additives for existing X-Ray equipment in case of a failure.   Plan Tech has an on-site urethane machine shop dedicated to profiling urethane hourglass rollers at a rapid speed. We have built several custom one-off machines for custom urethane grinding of any hardness. Our most common hardness for rollers is a 95A ether-based material capable of high loads and underwater use that can be easily turned to match any profile. Tight tolerances allow our urethane hourglass rollers to be used in drive applications to move product in a pinch style set up. For a low-cost application Plan Tech also specializes in open castings […]

Polyurethane Tubing – Tight Tolerance Urethane Tubing

Polyurethane tubing is offered in a variety of size combinations. Plan Tech for the last 30 years has been adding onto what we call our family mold size. Currently, we can cast any OD ID configuration up to 4.5’’ with no tooling set up charge with a tight tolerance of +/-.010 in one-foot sections. We also have 3 and 4-foot molds of limited sized. Special sizes are no problem for our in-house mold fabrication machine shop.   Polyurethane tubing is a great choice when searching for a high-performance polyurethane tubing capable of extreme situations. Available in any hardness, we have seen a variety of different applications requiring special sizes of polyurethane tubing. Polyurethane tubing also does very well to process high abrasive material due to its ability to absorb an impact and rapidly return to its original size. It also performs well under vacuum while providing a great seal. Additives can be mixed into the liquid polyurethane in our molding process to enhance physical properties such as abrasion resistance or anti-static capabilities. Plan Tech can rapidly produce 1 foot or 1000’s of feet of any polyurethane tubing in any hardness required. Thin-walled polyurethane tubes are also achieved by the use […]

Keyed Polyurethane Drive Rollers – Keyed Urethane Rollers

Keyed Polyurethane Drive Rollers are easily molded with high-quality polyurethane material for the most demanding applications. Plan Tech has a bonding process with a tear strength greater than the urethane material it is adhered to.   We can achieve such great urethane bond strength from our state of the art clean room we process keyed polyurethane drive rollers in. Each core will be washed and de-greased from any machining oils before it is media blasted. Each core for the polyurethane drive roller will have a light coat of bonding adhesive applied directly to the core before production. By pouring the liquid polyurethane into a mold Plan Tech can produce a tight tolerance keyed polyurethane drive rollers at a rapid past for any application.   Polyurethane does very well in outdoor applications and can be machined or molded to any profile needed. Most rollers are supplied in a 95A but any hardness polyurethane is available upon request. 95A is a good choice because it will not flat spot over time yet it is soft enough to absorb any impact or mismatch in alignment. At Plan Tech we can reverse engineer existing rollers to match OEM specs. Frequently we can add additives […]

Fire Retardant Urethane – Polyurethane Fire Retardant Parts

Fire retardant urethane is an additive we mix directly into our high-quality urethane prepolymer. Due to the nature of this additive, only 60A to 75D products are offered. While most additives degrade some physical properties of the prepolymer fire retardant additive does not effect any of the physical properties.     All material spec sheets are available on file upon request to ASTM testing standards, this information is vital when choosing high damage applications such as a bumper that compression set is critical. One of our customers for fire retardant urethane parts supplies an elevator company with a wheel. These wheels simply guide a cable that operates the elevator, in the event of a fire every second matters.   Plan Techs fire retardant urethane wheels will not only outperform rubber but will last longer if an event as such were to happen. Not only do our wheel last longer they potentially save a life. From a simple sketch or an existing part Plan Tech and reproduce just about any size cast urethane part with rapid prototyping available.   Any hardness is also available for special applications. Most custom cast urethane parts can be molded and shipped within just a couple […]

