Reintroduction and project thread

[deereman75]

Morning everyone. Doubtful anyone actually remembers me after disappearing for the better part of a decade....
Long story short I'm off living on an acreage and running a machine shop in Canola farming country now.
Not really doing any social media anymore so I figured I'd come back here. Starting this thread for some of the more interesting projects I come across. All in one place so it's easier to follow if someone is interested, and easier to ignore for everyone else.
Hope everyone is doing well with this mess of a year we've been having

 

[deereman75]

Starting off with a job that came in recently. I rebuild these cylinders off large air drills for one of the local equipment dealers. Mostly lathe work these.

 

[deezler]

Welcome (back). How do those cylinders get bent so hard?

 

[deereman75]

Welcome (back). How do those cylinders get bent so hard?

It's bad design or user error depending on point of view. On these specific air drills if you leave it in transport mode with the wings down, going over a bump on one side makes the other wing over center and it bends both cylinders on that wing at the same time.
5.5" bore 36" stroke cylinders with 2" rods, so to bend a pair of them is a fair bit of force....

 

[ovrszd]

I've got two cylinders I've bent thru stupidity. Can I straighten the rams in my press with any chance of success??

 

[deereman75]

Not to say it's impossible, but I've never seen it done successfully. The issue is if it isn't absolutely perfect you can ruin the gland and the tube. It will cycle until it galls the inside of the gland, the piston, and the bore of the tube. And at that point you're basically at throw it out or spend more than it's worth to fix. And you also run the risk of the shredded off bits of steel running through your hydraulic system and causing all sorts of other expensive damage.

Very small cylinders (the sort available for $200 or so from the various sellers of chinese hydraulic components) usually arent worth fixing. For large or expensive ones the rods are typically replaced. My shop buys 24' lengths of SuperChrome shafting, cuts to length, and then lathe threads or welds on ends as needed.

I've got two cylinders I've bent thru stupidity. Can I straighten the rams in my press with any chance of success??

 

[deereman75]

Another recent one. A bit of reverse engineering on what used to be a shaft coupler on a disc that was no longer available. Started as a length of 5" round 1045. These jobs are where having a nice heavy lathe pays off.

 

[ovrszd]

The right tools and the knowledge to use them!!! Nice work!!!

 

[wdchyd]

Niiice Deereman, Glad to see another hyd shop owner on here. I do the same type of work. Used to buy a lot from Savik too but fees across the border and stinking freight carriers were enough to drive a person to drink.
Although we do mostly cyl work we are installing a 100hp test bench in our shop for pump and motor work.
What size lathes do you use?

 

[deereman75]

I really like that savik shafting...

I've got a whole mix of machines here, I do a lot of general machining and heavy equipment work in addition to hydraulics. Shafts and caterpillar parts mainly.
My big lathe is a 22x96 gap bed. I've got a beater 17x60 Voëst for spray welding, and a small standard modern for smaller parts.
Then milling machine, bandsaws, small cylindrical and large surface grinder, ect

Currently catching up on a few projects for myself before going back to paying work. Finished a new welding table out of a 40" lathe faceplate, and I've got a 90 ton press I'm just about finished rebuilding.

Niiice Deereman, Glad to see another hyd shop owner on here. I do the same type of work. Used to buy a lot from Savik too but fees across the border and stinking freight carriers were enough to drive a person to drink.
Although we do mostly cyl work we are installing a 100hp test bench in our shop for pump and motor work.
What size lathes do you use?