Converting Pneumatics to Hydraulics

[TexasSD]

A buddy of mine is cleaning out a warehouse full of obsolete cabinet making equipment. In addition to a lot of steel that I am going to scavenge, the equipment has a bunch of pneumatic cylinders that he said I could have.

Some of my projects are going to require hydraulic cylinders, so in the spirit of recycling (and generally being cheap), I was wondering if these cylinders could be used as is or modified for hydraulic use.

Thanks for the help!


Scott

 

[schmism]

the problem with the pneumatics is they arnt in the same force range as hydrolics.

avg hydrolic pressures are 1-2K psi.... avg pneumatic line pressure is 100-150PSI... or an order of magiatude less.

so what might be a 4000lb hyrolic ram is now a 400lb pn3eumatic ram... ie not good for much in the tractor world...

 

[TexasSD]

the problem with the pneumatics is they arnt in the same force range as hydrolics.

avg hydrolic pressures are 1-2K psi.... avg pneumatic line pressure is 100-150PSI... or an order of magiatude less.

so what might be a 4000lb hyrolic ram is now a 400lb pn3eumatic ram... ie not good for much in the tractor world...

I thought the pressures would be the major issues, but was unsure how the differences in fluid dynamics between air and oil would affect the ram's performance.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[RonMar]

The fluid dynamics are the same, PSI applied to the surface area of the piston determines ram force. Unfortunatly, if you plumb them into a typical hydraulic system, they will burst as you will be exceeding their pressure rateing by nearly 10X.