Designed from the ground up for the mobile tyre fitting operation, the velospin 1000 is actually a great balancer for anyone who is maybe tight on space or needs portability. Unlike other balancers designed for mobile use which require manual data input of the rim, the velospin 1000 offers totally automatic (3D) data entry, making it faster and more convenient to use.
Additionally, its clever design means it can be supplied in 3 different ways to suit the application:
Why buy a ‘handspin’ Wheel Balancer?
First of all, to fully understand the concept of the ‘handspin’ machine, that is a balancer which requires the user to spin the balancer up to speed as opposed to a motor, it is good to understand the history. Up until the late 1980s, most wheel balancers were 3 phase, and had to spin up to speeds of around 200 to 300 rpm in order to determine the imbalance of the rim.
Around 1988/1989, some very smart engineers left a then famous market leading garage equipment manufacturer in the US and got together to form their own company, with a view to executing some revolutionary ideas they had. Those ideas went on to change the direction of tyre and wheel service forever!
Balco, as the new company was called, based in California, produced a wheel balancer that was capable of accurately detecting the imbalance at just 90rpm, and for that, there was actually no need for a motor; the wheel could be easily ‘cranked’ up to speed by hand. This method provided a lot of advantages. Firstly, there was no motor to go wrong and this also reduced cost. Then there was no need for a cumbersome wheel guard, because the wheel didn’t spin fast enough to create any safety issues. Crucially, the third benefit was the fact that the machine could run from a conventional 110v or 240v supply, or even a 12v battery!
Despite some scepticism from customers, and criticism from nervous competitors, the handspin philosophy soon took a grip, and before long the WB90 Handspin Balancer, or Snapon WB200 as it became knwn in the US, became a best seller Worldwide. Nowadays, motors are cheap and most motorised balancers even operate at sub-100rpm. However, the handspin lives on, and has in fact progressed with the velospin 1000 offering features and specification normally only associated with machines 5 times the price!
So what was the other revolutionary ideas these guys had? Well, one was an engine management diagnostic unit, which went on to be the foundation for pretty much all of the scan tools we see today. The other, was a radical concept for wheel alignment, whereby they would use cameras similar to those used in the military at the time for targeting missiles, and use it to image ‘targets’ mounted on the rims of vehicles. This ingenious technology went on to become the first ‘3D’ aligner! But that’s another story…