Urethane Worm Gears – Polyurethane Worm Gears

Urethane worm gears are cast from high-quality material that outperforms most OEM gears and other materials. Plan Tech’s urethane worm gears are most popular in conveyor food processing plants as they are compact and can reduce or increase the rotate in a 90-degree design.     FDA dry use approved urethane is available at Plan Tech in any hardness for urethane worm gears. For normal operations, we specify 95A hardness urethane worm gears and they perform excellently. Cast from a material that is chemical resistant it is also still flexible enough to take an impact and return to its original size or adapt for any misalignment in the gearing due to debris yet rigid enough to have a long service life in the most demanding applications.  In special applications, Plan Tech has produced urethane worm gears to form and process bread and other foods.     As the urethane worm gear rotates the low section will cut off the bread or food to a predetermined length while also driving the conveyor assembly. We can hold a tight tolerance of +/-.005 on all of our machined parts for a precise mesh of gearing. The molded tooth sections can hold +/-.010 tolerance […]

Urethane Guide Wheels – Polyurethane Guide Wheels

Urethane guide wheels are extremely popular due to urethane’s great ability to absorb an impact and return to its original size even after years of abuse or even underwater use. Plan Tech supplies thousands of urethane guide wheels around the world each year, we use high-performance polyurethane materials from world leading chemical companies.   Most urethane guide wheels consist of an aluminum core that is machined in our state of the art machine shop. After each core is rigorously inspected before it enters our clean room for media blasting where a light coat of bonding adhesive will be applied to the mating surface. Being able to cast directly to the wheel creates a bond strength greater than the tear strength of the urethane material.   Urethane guide wheels are most popular in a 95A hardness with many different additives available for any applications. Our most common additive is called armorglide which will add lubricity and increased abrasion resistance to the urethane guide wheels. Plan Tech has also seen an increase in robotic urethane guide wheels with an anti-static additive to allow our polyurethane guide wheels to be conductive.   After 30 years of designing and manufacturing Plan Tech has built […]

Urethane Shaft Seals

Guide to Choosing the Best Polyurethane Material

Plan Tech for over 30 years has produced millions of parts for numerous applications. Frequently we will be presented with a problem for a custom application or better performance out of OEM parts. Plan Tech can match OEM parts to print or from a sample part out of high-quality urethane from world leading chemical companies.   There are two main types of urethane resins polyester and polyether. For the most part polyether material is incredibly tough and a go-to choice for most applications. When abuse or wear items are presented to Plan Tech we will learn exactly what the application is and find the best material we feel suited for excellent product performance and service life.   Plan Tech exclusives use high quality cured agents like 4,4′-Methylenebis(2-chloroaniline) (MOCA, MBOCA, bisamine) with a decades-old proven performance that ensures the highest level of urethane performance. Plan Tech also has a variety of additives in addition to FDA requirements. Property Best performance Least Appropriate Abrasion Resistance: Sliding Polyester with 5% Armgorlide 95A-75D Low Cost Polyether Abrasion Resistance: Heavy Load Sliding Polyester with 2% Moly oil 95A-75D Low-Cost Polyether Low Compression Set TDI- Both ester and ethers perform well when plasticised down more than 20%. […]

Urethane Finger Rollers

Case Study: Urethane Roller Recovering Services

After investing capital into rollers, it’s quite frustrating when they break down. If you have initially invested in rubber or plastic rollers and thought they’d be long-lasting, but actually broke down quickly, you have a better option. While it’s best if the entire material is made of urethane, we do provide urethane roller recovering so that you can get your rollers back into tip-top shape again.   What is Urethane Roller Recovering? As the name implies, urethane roller recovery involves taking your old rollers striping them and coating them in urethane. This is an incredibly affordable option since you wouldn’t need entirely new rollers, and is actually a best practice if you have your rubber or plastic wheels recovered with urethane regularly. Urethane is known for being highly durable with superior wear properties and lasts for a long time, which is why it makes a much better alternative to rubber and plastic. We are also able to process rollers through a secondary operation of machining and grind them down so that the urethane roller recovering coat we apply is as accurate as possible for close tolerance requirements. If you are looking for an affordable way of maintaining your equipment and want […]

