Retractor and Zero Gravity
The exceptional Made-in-Italy quality of our SPRING BALANCERS and RETRACTORS ensures they exceed the highest industry standards.
Our goal is to optimize cycle times and elevate production, ensuring absolute safety and ergonomics for workers.
The functional design is engineered to balance loads, tools, hoses, and cables, enhancing performance standards. It prevents operator fatigue and reduces the risk of injuries.
Balancers Line
Frequently Asked Questions
TECNA Spring Balancers employ a spring motor and a specialized drum (zero gravity balancers or retractor balancers) to maintain constant tension on the cable.
The spring motor is tuned within its working range to provide a constant responsive pull that will balance the weight. This ensures that your suspended tools or equipment move with ease, following your precise commands.
BOWDEN RETRACTORS allow you to break all mounting constraints of normal Spring Balancers application. The BOWDEN RETRACTOR doesn’t need to be mounted vertically with a top-down movement action. You can replace costly pulley systems or bends and have your balancer installed remotely from your actual application point, freeing yourself of any space or geometrical limit of use.
BOWDEN RETRACTORS can be used when the application point is moving, like on a moving arm or a sliding rail system, or to ease the movement of sliding doors or drawers. It can be installed under the table or aside, freeing space and crowded working benches.
BOWDEN RETRACTORS can go where normal Spring Balancers cannot go, and they are patented.
A BOWDEN RETRACTOR is a type of spring balancer, that merged with the concept of Bowden cable to give birth to an amazing and unique object. More than a game-changer in the world of Spring Balancers.
A Bowden cable is, by definition:“A type of flexible cable used to transmit mechanical force or energy by the movement of an inner cable relative to a hollow outer cable housing”. A typical Bowden cable connects the brake lever to the brakes on a bicycle.
In some environments, specifically where electronics are assembled, you will need dedicated areas, named Electrostatic Protected Areas or EPA, where all equipment, accessories and clothes must be CERTIFIED for ESD-PROTECTION, which is certified free of ESD.
When working with Electronics, the smallest electrostatic discharge will damage irremediably the delicate circuits. The result will be failure of components, which might happen even after weeks or months, when your electronic device is already in use.
ESD is an invisible enemy, hard to detect but globally responsible for Millions of dollars of electronic failures every year. Inside a EPA, everything must be certified, otherwise in case of problems, you will not be protected. Are you sure the spring balancers in your assembly area are EPA certified? Can you effort this certain?
ESD stands for Electro-Static Discharge. It is the effect of electrostatic charges accumulating on materials, typically due to mechanical action… like the glass stick that makes your air stand after you have rubbed it on wool.
FOOD INDUSTRY balancers feature massive use of Stainless Steel and Stainless materials in general, both outside and inside, to ensure maximum durability and no rusting or oxidation in time. Also, the housings are treated (not painted!!!) with specific hard, no-peel coating to make them extremely resistant to any chemical aggression.
Particularly, the ZERO GRAVITY line features a super resistant RILSAN coating, a natural anti-scratch plastic that scored the best results in both saline mist and acid mist environments. The use of Food Grade materials such as NSF-H1 lubricating grease and Food Grade plastics completes the overall food-friendly and super-resistant features of this incredible masterpiece.
FOOD INDUSTRY line specifications can be found on our website: https://www.tecna.net/en/balancers/food-industry-line/
When in doubt, contact us: we will guide you to the best choice.
FOOD INDUSTRY balancers are perfect anywhere environmental conditions are hard and proving, like OUTDOOR applications or any environment with high humidity or chemically aggressive atmosphere presence. Other examples are washing systems, wet environments, tropical climates and offshore applications, as well as sanitation systems and clean room uses.
FOOD INDUSTRY spring balancers have been designed specifically to answer the needs of the hardest working environments, namely the Slaughterhouses, where all equipment undergoes daily sanitization with strong chemicals and rust is banned.
TECNA’s ATEX Spring Balancers are conductive and grounded, with specifically developed anti-spark materials and safety systems, which altogether grant the compliance with different atmospheres, depending on models and features, from gasoline and Ethanol compliance, to mining and corn farming, up to the most stringent Hydrogen and Acetylene compliance.
ATEX means ATmosphère EXplosible (in English Explosive Atmospheres). This certification gathers EU directives describing the safety requirements for workplaces and equipment used in explosive or flammable atmospheres.
In the early 2000’s TECNA developed the first AtEx-certified Spring Balancer, in order to offer a solution to customers with specific needs to work in presence of flammable gases or dusts, such as gasoline, alcohol, gas, grains or flour.
It is the most complete line and covers load ranges from 0.2 to 100 kg (0.44 to 220 lbs), and stroke lengths from 1600 to 2700 mm (5.25 to 8.86 ft), plus rope extensions.
The GS mark, or Geprüfte Sicherheit (in English: verified safety), is a certification mark for equipment safety. Its presence indicates that the equipment complies with German and European highest safety requirements.
The major difference between the GS mark and the CE mark is that compliance with European safety requirements has been verified and ascertained by an independent internationally approved group. The mark is based on the GPSG (Geräte- und Produktsicherheitsgesetz, in English: decree for product and appliance safety).
