This work intends to show the possibility of using active pins in rotating machines to reduce amplitudes of orbits at critical situations through an analytical investigation with experimental validations. The pins shall operate as a safety measure when the rotor becomes unstable or starts to oscillate by any reason. To this purpose a thorough study is made of the influence of the presence of pins inside the retainer bearing. Four pins were installed within two existing test rigs in the laboratory. Their actuation comes from step motors, which insert them until a certain length in the inner side of the retainer bearing, or the gap between the rotor and the bearing wall. First, a mathematical approach of the involved phenomena is developed, providing the equations to perform numerical simulations of the system. Then, experiments where performed in the test rigs and relevant data were collected and compared to the simulation results. They showed positive accordance, which helped to validate the concept of properly inserting active pins inside the retainer bearings to avoid possible hazardous conditions, such as, friction, full annular rubbing, and abrasive effects.