Custom Solutions

We can quickly manufacture a special Pancake cylinder with corrosion-resistant Delrin® construction, food-grade lubricant and a smooth exterior for equipment that must undergo washdowns.

We provide custom, food-friendly versions of many of our popular actuators — like this all-stainless steel Pancake® cylinder — built to withstand harsh environments and washdowns that would ruin normal cylinders.

This four-inch bore by one-inch stroke, double acting cylinder has flats milled on both end caps to achieve precise alignment in medical packaging machinery.

When a customer needed a valve in-head for a quicker response and cleaner package, Fabco-Air created a special design with one hose and fitting instead of three.

Fabco-Air modified this cylinder with ports on its face and rear cap to fit a custom envelope requirement for a mold knock-out application.

Pivot-mount LONGSTROKE cylinder modified as a two-stage Multi-Power® unit.

Fabco-Air created a Multi-Power air cylinder and a linear slide combination that provides adjustable strokes, high power and precision guiding for an automotive application. This custom unit can supply 4,720 pounds of force at 100 psi.

A unique dovetail mount allows the customer to change centers on a resistance welding application.

Fabco-Air solved a customer’s special tooling requirement by machining nests into the body of a twin-bore cylinder to achieve precise alignment.

This booster was modified to allow external switching to prevent crossover from inlet to exhaust when the unit stalls.

Tailor-made for food processing applications, this cylinder is available with 303- and 304-grade stainless steel construction and a food-rated rod wiper.

Outfitted with the Dial-a-Stroke, this allows jaw size to be adjusted on a per-job basis, eliminating the need for special attachments.

To address length restrictions that precluded the use of overhanging guide shafts or double rod construction, Fabco-Air modified a five-inch bore Hi-Power cylinder with a special tool plate and long composite bushings for continuous guide shaft engagement.

Fabco-Air customized a Hi-Power™ cylinder to fit into small parts assembly machinery. The large hole allows mechanical drives and pressure/vacuum lines to pass through to the point of use.

Fabco-Air attaches multiple pistons to a common shaft and provides internal air passages through the shaft to all pistons.

Supply air applied to the extend port energizes all pistons simultaneously, thus multiplying the extend thrust enabling tremendous forces to be obtained.

Unique dovetail mount enables the customer to change centers on a resistance welding application.

We know you depend on our products’ excellent reliability and performance to achieve success in advanced, specialized applications. These applications often have demanding project timelines — meaning you need your components as soon as possible.

Knowing that quick delivery is essential to your business, we’ve spent a lot of time and effort streamlining our manufacturing processes. We have reduced the average lead times for all key Fabco-Air product families including our NFPA, OEM NFPA, F-Series, H-Series, Original Pancake and Pancake II Series.

Our advanced production methods — like fully automated lights-out manufacturing — have enabled us to provide industry-leading delivery speed. With true lights-out manufacturing, we can machine your parts overnight so they’re ready for inspection and shipping the next morning. In fact, it takes only five days to ship orders of ten pieces or less for any of our key families.

Custom Components Delivered Fast
Keep in mind, our new and improved delivery speeds aren’t limited to our standard products. We will also get custom products into your hands in record time. For custom designs, please reach out to our Customer Service or Engineering Departments to discuss our delivery capabilities.

Standard SE slide incorporating a rod lock, extended shock absorber and stop collar.

If you can’t find the exact NFPA cylinder you need in our catalog, we will make it for you. Not only are our NFPA cylinders directly interchangeable with other manufacturers’ products of the same type and dimensions, our advanced manufacturing capabilities enable us to modify a pneumatic cylinder to meet your exact requirements.

Basic NFPA Cylinder Features

• Bore sizes from 1-1/2 to 6 inches
• Stroke lengths up to 99 inches
• Anodized aluminum heads and caps
• Anodized (ID) aluminum tubes
• Standard or oversize rod diameters
• Multiple rod end styles
• Standard pressure up to 250 psi (air)
• Standard Buna (nitrile) seals with optional seal materials

Diverse Mounting Options
For installation ease and flexibility, our NFPA cylinders support over 17 different mounting styles including rectangular flange, clevis, eye, angle and lug mounts. Both the clevis and eye mounts are available as detachable options. We also can extend the tie rods or tap holes into the head and cap.

Here is a closer look at the available performance-enhancing NFPA cylinder options.

Noise Reduction and Cushion Options
Our silent seal bumper (SB) option uses engineered seals that reduce noise levels at the end of stroke impact and minimize shock and vibration as the cylinder comes to a stop. This option is available on 1-1/2 to 5-inch bore sizes. When using a silent seal bumper, as much as 80% of the cylinder load can be absorbed by this option alone. The remaining 20% of the load is decelerated by a fixed or adjustable cushion.

Fixed or Adjustable Cushion Options
Fixed or adjustable cushion orifices are available to help decelerate the cylinder load to its final stop. With a fixed cushion orifice, adjustment is not necessary. Specifying an adjustable cushion allows for adjustment or fine tuning based on cylinder load and speed. You can also specify optional cushion adjustment locations to allow for easier access.

Oversized Rod Diameter and Rod End Options
Standard rod diameters are specified with NFPA cylinders and oversized rod diameters are available to strengthen load carrying capabilities. We also offer various NFPA designated rod end styles.