Straight Urethane Rollers – Straight Polyurethane Rollers

Straight urethane rollers are one of the specialty products that Plan Tech manufactures. Straight urethane rollers can be supplied complete with new shafts or reconditioned to any hardness including extremely soft durometers with a tight tolerance of +/-.005.   Each of the straight urethane rollers are machine ground to ensure that each roller will operate as smooth as OEM parts for a fraction of the price of originals. Plan Tech has a state of the art specialized machine shop capable of rapidly reporting straight urethane rollers to meet or exceed OEM standards.   Our hot cast polyurethane formulas yield results that outperform rubber 3:1 and OEM rollers 5:1 for often times no startup cost. A popular additive is an antistatic additive so dust and other foreign objects do not stick to the rollers.  Adding Lubricity to the roller is also popular which is not offered by most OEM replacements. Plan Tech also has FDA dry food approved urethane formulas that are also available in any hardness or color required for the application. We routinely win repeat business of straight urethane rollers that come from a worn out OEM part or a simple sketch. Frequently Plan Tech can go from a design […]

Polyurethane Shaft Seals – Urethane Shaft Seals

Polyurethane shaft seals are a popular choice due to urethanes great ability to be molded into any profile while delivering great chemical resistance and sealing capability. Polyurethane shaft seals can be molded as big as 5 inches with tight tolerances for maximum sealing properties.   Plan Tech’s cast polyurethane shaft seals will remain flexible in extreme weather conditions and are rated up to a 180F working temperature in a variety of different applications. Our most popular shaft seal currently wipes the water off a cable before packaging. This simple OD ID configuration is used to clean thousands of miles of wire before being installed in towns and cities near you. Originally our customer was using a rubber seal and they were having to replace the OEM shaft seal several times a day costing thousands in downtime. Plan Tech’s high-quality polyurethane shaft seals lasts over 7 times longer than the original. We have heard our customers say over and over again that our urethane products truly pay for themselves.  With rapid prototyping available Plan Tech can frequently make thousands of polyurethane shaft seals in 4 weeks or less with a variety of different material and additives available. FDA applications are also no […]

Urethane Bearing Covers – Polyurethane Bearing Covers

Urethane bearing covers have been a core product that we have manufactured since 1986. We have specialized in producing hundreds of thousands of urethane bearing covers. Rather than pressing on a bearing cover Plan Tech has found media blasting the OD of each bearing and applying a chemical bonding adhesive is the best way to produce high-performance urethane bearing covers.   Casting directly to the bearing yields a bond to metal strength greater than the urethane material is it covered in. Over the last 30 years, Plan Tech has streamlined how each bearing is processed and has built many custom one-off trimming machines capable of turning the OD and facing to the bearing in record time and precision.   Using high-performance polyurethane material normally supplied in a 95A hardness Plan Tech can supply millions of urethane bearing covers annually or one-off prototype pieces for a vintage machine. Whether it’s one or thousands of urethane bearing covers Plan Tech will work with our customers from the very start of the design right up to high volume. Any design changes can be adapted for quickly and often carry no charge. A variety of lubricants may be added for to the urethane bearing covers for […]

Urethane Hydraulic Seals – Polyurethane Hydraulic Seals

Urethane hydraulic seals are ideal for low-pressure sealing or as dust seals. While high-performance Nitrile rubber dual opposing spring seal lips are required for high pressure sealing urethane hydraulic dust seals and low-pressure seals are ideal for a cost-effective one-off replacement or for high volume sales.   Cast resin from world leading polyurethane companies helps Plan Tech specialize in hot open cast molding urethane with a variety of molding capabilities. Most urethane hydraulic seals are cast using compression molding, by having the ability to compression mold urethane hydraulic seals Plan Tech can reproduce just about any profile needed.   While most hydraulic applications will only see about 120F urethane will remain flexible in any weather condition and is rated up to 180F.  Plan Tech can produce any urethane hydraulic seals up to 5’’ diameter with tight tolerances for the most demanding applications. FDA requirements are also no problem for Plan Tech, we stock all hardness material as well as any color. Plan Tech also has specialized bonding procedures for inserts of all sizes to be molded into the urethane hydraulic seals. By casting directly onto the inserts this yields a bond strength that is greater than the tear resistance of […]

