Insane Hydraulics

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Let's Talk Hydraulics

This section is devoted to all possible and impossible hydraulics-related issues.


Aftermarket Spares - Thoughts and Examples
Something You Should Know Before Overhauling a Parker PVplus Pump
Know Your Code Names!
Field Test of a Closed Loop Pump
Wrapping My Head Around the Pilot-to-Open Check Valve Mounted on a Double-Acting Hydraulic Cylinder
How Making Diagrams Can Help You Learn Hydraulics
Best (Free!) Software for Drawing Hydraulic Diagrams
Check Your Pressure Sensors Regularly (And Some Sentimental Thoughts)
Back-Engineering for the Sake of Learning Industrial Hydraulics
How to Transform Closed-Center Double-Acting Spools of Monoblock DCVs
Magic Number Two or Thoughts About Specific Heat of Hydraulic Oil
AC Motor Driven Test Benches - Don't Forget About Power Factor!
Post-Compensation for Dummies - Part One
Post-Compensation for Dummies - Part Two
Pre-Compensated Flow Control With Flow Sharing?!!
Pre-Compensated Flow Control With Flow Sharing - Compensator Example (and Some Catalog Talk)
My IoT Story - the Beginning
How Good Is Your ServiceJunior Digital Pressure Gauge?
If You Use Pressure Transmitters and Pressure Transducers You Should Read This!
Adjusting Relief Valves in Hydraulic Systems - The Easy Way or The Hard Way?
17 Good Things About Being a Hydraulic Technician
14 Bad Things About Being a Hydraulic Technician
Shaft Seals That Can Break Your Pump
To Dither or Not to Dither - That is the Question!
Never, but Never Trust a New Hydraulic Pump or Motor
LS Line Flow - Another Way to Get in Trouble
Can Pump Flow Test Predict The Life Span?
4-Way Directional control Valves - Which Way Will the Oil Go?
Copying Load Sensing Pressure While Thinking About Self-Education
Broken Not Broken Pumps
Combining a Danfoss PVG32 and a Kawasaki K3V63DT into an NFC System
A New Way to Steer with a Danfoss PVG32 Valve
How High is Your Low?
Reading Charge Pressure - Where and What For
Closed Loop Flushing
Infrared Gadgets
Hydraulic motors - barrels and shafts - Do you know what drives what?
Severe Service Negligence or How to Win a Stupidity Competition
About Closed Loop Bypass Systems and "Bogus" Failures
Use of Pressure Filters in Closed-Loop Transmissions
Gear Motor Stall
The Best Hydraulic Component Repair Tip In The World
The Ideal Hydraulic Pump Test Bench - Part One
The Ideal Hydraulic Pump Test Bench - Part Two
About "Left" and "Right" Adjustments
Old Diesel Driven Hydraulics or Can You Stop the Monster?
A Hydraulic System That Would Not Stop
Troubleshooting Low Flow in Closed Center Load Sensing Systems
The Perfect Instrument for Measurement of Low and Extremely Low Flow Rates.
A Couple of Tips on Drilling Small Diameter Orifices
Cavitation in Hydraulic Systems
Add-On to the Article on Cavitation in Hydraulic Systems
Why The Fifth Hole?
Two "Secret Crane Weapons" for "Economical" Simultaneous Operation
Does Sporadic Oil Cleanliness Analysis Make Sense?
Catalogue Fever
How Test Hoses Affect the Ability to Read Pressure Spikes
Can You Use Your Hands to Diagnose Hydraulic Equipment?
Pressure Gauge That Measures Pressure Through Walls
Two Small Symptoms than may be Indicating an Imminent Failure of a Hydraulic Pump
Closed Loops and Buckets...
Excessive Case Pressure in Pumps With Internal Drain-to-Suction Line Connection
Want to Touch a Gear Pump?
Things That Can Go Wrong When You Assemble A Gear Pump
Once Again About Suction Filters
Calculating Displacement of a Gear Pump
Hydraulic Balance
A Word About Oil Baths
Before Disassembling an Orbital Motor...
Timing Orbital Motors Without a Manual
Gerotor Motors and Very Low Speed
Why Orbital Motors are a Poor Choice for Static Torque Creation
The Sixth Sense
A Trobleshooting Technique I See All The Time
Not so Obvious Obvious
Tandem Gear Pumps and Double Tanks
Checking Hydraulic Accumulator Pre-Charge Without a Charging Kit
Watch out for the Shuttle!
Relief Valves, Do You Always Test Them?
Finding Zero, Part 1
Finding Zero, Part 2
Finding Zero, Part 3
Setting Hydraulic Pumps With Lasers
Hydraulic System With no Oil Tank
His Name Was Hysteresis
Pressurized Fluid Hazards
The Reuse of Spilled Oil in a Shop
Watch Where You Step!
Fine-tuning Your PC
Danfoss Series 90 Multi-Function Valves
A Way to Flush
Ten Steps to Changing Hydraulic Oil
Multi-Section Gear Pump Vs Danfoss PVG32
Testing Solenoid Valves
When Your Hydraulics is Powerless
Silicone Fever
Bearings That Never Break
Bent-Axis Units - Using Displacement Limiters for Diagnostics
Managing Self-Oscillation of Displacement Controls with Controlled Leakage
Industrial DIY
How Oil Viscosity Affects Turbine Flow Meters
Baldest Pump Overhaul Ever!
