Delrin vs. steel roller trucks

I am using steel, and it’s hardened and they are ground to very small tolerance.
I think the steel truck definitely removes a variable from the equation which is mostly wear and dimension tolerance.
And they will last very long.
We are pretty happy with them.
Delrin trucks never seemed very accurate to me.

I have no experience with stainless steel trucks but I have replaced worn steel trucks and Morgan expandable trucks with Delrin. I also used delrin trucks to build an inking unit for a manual roller press. In all three cases I found them reliable and accurate enough for even the most demanding work. That said, if I had the option of stainless steel at the same price I probably would have used that material. The derlin ones I have used do show wear but so far it has not affected their performance. I am pleased with them.

from the manufacturing side, Delrin is easier to cut making them cheaper. Main reason for using Delrin will save presses rails. Delrin is for the user not collector, they do not look to good on a old press.

Toddspresstime, you make a very good point.

When making press parts which act against each other, you always want to make the part which is harder to replace, out of the harder material, and the part that is easier to replace, out of the softer material. In this case, I recommend making the trucks out of the softest material which will give good service (e.g. delrin), because you don’t want to wear the rails down and be faced with having to repair them. You can replace the delrin trucks easily and with relatively small expense.

A common mistake of people who are not machine designers is to say, “I’ll make this part that wore out, out of a harder material so it won’t wear out again.” In most cases, such a part was purposely designed to wear out, to save a more expensive, harder-to-replace part.

That’s right Goeffrey, I totally agree.
But when you are using tape to control roller height I don’t think wear on the rails is an issue.

That’s a good point, Enriquevw.

this was a duplicate post