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ML6® Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. We have a wide variety of hubbed drive rollers, hubless drive rollers, idler rollers, cam followers, bearings, and flat stock that are in stock, or readily available in a matter of days. They can be found under the products page.
Absolutely. Our unique and versatile prototype and production process can deliver parts in volumes as low as one piece, in as little as 5 business days. Typically, our customers come to us to develop a single tested and working prototype, and want to put that part into standard production once proof of concept is shown. Once we have standardized any part, it can be repeated an infinite number of times, with cost effective and repeatable results.
Typically, customers have parts in-hand in as little as 1-2 weeks. Meridian Laboratory experts are also available for assistance with part development, in these instances lead time will vary dependent on project scale, but thanks to our in-house capabilities we are extremely cost effective and quick in building molds and delivering long-lasting solutions. Stock parts can often be shipped the same day as purchase. The advantage of choosing Meridian Laboratory is that we can provide low volume tooling to accommodate prototype and low volume needs, and scale accordingly to meet your higher volume, production level requirements.
Durometer is a way of measuring the hardness of relatively soft materials. Generally speaking, harder durometers tend to be more wear resistant, and softer durometers tend to have more friction. Meridian Laboratory ML6® polyurethane offers durometers of 40, 55, 70, 80, and 90 on the Shore A scale. More information on durometer can be found here.
Yes! Recoating old rollers and parts is a very cost effective method for salvaging old parts. Meridian Laboratory is able to recoat rollers that we originally produced, as well as rollers from other manufacturers. Click here to learn more.
Yes! Meridian Laboratory has the ability to manufacture single parts as well as large production runs of thousands of pieces. We have the ability to make cores and rollers out of a wide variety of materials ranging from aluminum to titanium, and also plastics.
Yes! We are happy to coat rollers that are supplied by the customer. Once we receive the parts, we will prepare the surfaces that are to be coated, as no surface preparation needs to be done by the customer.
ML6® is unique in that we can hold extremely tight tolerances without grinding the material. We can hold diameter tolerances of .001”, and a TIR (total indicated runout) of .001” per foot. More information regarding the advantages of ML6 can be found here.
The effective operating temperature range of ML6® is -20°F to 200°F.
No! Our minimum order is 1 part.
ML6® is unique in that it can hold very tight tolerances without grinding. This leaves a perfect surface finish that has a better coefficient of friction, and is impervious to contamination since the cell structure is not opened through grinding or finishing. This results in a better performing, and longer lasting part. More information regarding the advantages of ML6 can be found here.
No! Although ML6® was originally developed as a high friction drive roller for the paper and card stock feeding industry, over the past 55 years our customers have found some very unique applications because of its unique characteristics. We routinely produce tubes, flat clamps, gaskets, bumpers, curved grippers, and have even produced blocks for ballistic testing!
Determining the life expectancy of ML6® is rather difficult. It is largely dependent on the application specifics, such as the material that it is driving, speed that it is operating, and the cleanliness of the environment. Although we cannot give a life expectancy, one thing that we can guarantee is that it will outlast our competitors’ material. Because of the perfect surface finish of ML6, our customers often choose a harder durometer than our competitors’ material because it has better friction characteristics, and the harder material will inherently last longer. The perfect surface finish is also closed cell (unlike ground rollers) and will not become embedded with swarf and other contaminants, which expedites wear.
Many of our customers have come to us because they have found that polyurethane on competitors’ rollers often slips or falls off. We have developed a proprietary bonding process that results in a bond that is stronger than the material itself. Contrary to other manufacturers, we bond and cure the polyurethane all in one step, never pressing or sliding the polyurethane over (unless our customer desires this style of production).
Yes! Meridian Laboratory has application and integration engineers that have helped customers for over 55 years. We can analyze an application and offer suggestions such as durometer and design that will give our customers the most effective and affordable solution.
Yes! Feel free to call us of fill out our online request which can be found here.
See a full list of details regarding the advantages of our ML6® polyurethane here.
Contact Us
Meridian Laboratory
2415 Pleasant View Rd.
Middleton, WI 53562
Phone (608) 836-7571
T. Free (800) 837-6010
info@meridianlab.com
Meridian Laboratory
2415 Pleasant View Road, Middleton
5.0 43 reviews
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Alex Charters
★★★★★
7 months ago
I contacted Meridian Laboratory to obtain a slip ring for my Undergraduate Senior Capstone project. The project required a slip ring capable of highspeed data transfer with very little noise to drive an LED bar on a fan to generate images. … More Sven Krause was very knowledgeable and responsive and helped me figure out what product I needed. He even managed to get the slip ring donated to our team and had great advice on how to integrate it into our project. The project was a huge success thanks to Meridian Laboratory.
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Michael D
★★★★★
3 years ago
I found Meridian's polyurethane ML6 fit and finish to be superior to other rollers we had sourced in the past. The tolerances were very tight and eliminated a lot of the jamming issues we were experiencing from the OEM's parts. … More
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Joseph Ippoliti
★★★★★
2 weeks ago
I searched for a proper rotary ground and never found anything that was high quality, priced right and reasonably sized until I found Meridian Laboratory. Adam from technical sales guided me through options and quickly zeroed into a solution … More that was perfect for us.
Communications were great for payment and shipping and the unit arrived as promised.
What I received it, it was like a jewel. High quality, perfect size and installed in minutes. The ground works flawlessly at any rotation.
I highly recommend Meridian Laboratory. We were able to install the rotary ground and simply forget it. It works that well. -
Mike Brown
★★★★★
a year ago
We purchased 16 of the Rotocon MC500 Rotary Ground Assemblies. Your product is amazing, they work great and are rolling 20 hours a day still just fine. We have had them in service since December of 2019 and they have been absolutely bullet … More proof. This was the perfect solution to our power transfer problem.
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Joseph Robinson
★★★★★
3 months ago
I have nothing but good things to say about working at Meridian Laboratory. I have developed lots of new skills during my time there such as how to use a variety of machines, how to communicate effectively with others and time management. … More Meridian has a very friendly work environment and is very welcoming. All of the other employees are very friendly and are always willing to help out if you ask. Scheduling is very flexible and management is very good. I have not had one day that I didn’t enjoy working at Meridian Laboratory.