Blog has moved to https://www.mobilehosefixersgoldcoast.com.au/blog/ Rotary Coupling Manifold E45 Bobcat Excavator Remove and Reseal

Mobile Hose Fixers & Hydraulics 
Removes, Reseals and Re Installs Rotary Manifold on Bobcat E45 Excavator in 7 hours.

Have you ever wondered how the high pressure hydraulic oil (at 270 Bar 4000 PSI) that operates most of functions on an excavator can reach the track drive motors and blade while at the same time the cab, operator, boom, dipper, and bucket and the rest of entire top assembly (including counter weight and engine) can continue to rotate in either direction? 

Answer = A Rotary Manifold, Rotary Coupling or Rotary Joint.

To see a great visual explanation on how these rotary couplings work check out this pretty interesting youtube video, for earth mover section skip to 1:15 seconds in.

Heavy equipment rotary coupling starting at 1:15 seconds  

What is a Rotary Manifold ?
Simply explained a rotary Manifold is a large diameter drilled and grooved shaft that rotates in a fixed high pressure cylinder. 

The cylinder barrel has ports drilled along its length and the shaft is specially drilled and grooved to distribute the high pressure oil through to the ports drilled in the cylinder barrel. 

Multiple special seals and O rings are used to isolate each of the individual grooves or sections machined into the shaft. It is very clever and at the same time to so incredibly simple. 

The Symptoms of a Bad Rotary Coupling 
These can Vary from simply annoying to weird  for example

• Oil leaking on to the ground or into the belly of the machine
• Strange track drive performance (some operators call it a Lazy Drive) pushing both drive levers fully forward and the machine does track straight and either veers to the left or right and you having to compensate with less power to the more powerful less Lazy Drive. 
• Operating one function like the high speed and having the blade move up or down 
• Having to constantly adjust the blade Up because it keeps creeping down.

All the symptoms above could be indications that the seals in the rotary coupling may have deteriorated or failed. 

There are a series of test that we can carry out to confirm that it is the seals in your machine's rotary coupling that have failed and it is not the track drive motors or cylinder seals on the blade that are the problem.  Contact us with the link below.      

Want us to trouble shoot your Excavator problem or for Bobcat Service Maintenance and Hydraulic Hose Repairs, please click here

Rotary coupling assembly removed from  machine  after disconnecting all hydraulic hoses and removing some adaptors and location bolts 

Grooved and sealed rotary shaft each grove represents a function in this example 8 grooves for 8 functions, for example, Left Track Motor Forward & Reverse Grooves 1 & 2 , Right Track Motor Forward & Reverse grooves 3 & 4 , Track Drives High Speed Mode groove 5, Track Motors Case Drain groove 6,  Blade Up & Down grooves 7 & 8 . 

Total time including draining hydraulic oil tank disconnecting and reconnecting all hoses and testing, 7 hours. (please not rotary coupling seals need to be ordered in advance of job commencing)

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Prototype Custom Built Harvester attachment built and tested in 3 weeks.

We recently had the pleasure of working with a bunch of talented guys on a Prototype Harvester for an International Client.
Because of Intellectual Property we can't say much about what the prototype harvests and how it works.
Other than the prototype uses electronically controlled Hydraulic Sectional Valve to move Hydraulic Cylinders that adjust shutes, compactors and cutter angles and Hydraulic motors to operate a series of mechanical cutters and Rotate blowers.
The great win on this project was that, what is pictured below was Fabricated, Painted, Hosed, Wired up and Tested all in 3 weeks.
It was great to work with a team of people right here on the Gold Coast with many backgrounds, specialties and skills who just dug in a got the Job done, very nice working with you Gents.

Win a Mini Bar Fridge Full of Beer or Energy Drink of your Choice

Win a Mini Bar Fridge FULL with Your choice of BEER* or Energy Drink.

GLASS DOOR MINI BAR FRIDGE - 52 LITRES

- COOL CURVED DOOR- LED DISPLAY

• Double glazed.
• Reversible door with lock.
• Manual temperature control with Blue LED temperature display.
• Dimensions: W: 435mm x D: 520mm x H: 510mm.
• Internal Dimensions: W: 380mm x D: 380mm x H: 410mm.
• Compressor driven with R134A refrigerant, 45g.
• Shelf positions are 140mm, 195mm, 280mm, 335mm from floor.
• Holds 38 x stubbies and/or cans.
• Weight: 20kg.
• Input Power: 80 Watt.
• Power Consumption: 0.8Kwh/24hr.
• Warranty: 12 months parts and labour.
• Australian MEPS compliance approved.

