Pneumatic Actuators and Air Cylinders
Shop for your pneumatic actuators and air cylinders. We carry air grippers, guided air cylinders, standard air cylinders, round body air cylinders, compact air cylinders, rodless air cylinders, rotary actuators, clamping cylinders, and stopper cylinders.
Pneumatic actuators and air cylinders move a load using pressurized air stored within a piston or diaphragm. Depending on the direction of the load, you’ll either need an air cylinder or rotary actuator.
Pneumatic cylinders, commonly known as air cylinders or air rams, move a load in a straight line using a piston rod. Compressed air either pushes or pulls the piston rod in and out of the cylinder barrel.
Single-acting cylinders use one compressed air port to either push or pull the rod in a single direction. The rod then returns via spring action. Double-acting cylinders use compressed air ports on both ends of the cylinder to extend and retract the rod. Certain series of Airtac cylinders come with cushions, which allows for quieter piston operation. Most air cylinders have several different mounting types available.
Choose from guided cylinders, clamping cylinders, stopper cylinders, rodless cylinders, compact cylinders, round body cylinders, and standard cylinders. In contrast to air cylinders, rotary actuators rotate objects around an axis. They use compressed air that produces continuous torque. Airtac's rotary actuators have a double rack-and-pinion design. Air enters through a port that pushes the piston linearly, which causes the connected rack's gear teeth to engage with the teeth of the circular pinion and rotate the pinion shaft up to 360 degrees. Rotary actuators also come with cushioning which allows for quieter operation.
** When choosing thread type, please reference the following standards: NPT – American standard taper pipe threads for general use M – Metric screw threads M profile Rp or G (BSPP) – British standard pipe (parallel) threads PT – JIS taper pipe threads
