How Do You Repair Hydraulic Cylinder Scratches?
At times cylinder rods can get damaged by external objects as the chrome rod extends out of the barrel on extension and this can leave it prone to damage.
Depending on how bad the damage is, we can repair it in 3 different ways, we can polish if they are not too deep and the chrome is still intact, we can strip off the old chrome and electroplate (re-chrome) the damaged rod or we can manufacture a totally new rod from scratch.
If the barrel of the cylinder is scratched, scored, marked then honing of the barrel should always be considered after inspection of the surface in the barrel. If the cylinder barrel has any defects, dings, scores, wear marks/shiny spots these areas need to be carefully investigated and honed to clean up.
The most standard and universal type piston seal designs usually allow for a barrel that is 0.305mm over size on diameter. If the barrel damage is excessive there are a couple of options, manufacture, and machine up another barrel on a lathe and use as much of existing parts off the old barrel as possible or purchase another barrel from an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).
You want to hone the barrel oversize until it cleans up and manufacture a new over-sized piston. This last option might sound unconventional but it is extremely time and cost-efficient. Most seal designs can be stretched to within a specified limit.
Honing of hydraulic cylinder barrels can be done by either manual hand honing or on a specialized hydraulic cylinder hone machine with the appropriate tooling and stones. Specialized hydraulic cylinder hones are large and require a fair level of operator knowledge the get the best performance and surface finish on the cylinder barrel.
