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. 

Rebuild Cab Tilt Cylinder Hino Prime Mover.

Most heavy duty Prime Movers utilise a hydraulically operated Cab tilt cylinder to raise and lower the cab for access to the engine for regular inspection and or maintenance. 

These cylinders eventually start to leak and are generally according to the manufacturer a throwaway replacement item ususally costing between $600 and in this case for Hino Prime Mover $3000.

The high cost of the Hino cab tilt cylinder comes from the fact that it is very well designed and built with wonderfull hydraulic and mechanical safety interlocks and electrical limit switches.

Mobile HoseFixers and Hydraulics Gold Coast removed striped cleaned, resealed, reassembled and reinstalled the cab tilt cylinder within 24 hours and they did it all for around 15% of the price of a new cylinder.

What High Pressure Hydraulic Oil Can Do To Piston Seal

Yesterday we spent the best part of 3 hours trouble shooting the erratic operation of a quick hitch valve on a 30 ton Sumitomo excavator. 

After dismantling the valve and picking pieces of black rubber out of the spool and valve body and wondering where the rubber was comming from, we flushed the lines and let the machine get back to work, after operating for 15 minutes and changing from bucket to ripper and then back to bucket the spool jamed again, During the second clean out cycle we found a small orange piece of plastic and that gave us the strong suspicion that the piston seals in the quick hitch cylinder had failed. 

After we removed the quick hitch and dismantled the cylinder this is what we found.