Fluid Power Journal

Large Punch Press Cylinder Stutters On Downward Extension

An OEM had a hydraulic distributor design an HPU for a punch press he wanted modified to punch large stainless-steel discs that were then sent to a forming …

Injection Molding Machine Not Up To Speed

  I was asked to help a student of ours with an injection molding machine that had trouble with the Extruder/Injection unit motor running slow. They …

Rotating Stage’s Hydraulic Motor Keeps Leaking

A large entertainment stage is rotated by a Geroler type hydraulic motor shown on the circuit. The regenerative center position on the directional valve …

Oil-heater Problems with a Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU) Located in an Unheated Shed

A metal fabrication shop has a 30-year-old bending press that can bend wide flange beams to a semi-circular shape. The machine was up-graded to bend larger …

Clamp and Drill Circuit Will Not Release the Part

A new hydraulic system was installed on an old “Clamp and Drill” machine. A PLC would shift a directional valve clamping the part and a proximity switch …

Directional Valve Seals Failing

I was asked to help inspect a 4″ bore, 2″ rod cylinder that had a 40″ stroke and an 8″ stop tube. It had a D05 size mounting pad …

Cylinder Speeds Up On Its Own

An aluminum mill has a system that pushes a large aluminum ingot from one conveyor to another. The operator complained that the pushing speed kept increasing …

Drifting and Lurching Cylinder on Food-Processing Equipment

In the food and pharmaceutical processing industries, leaking actuators can contaminate products and increase waste, not to mention the possibility of …

Intake Filter in a Mansion Elevator

A well-known actor had a small elevator installed in his mansion that sits on top of a Tennessee mountain. He wanted it to lift two people up 20 feet to a …

Walking Beam Cylinder Drifting Up

A processing plant in Pakistan had a walking-beam system that would move coils of finished product to shipping for processing. Several “pot-belly” …