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Hydraulic Ram - Steel Type?


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Hello, all,

I just bought an old Case backhoe from the late 60s / early 70s and I may need to replace one or more of the hydraulic rams / cylinders because they are pitted and are likely to tear up the seals.

It occurred to me that the chromed steel in those hydraulic rams might be useful for blacksmithing. Does anyone know what type of steel would be typical to make them out of?

Also, might this type of steel be good for shafting on something with a lot of radial load? I may try to fabricate a bandsaw mill in a year or two, and will need something for shafts on the band wheels...and those bandsaw bands are under some God-awful tension.

Thanks for any information.

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Some Cylinder Rods are Chrome plated Cold-Rolled "Stressproof" type steel, ... and some are ground and polished Stainless.

A magnet might be useful in determining what you have, ... as would the appearance of rust, in areas where the Chrome was machined away.

 

"Stressproof" makes excellent shafting, ... but it would be hard to beat a couple of Trailer Spindles and Hubs, ... for making a Band Mill.

 

And while I'm giving unsolicited advice, ;) ... a direct drive Hydraulic Motor is a very simple, effective way to power such a device.

Especially when you already have a Backhoe, ... with a high-volume hydraulic system .....

.

 

 

 

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Hmmm...now ya got me thinking SmoothBore...many thanks! I'm not at the backhoe now, so I can't put a magnet on it, but will report back. (It doesn't "look" like SS...)

Though I like your idea on the hydraulic motor for the bandmill, I'll need the backhoe/loader to drag sawlogs to, and load them onto, the mill. So right now, I'm thinking of using one of those ChiCom 22 hp Chonda motors they sell at HFT for about $600 for the saw's power.

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20 hours ago, Crunch said:

 I'll need the backhoe/loader to drag sawlogs to, and load them onto, the mill.

Although it's not the most "convenient" possible situation, ... you can't run the "Hoe" and the Mill simultaneously, ... so why not a couple of "Ag" type ( Pioneer pattern) quick-couplers on the hydraulic system ?

Hooking up 2 hoses, isn't any more trouble than starting up a stand-alone gas engine, on the Mill.

And 22hp seem like serious overkill, just to turn such a Mill.

 

.

 

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