The GS certification company analyzes in depth all balancers’ projects, materials and mechanics, down to the smallest screw, to assess safety compliance in the design, then physical compliance tests follow the theoretical analysis, where the balancers undergo severe checks through a predefined safety checklist issued by the GS certification procedure.
Ropes are tested up to 7 or 10 times their maximum load allowance (depending on rope materials); fall protection systems are verified and must engage within a minimal time frame to ensure that in case of spring breakage the load does not fall more than 10cm; and so on, with a long, exhausting list of tests and tasks.
The GS mark is granted only with full 100% success of all tests. And it is renewed yearly on randomly chosen models to ensure the continuity of the safety and quality of the product.
The GS LINE represents the standard or general purpose line of Spring Balancers made by TECNA, which since 2021 has been granted the GS SAFETY MARK.
This is the most complete and versatile product line, which ranges from 0.2 up to 180 kg (0.44 to 397 lbs), from 1600 to 3000mm stroke (5.25 to 14.8 ft), plus rope extensions, and with different rope materials, from steel to Dyneema® synthetitc high strength fiber, or integrated air hose.
The choice to get the GS Safety certification on the standard line grants TECNA’s customers the certainty that they are using the safest balancers, and such safety is certified according to the toughest validation tests run by a neutral, third party certification lab.
TECNA Spring Balancers can be used almost anywhere in your everyday work -or home- life. Their applications grow by the day, in all working situations and environments.
General benefits or a TECNA Spring Balancer:
Safety: Enhance working safety and reduce the risk of accidents.
Ergonomics: Promote proper ergonomics in daily tasks, reducing worker strain, and thus making your team enjoy their job.
Efficiency: Improve production efficiency by making tools nearly weightless.
Automation: Simplify and lighten automatic movements.
Tool handling: Suspend tools for easy access and prevent damage.
Repetitive Tasks: Assist workers with repetitive tasks, enhancing productivity.
Versatility: Hold fixtures, tools, welding guns, hoses, pipes, etc.
Clean Workspace: Keep equipment, cables, plugs, and sockets off the floor to eliminate trip hazards and damage risks.
Reduce Effort: Minimize worker effort when sliding or opening/closing barriers, doors, and hatches.
Cable and Hose Management: Use as a festoon system to reduce wear on cables and hoses.
Precision: Stabilize tool position, improve accuracy, and reduce operator motion.
Fatigue Reduction: Minimize worker fatigue, particularly during extended tasks.
Multiple Tool Sizes: Suitable for tools of various sizes, ensuring versatility.
Tool Protection: Reduce the risk of tool damage or falls.
This is a master question, and the answer cannot be quantitative. The lifespan of a balancer depends strongly on the application: the stroke used, the load supported, the way it is used. TECNA BALANCERS are notoriously among the longest-lasting on the market. In our test labs we range from hundreds of thousands up to millions of cycles without maintenance, depending on model, load, stress, stroke.
Cheap makes will likely last a lot less. When you buy a balancer, you need to think ahead: a more durable balancer, like a TECNA BALANCER, will require less maintenance and will make your production more efficient on the long term.
At TECNA, we have specific products for specific applications, like Food, Outdoor, Bowden, etc. which will offer the best solution, without compromise. With TECNA, you are always in good hands.
Selecting your TECNA Balancer is crucial for maximising the benefits. With more than 300 models, you can be sure you have the best range of opportunities with us.
Consider the following factors:
- Load Capacity: Determine the weight your balancer needs to support.
- Cable Stroke: Calculate how much you need to move your load, and whether or not you need an extension to your cable to match your application height.
- Cable rope Material: Opt for Dyneema/Polypropylene cables for delicate surfaces, as alternative to the standard stainless steel or galvanized steel ropes.
- Environmental Conditions: Tecna is the one manufacturer with diversified product lines to answer specific environmental requirements. Explosion-proof situations with gases, gasoline, fumes, etc. will require our dedicated TECNA BALANCER of the ATEX family. In case of particularly aggressive chemical environments or outdoor, TECNA FOOD INDUSTRY BALANCERS provide a super resistant solution. If you are handling electronics or electrical elements or work in a ESD PROTECTED AREA (EPA), our TECNA ESD PROTECTED BALANCERS will be your best friends.
Application: is it manual or is it automated? Is it straightforward or do you have geometries to tackle? A classic TECNA BALANCER will be a good solution, however you might find yourself in need for a tailored solution, or our new patented BOWDEN RETRACTORS, especially made for automation and diffucult tasks.
TECNA Spring Balancers are innovative mechanical tools designed to simplify your work, increase efficiency, and enhance safety.
These remarkable devices are perfect for technicians, engineers, and production managers seeking a more streamlined approach to handling suspended loads, making their team’s job the safest and most efficient, or help lifting loads in automation.
BOWDEN RETRACTORS are classified according to 3 main features:
- Load capacity (up to 14kg or 31lbs, depending on models): how much weight you can balance.
- Stroke length (up to 2,5m or 8f,t depending on models): how much cable you can extract from fully retracted to fully extracted.
- BOWDEN LENGTH: how long the sleeve of the BOWDEN is, therefor,e how fat the balancer can be installed for the actual application point. Bowden lengths range from 500mm (20”) to 2,5m (8ft).