Best Way to Learn Pump Troubleshooting
About the Use of Quick Couplings in Hydraulic Motor Drain Lines
Evaluating Pump Drains with The Five Plus Five Rule
Closed Loop Failure Due To Line Elasticity and How To Avoid It
If You Intend to Store a Pump or a Motor...
What Does 7500-Hour Wear Look Like?
Parker P1-100 Pump After 14000 Hours of Operation
Parker PV140 Hydraulic Pump After 14,000 Hours of Operation in Harsh Conditions
I Wonder if This Can Be Considered a Pump "Longevity Hack"?
Negative Flow Control vs Load Sensing - Which One is Better?
The Tale of the Golden Safety Rule
Turn Your Enemy Into Your Friend!
Random Thoughts About Selling Hydraulic Stuff
How to Make Your HPU Designs a Lot Better
An Impossible Shaft Seal Leak
Pressure-Dependent Swashplate Torque in Inline Axial Piston Pumps
DC Coils of Solenoid Operated Valves
This Wear Pattern can "Fool" You
Should You Cheap Out on Your Hydraulic Oil?
The Importance of Knowing Where The Grub Screw Plugs and Orifices Are Located in Your Hydraulic Pump
DIY Pressure Tester That Can Reach 1000 bar
Tackling Torque Limiting Pump Controls - Part One
Tackling Torque Limiting Pump Controls - Part Two
Tackling Torque Limiting Pump Controls - Part Three
Tackling Torque Limiting Pump Controls - Part Four (Going Hyperbolic!)
Tackling Torque Limiting Pump Controls - Part Five
Digital Vs. Analog
When Valves Sing
A Hidden Orifice in Rexroth A10VO series 52 Swash Plate You Should Know About
Testing the Cheapest Digital Pressure Gauge I Could Find
Testing Another Cheap Digital Pressure Gauge Kit
Another Way a Shuttle Valve Can Fail or Am I Too Paranoid?
Installation of Axial Piston Pumps Above The Oil Level
Be Careful When Overhauling "Hydraulic Twins"
A Left-Hand Valve Plate in a Right-Hand Pump?!!
Closed Loop Recommissioning - Know When to Be Paranoid About Cleanliness!
Looking Into SAE J517 Standard for Hydraulic Hoses
The Art of Setting Tapered Roller Bearings
Three (and a Half) Hydraulic Fittings That Can Fool a Technician
Seven Examples of Stupid Hydraulic Malfunctions
A Common Malfunction of Negative Flow Control Systems
Rant on Danfoss PVE Series 7 Electrohydraulic Actuators and Their Marking...
More On Pressure Filters and Hose Replacement
If You Use O-rings Every Day...
Getting Those Hydraulic Knowledge Nuggets
Interface Leakage Caused By O-rings Working as Pumps
Absolute vs Kinematic Viscosity of Hydralic Oil
Three Common Filter-Related Misconceptions
The Best Tool In The Arsenal Of a Hydraulic Technician
The First Three Things I Need to Know About a Hydraulic Shop to Tell if It's Any Good
Evaluating Leakage of a Rexroth A10VO100 Bias Servo-Cylinder
Leakage of Rexroth A10VO DFR Controller
Two Main Limitations of An Infrared Thermometer
What is Happening With the Hands-on Workforce in the Fluid Power Industry?
An Oscillating Closed Loop Transmission (and More)
My Thoughts on Applications of Helical Rotary Actuators
Determining the Best Radial Shaft Load Direction for Axial Piston Pumps
A Non-Reaction Orbital Steering Valve With... Reaction?!! - Part 1
A Non-Reaction Orbital Steering Valve With... Reaction?!! - Part 2
Orbital Hydraulic Motor Principle Explained
How a Danfoss Reaction Orbital Steering Valve Works
Orbital Steering Valves With Static Load Sensing
Another Way You Can Hurt Yourself Around Hydraulic Equipment
How Much of a Difference Can Three Hundredths of a mm Make?
A Relatively Advanced Filter Cart - My First Impressions
"Achilles Heel" Pump Design
Two Years With a FLIR Smartphone
Pressure Drop of an Elbow Fitting
Why Would Anyone Put a Check Valve in a Leg of a Bidirectional Closed Loop?
How to Determine the Maximum Working Pressure of a Hydraulic Cylinder Tube
Principle of Operation of the Axial-Piston Hydraulic Transformer
A Few Words on Volumetric Expansion of Hydraulic Hoses
Counter-Balance Valve Relief Function With A Closed-Center DCV
How to Get a Discount at Any Hydraulic Shop
What Should You Read to Learn Hydraulics?
Defeating That Back-Pressure
About the O-ring Patent and More...
Something to Bear in Mind When You Assemble Multi-Section Load Sensing DCVs
Let's Talk About Hydropneumatic Accumulators (Part 1)
Interesting Load Sensing Case and Thougths on Rushed Troubleshooting
When in Doubt - Bleed it Out!
Workshop Rage
Hydraulic Jacks, Solenoid Valves, Low Voltage and Broken Doors
Emotional Tune Up
Three Simple Checks
My First Animation Ever
Shoes Under Scope
Bar, Mpa, Atm, and an Almost Ruptured Hose
Difficult to Unscrew? - Use The Double-H Technique!!!
A Healthy Amount of Fooling Around
Disassembling Multi-Function Valves
Silly Mistake - with visual and audio example
Wax Motor Operation
How to Mount and Dismount Piston Rings in Hydraulic Pumps and Motors