Wheel Technology & Construction

JUNG machine skates are outfitted with patented JUWAthan wheels. This wheel material is superior in its performance characteristics over any traditional steel, nylon, composite and polyurethane wheels.

Why?

Conventional wheels have to be manufactured in a very dense and hard compound to withstand the high forces exerted by heavy loads. These hard materials have many disadvantages for the intended use.

That is why over many years of testing JUNG developed a material called JUWAthan for the specific use of rolling heavy loads. JUWAthan is based on polyurethane technology but it differentiates itself by a different chemical composition that allows the material to undergo a long baking process in an oven.

In its third generation, the resulting wheel material is softer, tougher and most importantly is highly elastic which is fundamentally different from any other high capacity wheel material available today. (see graph on hardness / durometer).

This elasticity provides the wheel many advantages that target the specific demands of heavy load moving:

Overcomes Obstacles

When a hard wheel material encounters an obstacle, the wheel gets stopped in its track. The wheel then has to go up an over this obstacle.

(Fig. 1) Problems with traditional wheels: Holes

JUWAthan's elasticity allows the wheel to mold around the obstacle to keep on going. So the wheels are more easily capable of bridging particles such as nails, debris, overcoming small ledges, or molding into recesses, countersunk rail tracks or expansion joints. (Qualification: The size of the obstacle must be small in comparison to the chosen wheel /skate size).

Non Floor Marking

Rubber or nylon materials often leave skid-marks on the floor as the material rubs off like chalk. JUWAthan will not create any such markings.

Non Floor Scratching

Scratching of the floor's surface can happen in two ways: A hard material such as steel or a very hard nylon can scratch floors usually during turns or misalignment of the wheels. However, most scratches happen when particles are pressed into a hard wheel such as nylon or even poly. The wheel then becomes embedded with particles which create little bumps and spikes in the wheel over time and with every rotation causes the floor to be scratches. The elasticity of JUWAthan in comparison will mold around any particles and prevents the particle to be embedded permanently which prevents any such problems. The softer material is naturally also much more floor protective.

(Fig. 2) Problems with traditional wheels: Embedded Debris

Non Floor Indenting

Hard wheel materials do not flex and the round shape acts as a spear into the ground. This often can cause indentations in the floor's surface.

JUWAthan will flatten out intentionally under load creating more of a flat contact area with the floor instead of a pointy contact. This also results in a much larger footprint reducing the pressure per square inch between the machine skates and the floor. Consequently JUWAthan will not indent floors.

Shock Absorbent

When a load is first placed onto the skates, the skates must absorb the initial impact which means the wheels must be able to withstand much higher load bearing capacity than the skate is rated for. JUWAthan's elasticity assures that the wheel can absorb the shock and will not crack. Under shock the wheels are formulated to work together with the flexible steel frames (JUNG steel frames are built like a bridge, they can flex and withstand impact forces).

Reliable (No Failure), Long Life Under Constant Use

A wheel can get destroyed from overloading, constant wear, particles embedding, impacts and cracking.

(Fig. 3) Problems with traditional wheels: Cracking & Fracturing

Taking all the factors mentioned together, a JUNG JUWAthan wheel is more reliable and less likely to fail, plus it has a much longer life expectancy because: Due to its shock absorbency, JUWAthan can handle higher impact loading forces and sudden shifts of the center of gravity. The material is less likely to get point-loaded caused by travelling over an obstacle because it will mold around obstacles and it will not be affected by bumps created by embedded particles.

(Fig. 4) Problems with traditional wheels: Bumps

JUWAthan is resistant against particle embedding. These particles often are the number one cause of wheel failures. A particle that gets embedded into the wheel causes the material to tear. This tear - just like on a wind shield - eventually gets bigger and causes the wheel to crack from the inside out.

Roll & Turn Easily

While this is the obvious requirement, at the high weight for load moving many wheel materials such as nylon or standard polyurethane will flatten out or deform into an oval shape under load and instead of rolling will drag behind. This problem is escalated when the load is allowed to rest on the load for longer periods of time often causing permanent deformation to the round shape.

JUWAthan rolls and turns easily even though a softer compound would suggest higher rolling resistance. This ease of rolling is achieved by the inner aluminum or steel core. The wheel actually rolls on the round core while the outside JUWAthan acts like a lining or padding. This also prevents the material from deforming permanently and the wheel always maintains its round shape.

Heat Dissipation

The immense forces exerted onto the wheels causes high temperatures just like heat build-up on car tires during rotation and breaking. This heat can lead traditional wheel material to slowly break down over time and aid in the eventual failure. JUWAthan, being baked in an oven is automatically resistant against simmering heat (see temperature ratings). Furthermore, the wheel's inside core construction is built to work with the axle and frame to act as a radiator, pulling away internal heat to dissipate it externally.

Ball Bearings

Unrelated to JUWAthan, wheels can also fail when cheap bearings get contaminated with sand. JUNG wheels are outfitted with sealed bearings to prevent any contamination. Furthermore, standard ball bearings are not very uniform causing unequal load distribution and high failure rates. JUNG only employs precision ball bearings with low tolerances to assure constant even load distribution.

Core

JUNG wheels are outfitted with aluminum cores on smaller machine skates and steel cores on the larger skates. The more expensive aluminum cores have proven to have the same capacity and reliability as steel but provides the smaller skates with lower weights to be more easily carried and transported plus the aluminum provides more corrosion resistance over steel.

Cost

JUWAthan wheels are made up of a specially formulated and engineered chemical composition. The production process differentiates itself from any other that includes a baking treatment. The wheels are then outfitted with sealed precision ball bearings and protective side caps inside the metal core. Everything from the raw materials used, to the components utilized throughout the manufacturing process makes JUWAthan wheels more expensive but the exceptional level of quality is what separates these Made in Germany wheels from their standard counterparts. While traditional wheels may have to be replaced frequently at a high cost, JUNG rollers keep on transporting heavy loads for many years through daily use.

Conclusion

Machine skates outfitted with traditional nylon, standard polyurethane wheels, composite and steel wheels will transport a load from A to B. These wheel materials are, however, off-the-shelf materials not designed and formulated for the specific use of rolling heavy loads. Consequently users are confronted with a variety of performance problems. Furthermore, this performance rapidly declines with age as the wheels wear out and the user has to replace wheels at a high cost frequently.

JUWAthan-plus wheels on JUNG machine skates are superior to these traditional wheels in performance, reliability, life expectancy and operating cost. JUWAthan-plus is patented and exclusively available on JUNG machine skates.