August 2024 Volume 6

MAINTENANCE ARE YOU PROPERLY MAINTAINING YOUR HYDRAULIC PRESSES? Eight Steps to Implement for Hydraulic Press

M uch has been discussed regarding the proper maintenance of mechanical forging presses. Just as important as maintaining your mechan ical equipment is the proper maintenance of your hydraulic presses. Proper maintenance usually requires a change in attitude and focus. The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with specific steps to be imple mented within your operations regarding proper hydraulic press maintenance. Usually, the first person to observe the problem is the operator, secondly the Main tenance technician. The operator works with the machine on a daily basis and will notice changes in sound, vibration, or if something just doesn’t seem to be operating properly. Off times in the pressures of the production environment we tend to try and just get by, not wanting to shut the line down. When a potential problem is discovered a mainte Maintenance By Jeff Fredline Let’s Begin with a Press Maintenance Checklist

samples tested by your supplier for condition and contamination. By keeping records and working with your supplier, you may be able to increase the life of your oil with additives to maintain the proper condition of your oil. 3. Monitor the temperature of your hydraulic oil. Consult the manufacturer of your press to verify, but most of the presses recommend an operating temperature of 120 degrees F. If your machine is running hot, check the heat exchanger on the machine. The radia tors should be kept clean and if there is a cooling tower in your system, make sure that it is operating properly. Running the oil in your machine at too high a tempera ture can cause the breakdown of some of the properties within the oil and could lead to premature failure of seals and hoses within the system. 4. Excessive oil flow at the piston seals. When the press is operating properly the surface of the piston (chrome surface) should have an oil film that is easy to see. If exces sive oil is observed running down the surface of the piston you may have a piston packing that is loose or worn. Too much oil leakage can lead to other problems such as oil on the floor or on the production parts. On the press shown in the picture, you should have oil film on the Main and Pull Back Cylin ders. When you run your fingers across the surface you should have oil on your finger tips. 5. Lubrication of moving platen bushing and slide guide surfaces. Like the piston surfaces mentioned in section 4, the platen guiding system requires adequate lubrication. The platen guiding surfaces are critical to the proper produc

nance technician should at least be sent to quickly troubleshoot if there is a serious problem or safely hazard that requires immediate action. Here are a few items that should be checked, and results recorded. 1. Are there any hydraulic leaks? Are there damaged hoses that are leaking, fittings, loose bolts, or excessive oil leakage? Some oil leakage is going to happen. Over time some leakage is the nature of the machine, however excessive oil leakage leads to contamination and creates safety issues. I recently spoke with a customer with severe oil leaks in their machine. They continuously had to refill their reservoir with oil due to leaks and they reasoned that they did not have to change the oil in their machine as they had changed it due to leaks by adding so much new oil. This may be temporarily true, but what about the contamination in the system? This is not a plan for continued success. 2. Monitor fluid levels and condition. Keep fluid levels within recommended operation ranges. If the oil level is low, fill before continuing to run. Keep your press clean. Make sure that oil filters are changed on a regular basis and consider taking oil samples from the reservoirs every (6) months and having the

FIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2024 24