Rod and Buffer Seals
The rod seal is the last barrier before the outside world; the buffer seal sits behind it and absorbs pressure peaks. Used as a pair, they keep the rod dry and stop pressure spikes reaching the primary lip. SES holds the range as an authorised SKF distributor, covering rod range From a few mm to over 1 000 mm; pressure Rod seals to 40 MPa; buffer seals take the peaks above that; rod finish Ra 0,05 to 0,3 µm, hard chrome plated; materials Polyurethane, NBR, PTFE with elastomer energiser. Executions include single-acting rod seal, rod seal with integral back-up, PTFE buffer seal with vent, elastomer buffer seal, among others. It is specified most often into long-stroke press and extruder rams and mobile plant boom and steering cylinders. Every part is genuine SKF through official channels, with designation, specification and options confirmed against your duty before it ships — supplied from Kolkata and our branch network, with breakdown cover that does not sit in an inbox.
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Rod seal
Primary barrier against external leakage
Buffer seal
Takes pressure peaks ahead of the rod seal
Arrangement
Buffer, rod seal, then wiper outboard
Materials
Polyurethane, NBR, PTFE compounds
Where it runs.
You will find Rod and Buffer Seals in the parts of a plant where this particular duty actually occurs. In practice that means long-stroke press and extruder rams, mobile plant boom and steering cylinders, hydraulic hoists and lifting tables, and equally slab pusher and manipulator cylinders in rolling mills, test rig and servo actuator rods, crane outrigger and jib cylinders. What links them is the duty rather than the machine name — rod seal: Primary barrier against external leakage. If your installation is not on that list it matters less than you would think: the operating condition decides the specification. Send us the load, the speed, the running temperature and the environment it runs in, and we will match it to the right execution in the SKF range and confirm what is in stock.
Specify it against the duty.
Specification here follows the operating condition, not the catalogue. The circuit shows sharp pressure spikes on direction changes — A PTFE-based buffer seal with a vent to the annulus. Trapped fluid between buffer and rod seal will otherwise push the rod seal outward and it will leak permanently. Rod film is leaving visible oil rings on the shaft — A rod seal with a sharper sealing edge and check the rod finish. Too smooth a rod is as bad as too rough — the lip has nothing to hold a film on. The cylinder cycles rapidly and heats the rod gland — Low-friction materials for both elements. Heat generated at the lip is what degrades polyurethane long before the fluid temperature gauge shows anything. Where two of those apply at once, specify for the harsher of the two — under-specifying is what puts the part back on the bench a month later. Send us the duty and we will confirm the execution.
Ordering this from SES.
A cylinder that starts leaking soon after a reseal has usually had the buffer seal fitted without its vent notch clear. Check the vent orientation against the drawing before the gland goes back on. Send the designation off the failed part and we will confirm the SKF equivalent and stock position.