For every Job or Legitimate* referral you give us, you get One chance to Win. Call Now 0n

07 5571 6155 or E-mail your order / referral to sales@mhfgc.com.au or TEXT to 0431 022 452.

Dates from Sat 29 Aug 2015 to Wed 30 Sep 2015. * Conditions Apply

For more info please visit, http://www.mhfgc.com.au/index.php/news

Lost a Customer or Client Recently? Reasons They Left & Where they Went!

If you have recently Lost a Customer or Client, what do you think is the most common answer to the reasons they left & went elsewhere!

Of the 5 categories below take a guess as a % what the true answers are.

1. Have a relationship at a High level Customers had a close relationship with one of your employees who moved to another company or started their own business. Your guess _ _ %?
2. Convenience Means a person chose not to deal with your business and instead went elsewhere because it was more convenient to purchase there. Your Guess _ _ %?
3. Miscellaneous A number of random reasons that can not be categorised. Your Guess _ _ %?
4. Product, Time, Price, Means a potential customer wanted a certain product or service at a certain time and or at a certain place whenever that may have been (now or in the future) and you were not able to accommodate them no matter what the price was. Your guess _ _ %?
5. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _? Take a guess at what best represents the missing reason that customers chose not to buy and leave a business. Your guess _ _ %?

While you are pondering an answer to Category 5, read the following 3 points, they may help you to generate a reason.

• Only 4% of unhappy customers will actually speak up and tell you why they are unhappy, the remaining 96% will keep their mouth shut and just leave, however 91% will never come back!

• An unhappy or disappointed customer will on average tell 10 other people how you, your company and or employees disappointed them. One in 5 of those disappointed customers will tell more than 20 people!

• A customer who has had a great and or satisfying experience with you, your employees and or your company will tell on average another 5 people.  

Answers 

No 1, Have a relationship at a high level = 4%,

No 2, Convenience = 9%,

No 3, Miscellaneous = 5%,

No 4, Product, Time, Price, = 14%, 

No 5, = Perceived Indifference = 68% This means 68% of customers felt that you and or your employees did not really care enough about them and whether they purchased from you or not. Additionally you and or your team failed to regularly contact them and or to provide them with personal individual attention. 68%! 
So how do you improve on your perceived indifference in the eyes of your current and potential new customers?

Ask yourself and your employees to answer the following questions.

• Do you answer the phone between 3 -6 rings every time?
• Does every caller get asked for permission before they are put on hold?
• Do you make sure no one is on hold for more than 30 seconds?
• Do you have an on hold message to listen to?
• Do you thank your customers or potential customers for calling?
• Do you greet your clients the moment you see them walk through the door? even when you are busy and or on the phone.
• Do you thank your customers or potential customers for visiting your business?
• Do you thank your customers for purchasing from you?
• Do you and your employees always arrive on time for meetings with customers.
• Do you deliver products and services when you say you will every time?
• Do you always let your customers know before hand if there is a problem?
• Do you always return phone calls the same day you get the message?
• Does each of your employees take responsibility for helping customers or do they hand off customer problems to one another or from department to department?
• Do you always ask for more information when you are asked about the price of a product or service?
• Do you always follow up on your customers in the days or weeks after they have purchased a product or service of you to make sure that they are happy?
• Do you stay in touch with your customers regularly?
• Do you ever surprise them by giving them a small gift?
• Do you keep them informed about new things happening in your business?
• Do you thank your internal customers your employees for being part of your business?

And Finally the "Net Promoter Score" this is one simple question asked by many large and successful corporations. 

They ask their customers the following simple question,
"On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being least likely and 10 being most likely, How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a colleague, relative or another business?"   

The goal is an average score of 8 or above. A score of 7 or less is considered not good enough and warrants further investigation and improvement . 

Please feel free to post comments and share with us your wins or fails.

