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An arm that absorbs the reaction forces of a nutrunner or drill instead of passing them into the operator’s wrist. It is the answer for all high-torque fastening and wherever a balancer cannot help by its very principle.
Every torque a nutrunner applies to the fastener acts back on the tool in equal measure. With a hand-held tool the operator absorbs this reaction torque with wrist, arm and shoulder – at every fastening, many hundreds of times per shift.
The hard joint is particularly demanding: the fastener seats after a short angle of rotation and the torque rises abruptly. The operator cannot react to it; the tool jerks at the hand.
The nutrunner is clamped in a tool holder at the end of an arm. The arm moves freely within the working area but is stiff against rotation: the reaction torque passes through the arm into the fixing – bench, pillar or rail – and not into the person.
Usually the arm also carries the weight of the tool, through a spring balancer or a balancer. The operator positions and triggers; holding and bracing are no longer required.
The types differ in how the arm covers the working area.
What governs is the highest torque the tool can deliver – not just the set tightening torque. Then come tool weight, working area and fastening direction: if fastening is vertical, horizontal or in changing orientations, the tool holder must swivel accordingly.
Accessibility is just as important. An arm that does not bring the tool to every fastening point is bypassed at those points – with a second, hand-held tool.
Some versions measure the position of the arm through encoders in the joints. The tool controller then knows at which fastening point the tool is and can monitor the sequence or enable a separate tightening program per point. An ergonomic aid thus becomes a building block of process assurance.
What Entracon offers here is on the matching page.
See what we offer| Type | Working area | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Telescopic arm | Circular area about the fixing point | Bench workstation, small assemblies |
| Articulated arm | Circular area, foldable | Workstations with little space behind |
| Parallel arm | Area with height compensation | Fastening points at different heights |
| Arm on rail or pillar | Line or large area | Large components, high torques |
There is no generally binding limit. It depends on the design of the tool, the joint type and the frequency. Tool manufacturers give recommendations; the risk assessment of the workstation is what counts.
No. A balancer carries the weight of the tool, but a rope cannot support torque. The reaction torque stays with the operator.
Pulse tools deliver torque in short impulses and by their principle generate little reaction torque. With continuously rotating tools – shut-off tools and controlled electric nutrunners – the full torque acts back; the arm is intended for these.
One short conversation usually settles more than three quotations. Call or write — you will reach an engineer directly.
Start typing – for example “balancer”, “SAP” or “pipe stress”.
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