Industrial Urethane Seals – Industrial Polyurethane Seals

Industrial urethane seals are one of Plan Tech’s specialty industrial products that we manufacture. Urethane has a great ability to be resistant to most chemicals and has great sealing properties both in high and low-pressure conditions.   Industrial urethane seals frequently last the lifetime of the machine even after years of abuse and repeated compression set. Industrial urethane seals start as a liquid that is open cast into a mold or poured into a sheet. Plan Tech has a 4’ x 8’ Flow water jet capability of cutting thousands of industrial urethane seals frequently out of just one sheet resulting in a low-cost industrial seal for any application.   Plan Tech also offers many different additives that we can add to the urethane in a liquid state to tailor our urethane for special applications. Most common additives are Flame retardant urethane or to add antistatic properties to the urethane. Currently, Plan Tech supplies hundreds of thousands of industrial urethane seals around the world. One of our customers we originally designed from a simple request over the phone. This just shows Plan Tech is ready willing and able to take on any volume or current design stage and work one on […]

Urethane Flume Wheels – Polyurethane Flume Wheels

Urethane flume wheels are featured on many roller coasters around the world that are supplied from Plan Tech. We utilize a high-performance polyurethane material from world leading chemical companies. Most urethane flume wheels consist of an aluminum core that is machined in our state of the art machine shop.   After each of the urethane flume wheels cores are rigorously inspected they will enter our clean room for media blasting where a coat of bonding adhesive will be applied to the mating surface. Being able to cast directly to the wheel creates a bond strength greater than the tear strength of the urethane material!   Most urethane flume wheels are supplied in a 70A which is ideal to absorb vibrations while still being firm enough to withstand thousands of pounds from the ride. Slightly harder than a car tire 70A machine cannot easily be machined. After 3 decades of experience, Plan Tech has built several machines for such this task of grinding urethane flume wheels. We can hold a tight tolerance of +/-.005 on all of our machined parts for a smooth ride. Also, any machined UHMW bushing is no problem for Plan Tech. Each wheel will be supplied with […]

Polyurethane Seals – Cast Polyurethane Seals

Polyurethane seals are made from our best urethane material due to the extreme conditions in a wide variety of applications that we expect our seals to encounter. Plan Tech’s cast polyurethane seals will remain flexible in extreme weather conditions and are rated up to 180F working temperature in a variety of different applications.   Polyurethane seals are ideal for custom applications in high or low volume, one-off custom seals are no problem for us. Start up cost is also drastically reduced due to the ease of open casting urethane parts. Cast polyurethane seals are a better choice than rubber seals not only for lower start-up tooling cost but urethane has much better abrasion resistance and cut tear resistance as well as being molded any color. Plan Tech also has specialized bonding procedures for inserts of all sizes to be molded into the cast polyurethane seals. By casting directly onto the inserts yields a bond strength that is greater than the tear resistance of the urethane material for the ultimate defense against delamination. From a simple sketch or an existing part Plan Tech and reproduce just about any size cast polyurethane seals with rapid prototyping available. Any hardness is also available […]

Urethane Rods – Custom Molded Urethane Rods!

