Hydraulic Troubleshooting

When problems arise, the operator should be the one to conduct Machinery troubleshooting and if you can repair the hydraulic, it would save you a lot of money. But how will you do it?  Here are some tips you could follow.

1.       Check the cartridge valve before replacement

If it is a cartridge valve, pull out the manifold and check the nose of the cartridge. If you can see the screen then check if it is clean and try blowing an air compressor in it. If you can’t see the screens then try pushing on the nose of the screw driver.

2.       Coolant in Hydraulic Oil

Lathe

·         Make sure that the center cap on the chuck is installed

·         And if the Chip tray clogged in back of actuator, draw tube on the opposite side of the chuck. Check that the drain hose is not clogged.

Horizontal or Vertical Machine Center

·         The rotary table seals inside are bad

·         Draw bar sometimes has hydraulics and coolant going through them and there are possible seals bad.

3.       Low Hydraulic Pressure

·         Variable Displacement Pump

Check the compensator pressure settings. Some pumps have both a flow setting and pressure adjustment valve. If there is only one, it should be pressure setting. There will also be a separate manifold with the relief valve that should be set at a minimum of 200PSI or higher.

·         Variable Speed Motor

It controls the pump flow. Pumps have a transducer that is faulty. Also the settings we’re different from the display. Check the relief valve cartridge is not open. Remove the cartridge and look for dirt in the nose valve

·         Fixed Displacement Pump with Dump Valve

First, check the relief settings. The relief can be adjusted when the dump valve is energized only. Also, make sure that the relief and dump cartridge are not stuck open. Remove the cartridges and look for the dirt inside the nose of the valve.