Ruland Manufacturing (United States) - Ruland Manufacturing now supplies indexing plungers designed for a wide variety of industrial applications. Indexing plungers are spring-loaded mechanisms designed to easily lock pieces of machinery for adjustable positioning.

Indexing plungers use the force of a spring to apply pressure, allowing the plunger pin to remain nested in a receptacle. Thus, two or more elements of equipment can be aligned or fixed into a determined relative position. Ruland indexing plungers feature a pull knob that partially encloses the top of the plunger body, allowing less debris to enter the mechanism for consistent performance and longer life. They are commonly used in industrial equipment for positioning and holding, in medical equipment for height adjustments, and in machine guard doors to prevent them from being opened accidentally.

Indexing plungers are offered with or without lock-out. Options with lock-out are available for applications where the plunger pin needs to stay retracted in a fixed position. To achieve this, the knob is rotated by 90° after being retracted and the head of the plunger body is provided with a suitable notch in opposite positions to lock the plunger in place. Once the knob is rotated and lock-out is enabled, the plunger can only be moved by the user, preventing it from accidentally slipping back into its forward position due to error or vibration. This feature prevents accidents from happening in high leverage situations. Indexing plungers without the lock-out feature are used in applications where the pin does not need to stay retracted. The pin will retract when the tip is pressed against something and it will release when there is a receptacle for it to rest. Lifting the knob will also retract the pin, allowing the user to manually move it to a desired position.

Ruland indexing plungers are available in standard and mini types in a wide variety of inch and metric thread sizes. Mini indexing plungers have a shorter threaded body than the standard indexing plungers, making them ideal in thin walled sheet metal applications. The longer threaded body of the standard indexing plungers makes them ideal for thick walled metal applications. However, standard indexing plungers can also be used in thin walled sheet metal applications thanks to a locknut. The locknut can be moved along the threaded body, allowing the user to adjust the threaded body length and make it versatile for different sized applications. All indexing plungers from Ruland are RoHS3 and REACH compliant.

Indexing plungers are sourced from J.W. Winco and the latest addition to Ruland’s new line of machine components that includes CNC tool shelves, keystock, vibration isolation mounts, adjustable clamping levers, and modular mounting components. Full product specifications and 3D CAD models are available on ruland.com.

Summary: 

• Standard and mini indexing plungers available in inch and metric thread sizes
• Used to hold two or more pieces of equipment together in a determined relative position
• Pull knob encloses the plunger body, ensuring consistent performance and long life
• Lock-out feature prevents accidents by keeping the pin retracted unless manually disengaged
• Large inventory in Ruland’s Marlborough, Massachusetts location for same day shipping