Urethane Rods? You’ve come to the right source! Urethane rods are manufactured at Plan Tech per our customer’s specification. We utilize and process high-quality polyurethane material from world leading chemical companies to manufacture just about any size urethane rod required. Over the last 3 decades, Plan Tech has been building a family mold system to accommodate all rod types, sizes and dimensions. We offer many types of high-quality urethane rods for our customers and work closely with AutoCAD and Solidworks designs to meet all of your application requirements:   Custom Industrial Urethane Rods   Urethane Round Rods: Rubber round rods are a custom product Plan Tech produces and we offer a full line of in-house molds ready to cast precision urethane round rods. By offering a full in-house machine shop we can also tailor the urethane rods to your exact specifications for the applications.   Urethane Cylinders: Urethane cylinders are found in many applications requiring repeated abuse and impact. Urethane cylinders will dampen the harsh slamming of a machine and frequently perform better than OEM replacements at a fraction of the cost. Our custom urethane cylinders are made easily with a sheet metal ring yielding little to no tooling cost.   FDA Approved Polyurethane […]

Urethane Gun Recoil Bumpers – Gun Bumpers

Custom cast urethane gun recoil bumpers are made from proven urethane prepolymer’s from world leading chemical companies. One specialty type of polyurethane is the Adiprene line which has been in service for over a decade. The polyurethane materials are a proven material on many repeating parts making reproducing existing urethane gun recoil bumpers easily available.   While the Adiprener line of urethane hasn’t changed its chemical makeup for decades today’s high-performance urethanes are a superior upgrade for outstanding rebound properties even in the most demanding applications. Plan Tech has adapted over 30 years of producing urethane gun recoil bumpers by adding waterjet cutting abilities in-house. With one of a kind mold making experience if the bumper cannot be cut from a urethane sheet Plan Tech will design a mold and often times pour hundreds of bumpers at once resulting in high volume producing with little start-up costs.   While urethane is only rated for a working temperature around 200F we have heard from our customers during rapid fire testing our high-performance urethane outlasted rubber and some of the most expensive silicones available. From prototype parts to high volume production Plan Tech can meet the needs of any volume urethane gun recoil […]

Grinding Urethane Wheels – Ground Urethane Wheels

Grinding urethane wheels is a common practice for Plan Tech’s state of the art machine shop. Over the last 30 years, we have made custom lathes and machines to specialize in machine grinding urethane wheels. Skilled machinists are necessary to perform these tasks as it is completely different than machining metal.   Other companies have found deep freezing the parts to extreme temperatures allows them to machine urethane but with catastrophic effects. Urethane is not rated to be deep frozen and is meant for use in normal conditions down to -20F. When grinding urethane wheels Plan Tech does not risk destroying the physical properties of its urethane wheels and parts by these methods.   When grinding urethane wheels we machine grind the urethane wheels at room temperatures to ensure tight tolerances and the best physical properties of our urethane material. Any hardness, color or profile can be molded or machined into the roller. Very rarely if ever have we been forced to turn down a new urethane molded wheel application due to the profile needed for the customer. We pride ourselves on a quick turnaround from design to custom fabricated cores coated in urethane that will then be finished by grinding […]

Finish Grinding Polyurethane Rollers – Made In USA

Finish Grinding Polyurethane Rollers – Polyurethane rollers, for the most part, are open cast and shipped directly after being de-molded. For high-speed applications, Plan Tech takes another step to ensure our rollers outperform any OEM or aftermarket roller on the market. Finish grinding polyurethane rollers ensure the roller will be concentric with no runout while operating at high speeds.   Most rollers consist of a steel core which is machine balanced before being coated with urethane. Providing a completely machined finish ground polyurethane roller will operate smoother and run quieter than the competition. Any hardness color or FDA dry applications are available from Plan Tech with short lead times. High volume or custom one-off rollers are also no problem. We have perfected the process of finish grinding polyurethane rollers.   For 30 years we have been learning specialty information and building custom machines to tackle finish grinding polyurethane rollers. Plan Tech can process almost any size roller. Typical roller sizes range from 8inch diameter to 3 feet long. Anything in between is no problem for us! We also specialize in anti-static when finish grinding polyurethane rollers as well as rollers that will keep lubricity to them as they wear. After 30 years […]