140 Ton Custom Built Hitachi Demolition Excavator ("the Big Girl") Devours a 10 Storey Hospital building in 6 months!

Over the past few months we have had the pleasure to apply our Mobile HoseFixing services to some of the largest demolition equipment ever seen on the Gold Coast.
It started with us fixing rotation hoses, muncher hoses and pulveriser hoses on a 60 ton Komatsu and then on a 70 ton Hitachi long arm. Muncher hoses for the 70 ton were 1" inside diameter had to be rated from 4000 and 5000  PSI working pressure.

After a couple of months we heard rumors that " a Big Girl" was on her way to site.  And arrive she did. The Big Girl took 2 weeks to assemble and once complete weighed in at 140 metric tons.

The Big Girl was built in Japan by Hitachi as an excavator and then shipped to England for special modifications to convert her to demolition duties. Australia has very strict rules when it comes to demolition,  so the fancy and speedy collapsing of a building in a cloud of dust and airborne particles by detonating explosives is pretty rare these days.

The Big Girl is equipped with Extra wide tracks, a 3 stage telescopic boom, 4 hydraulic Pumps generating pressures between 200 and 340 Bar (3000 and 5000 PSI) and a 800 liter hydraulic oil tank.
She does not swing a wrecking ball or use her huge mass to push or crush a building but rather she uses specialised attachments to bite, pulverise, munch and persistently gnaw the building down to the ground.
These special attachments require very high hydraulic pressures to operate effectively and we have had to assemble hoses, fittings and valves rated to 400 Bar (6000 PSI). Hoses designed to operate at these pressures can be reinforced with up to 6 layers of spirally wound high tensile steel wire.

Repairs and Maintenance on the Big Girl Elevated Work Platform Required. 

Contact Mobile Hose Fixers & Hydraulics for 24 / 7 Emergency Breakdown Repairs

Hydraulics Apps that will save you Time, Money and give you more professional image.

Ever blown a hydraulic hose and lost most of the hydraulic oil in the tank and then wondered how much oil you are going to need to re fill it? 

Remember when you were in maths class at school and you learned the fomula for volume ?

No? You were sick that day , or you were busy drawing a caricature of the teacher or it was Friday and you were daydreaming of what you would do on the weekend when you eventually woke up or .... school ...!  Dude ! that was was like .... 25 years ago!

FYI the formula for Volume = Length x Width x Height. All you need is a tape measure and a calculator and then the skills to convert the cubic volume calculated into something usefull like litres or gallons. 

We have had a few training sessions on how to calulate volume of tanks and the more complicated hydraulic cylinders and circular tanks. With some ...... success. We had an incident earlier this month that required multiple trips back to the workshop to get more oil because the volume of the hydraulic tank was estimated rather than calculated.

Now there are apps that you can download for free direct to your smart phone, tablet, iPad or iPhone and all you have to do is enter some dimensions in metric or imperial and all is calculated into usefull and understandable numbers in a matter of seconds. Additionally the entire calculation can then be copied and attached to an email or text message and sent to anyone for their information and further analysis.

Both of the apps shown below are screen shots from free apps by Zanthic Innovations Inc.

First is from Hydraulic Power Unit Calculator this app it also includes a power and torque calculator.

The second screen shot is from Hydraulic Cylinder Calculator this app will also give you the extened and retract speed of a cylinder and the forces generated if you know the pressures and flow rates.

Have fun with these apps and we hope the new financial year is great one for you. 

Screen shot,  Hydraulic Power Unit  Calculator.

Screen Shot, Hydraulic Cylinder Calculator.

What does a hydraulic cylinder from a 20 ton crane have in common with a hydraulic cylinder from a Mercedes Benz convertible?

They both require a 10 year inspection and rebuild.

With the crane it is mandatory and is required by Australian Law. 

Generally the size and design of these cylinders allow for dismantling cleaning and resealing with the use and application of specialist tools, skills and techniques.

The Mercedes Benz convertible cylinder as with most other makes of convertible car, the internal seals in the clylinder eventually deteriorate and fail causing the roof to malfunction, and worst of all

allowing the synthetic oil to leak out and stain the car's roof trim and leather seats.

Car manufactureres will advise you that the cylinders are not repairable and must be replaced with a new unit this includes their associated high pressure hoses. Generally this is not the case and Mobile HoseFixers & Hydraulics Gold Coast have successfully dismantled and resealed many of these cylinders at a fraction of the new replacement cost. They have also remanufactured many high pressure hoses for Astras, Saabs, VW, Audi and Mercedes Benz.