Levers

Have you ever wondered what levers exactly are and what they are used for in industry, i.e. industrial levers? These questions are asked by many people who handle levers of all kinds every day and use them on all kinds of technical equipment. But levers are not only used in the industry, but also in many other areas of hobbyists, cyclists and all other imaginable areas for sports and leisure. These very important clamping elements have developed first after a time when applications, especially in mechanical engineering, have become more and more sophisticated and are problem solvers for all possible fields of application. But we will be happy to come back to this later. We would like to show you which possibilities of levers exist in industrial applications and how they differ in part. We will also explain the use of levers in more detail and which materials are used. In the following we would also like to briefly discuss the modes of action so that you can see the differences between levers. We would like to start with the construction of levers of all types. A lever is, as the name suggests, a clamping element that can be operated either by adding a tool or purely by hand. However, we would like to go into more detail here about levers that can be clamped and released by manual clamping force. A lever element usually consists of at least two parts, which can work together as levers. This control element always has a kind of screw attachment to which the lever is attached in such a way that it can be tightened and loosened so comfortably by hand that a greater force is not necessary, so that a high locking torque can be generated at the screw of the lever. This relatively high locking torque can only be achieved by manual operation of the lever if the arm of the locking lever can be of a realistic length. Now then the force applied at the end of the lever can be converted into the greatest possible torque at the screw under the lever. The basic materials used for the lever production are always the highly resilient plastics. However, these are only possible for the operating lever itself, since the screw part below the lever must always be made of metal or steel. Of course, normal steels are also used for the lever itself. But also stainless steel levers which can be made of V2A or even V4A.

The lever with a plastic levers is, as already mentioned, the most cost-effective alternative to levers made of steel or stainless steel. These types of fastenings are always constructed in such a way that the main support is made of a metal bolt, i.e. the screw of the lever. Because this part, where the thread is located, must always be made of steel, so that the load, which is generated by the tightening through the thread, can be held safely and without breakage. The components that are to be clamped by the lever should have a high lead resistance even after tightening and yet still securely connect the two components. To ensure that this function can also be safely released, the interaction of these levers can only be achieved by using two different materials. With these levers it is often the case that the screw is a part constructed in this way, which is made of steel and is secured against corrosion in a galvanized form. On the head of the screw is a toothing, which is of course also worked into the metal. Now the plastic handle comes into play. This has of course also the same toothing mechanism, so that the lever can be moved when screwing in and the screw of the plastic lever can be screwed in around its own axis. The lever is then secured by a corresponding spring, which presses the plastic lever again and again in the direction of the toothing and thus can engage. To prevent the construction from falling apart, the lever attachment is secured by a screw.

Levers are available in all imaginable shapes and materials. But especially in mould making or for demanding applications, levers made of bare steel are still a very stable alternative to levers made of plastic handles. These variations are also available in many different designs. These metal levers are used in various designs. But in this article we would like to go into more detail about the construction of solid steel levers. As a rule, these levers also have a screw core, which should hold the components together. This serves as a secure fastening and must always be made of steel. So that the load-bearing capacity between the components can also be safely set. These levers can be designed as clamping levers or tension levers or also as eccentric lever tensioners. They all have the bolt core in common with the head. On this head there is always a detent on a normal lever, which allows the lever arm to engage. This has the same ratchet head and is pressed by a spring again and again into the correct position, down. This lever is secured by another small screw in the head of the lever arm. The lever can now be adjusted almost indefinitely by means of the raster position and can then be tightened with the hands. These all-steel lever arms naturally require a special surface treatment to prevent corrosion in the long term. This can be a paint coating or a bronzing or similar surface protection.

The lever, which is made entirely of stainless steel and can be used in industry, is a very special type of fastening element. Here we would like to present a lever material which can be produced from two different alloys. On the one hand, these lever arms and the fastening screws can be made of a stainless steel V2A, which is very robust against normal water indoors or outdoors and also against humidity. The second variant is the stainless steel V4A. This alloy for the levers represents the greatest and highest level of resistance among the lever arms. This alloy can be used without hesitation in all kinds of liquids that can be aggressive, such as salt water and alkalis and acids. The lever arms withstand all attacks and liquids. With this material the screw body and the lever arm as well as the internal components are completely made of V4A stainless steel and are insensitive. The surface can of course be sandblasted or polished to a high gloss. This gives the material a beautiful surface with an additional optical effect. Lever arms can be placed as accents on visible machine parts, which will appear even more valuable and thus increase the value. Of course these levers can also be produced and installed as painted surfaces.