Optional Port Sizes and Locations
The NFPA cylinder comes standard with port sizes to match the bore size. Optional port sizes and locations can be specified to meet your requirements.

Magnetic Piston Option
For various switch-use options (solid state, reed switch, etc.) a magnetic band is installed on the piston with the “E” option.

Long-lasting Material Choices
Our NFPA cylinders are durable and built to last because we utilize high-quality materials, ensuring success across a wide range of harsh environments. The cylinder’s head and cap are machined from solid aluminum blocks and black anodized for excellent corrosion resistance. Depending on your specifications, we can incorporate other material options such as stainless steel or composite tubes as well as stainless steel rods and tie rods to boost cylinder longevity.

Custom Cylinder Options and Design
When specifying an NFPA cylinder on our product line configurator, you can access all the above options as well as additional options. If there is a special requirement that is not listed, please reach out to Fabco-Air Customer Service or Engineering for help.

Improved Lead Times
Improving our manufacturing capabilities and streamlining our delivery process has enabled us to reduce lead times, ensuring you receive your cylinders as fast as possible. For custom cylinder designs, please reach out to Fabco-Air Customer Service or Engineering to enquire on delivery capabilities.

Learn more on our product page.

Oftentimes, standard pneumatic actuators won’t meet all of your application’s requirements. The result of having to tailor the product’s capabilities may cost you a lot of time and resources. With the right supplier, it’s easier and more cost-effective to modify a standard actuator or commission a brand new design in order to get the performance you need.

At Fabco-Air, we’re experts in delivering custom-built pneumatic solutions that meet your exact specifications. We offer a wide range of customization options for nearly all of our products, and we have the capabilities to produce completely new designs if you still can’t find what you’re looking for.

Here is an overview of some of the modifications you can choose from when specifying custom pneumatic components.

Material Options for Every Environment
Industries like packaging and automotive usually have rugged plant environments that subject machinery to impacts, shocks, heavy loads, extreme temperatures and harmful chemicals. Standard components operating in these environments without special accommodation can wear out early or underperform, leading to broken equipment, damaged products, extensive downtime and production losses.

It’s important to be aware of the different material options available to you in order to mitigate or even eliminate avoidable damage to your machinery and products. To this end, we offer different material modifications for our pneumatic cylinders, slides and actuators. For example, consider specifying your component with high-quality stainless steel components. We also manufacture cylinder bodies out of Delrin®, a corrosion-resistant polymer that offers protection from caustic chemicals in washdown environments.

Space-saving Alterations For Tight Fits
Installing standard products in tight or unconventional spaces can easily cut into your project’s budgeted time. We recognize how critical it is to remain on schedule and can alter a standard product’s size and shape without compromising performance to ensure your project is completed on time.

We also can design a completely new custom solution according to your specifications. With a tailor-made product, you can determine the exact length, bore, width and height you need to easily implement the component. We also can modify a product’s shape to meet alignment requirements. As an example in a medical application, we added flats to a Pancake® II cylinder’s end caps to align exactly with packaging machinery.

Mounting Adjustments For Easy Installation
We offer a wide range of standard mounting styles for our air cylinders and slides. But to make installation even easier, we also modify a product to fit the mounting style you need. With the freedom to choose the size, shape and mounting style, you’ll have no trouble installing a Fabco-Air component.

Exhaust Port Configurations to Modify Cycle Speed
Depending on your requirements, you may need more or less compressed air pumped through your actuator. We can alter your actuator’s port sizes and locations based on your specifications with no performance loss.

Combined Solutions Deliver Versatility
Our advanced manufacturing capabilities enable us to combine multiple products into one. We can integrate air cylinders, linear slides, rotary actuators and grippers to create a solution tailored to your exact requirements.

For one customer, we paired a Multi-Power® air cylinder and linear slide into one custom unit for an automotive application. This combination unit can supply 4,720 pounds of force at 100 psi while also delivering hydraulic shock and speed control. The custom-built product also provides adjustable strokes, high power and precision guiding.

In another application that required a compact form factor, we integrated two linear pneumatic slides into a single housing. One of the two slides provides three-position actuation to achieve a truly unique result. All this was encased in a single, hard anodized body with stainless steel hardware for washdown resistance.

Adding More Thrust
If you require more output thrust without increasing your pneumatic cylinder’s bore, we can implement our Multi-Power design in our Pancake®, Pancake II and air press product lines.

Additional Accessories
We also can integrate a wide range of accessories into our products like rod locks, stop collars, shock absorbers, rod wipers and position sensors. One common request is noise or impact reduction, so we incorporate cushions to soften impacts and extend equipment lifetime. Both adjustable and fixed cushioning options are available, and our silent seal bumpers are an excellent additional feature to further reduce noise.

To learn more, check out our custom solutions page or contact us.

Designed for an application requiring a compact design of two linear pneumatic slides, integrated into a single housing. One of the two slides is actually designed for three position actuation to achieve a truly unique result. All of this was encased in a single, hard anodized body with stainless hardware to enable washdown resistance.

Focusing on an application with a tight footprint, this design incorporates a rod lock directly into the bearing block of the slide. This enabled the precision and side load capabilities of a slide while still fitting in the prescribed envelope.

Manufactured using titanium and 316 stainless steel, this actuator provided dual rotary motion and special coating materials for an application requiring washdown and media compatibility.

This valve pulls 28 inches of water column and holds the vacuum for 24 hours.