Thread: Hydraulics & Pneumatics Design 101

Hello All,

Can anyone recommend a good Hydraulics & Pneumatics Design 101 or Primer in the form of a textbook or similar publication?

I have always been interested in hydraulics & pneumatics probably since I first saw a hydraulic cylinder working on a backhoe as a kid. I studied horticulture at an agricultural college which included some agricultural machinery subjects. However, their introduction to hydraulics and pneumatics was limited to 'identify the different parts of a hydraulic system on a tractor'. So that was not much help in sating my curiosity. Fast forward years later when I was a Horticulture TAFE Trade Teacher, one of the other teachers was a fitter who had worked in underground mines and specialised in hydraulics. Neville taught basic hydraulic systems in tractors and agricultural implements. He had an instructional panel that could be loaded onto a trailer and taken to field days as a teaching aid demonstration that people could interact with to learn different systems. However, the teaching team was split before I sit in on any hydraulics classes and learn about the systems. Plus, living in Bundaberg where companies such as Austoft and Massey Ferguson were designing cane harvesters and haul-out vehicles that were fully hydraulic showed the versatility of the systems. So every cane harvesting season my curiosity gets triggered - "gee I would like to learn more about how those systems!"

I am interested from the simple ram to multiple circuit systems like seen in the house moving Youtube clip ad the 2:19 minute mark. Where there is a combination of hydraulic jacks on dollies that allow remote steering of the where the house is shifted to. Accessed 9th April 2023 from HGTV's Hauling House for Arlo Guthrie - YouTube


The house shifting dollies are a combination of hydraulic rams to lift and hydraulic pumps to move. I would like to be able to calculate:

• what sized hydraulic ram would be required to lift a set load?
• what sized pump and operating system would be required to move the load and shift it from one location to another?
• what sized motor would be required as a power unit to get the system working and steering?

The first project would be to add a hydraulic system to my tractor so I can fit front end loader (FEL) bucket on the tractor in the future and it needs a hydraulic system to run a kit anyway. If I need a hydraulic system to operate the FEL I might as well add some sockets so it can operate remote hydraulics as well.

This brings on Project 2, I would like to use the remote hydraulics so I can use it to operate a crane boom that is towed along by the tractor. The boom has sufficient reach to go to the centre of a 1.5 tonne capacity truck's tray. Yes, I could just use a manually pumped hydraulic ram for the crane. However, where is the fun in that? Have a hydraulic system one might as well use it!

The third project would involve working out some way to be able to join two currently manual hydraulic jacks so they could be controlled by an air over hydraulic system to allow them to lift simultaneously. I have two of the container lifting brackets and two hydraulic jacks, so I can lift one end of the shipping container at the time. I have raised one end up and was underwhelmed about their efficiency. I was by myself so I could only operate one jack at a time and I noticed the container was slewing to the side. That was when I was only raising the container so I could set one more level of blocks after it had settled and sunk into the ground. Reactive soil is such fun - not!

I want to be able to lift the container up so I can mount some wheels like in the second and third photographs. Then I will put a proper concrete pad and a concrete house stump for each corner of the shipping container. I would like to get the containers compliant to the local council's approval requirements. To get the shipping containers moved while the work is carried out and then lifted back in place would take multiple visits of a mobile crane. One crane job to lift and move the container. Get the foundation work done and wait for it to cure. Get the mobile crane back again. Repeat and recycle for the second shipping container. From the last time I had a mobile crane come and move the containers I would be out front financially buying the set of container wheels. Travel time for the crane; then the hourly operational rate for the crane, its driver and a dogman = ouch!

Photograph sourced from All Things Containers: Lifting Bracket LIF-001 – Corner Cast Lifting Bracket - All Things Containers - Shipping Container Parts & Accs on 9th April 2023
2) Photograph sourced from Ezy Wheels from Exy Engineering Ezy Engineering | Ezy Wheels on 9th April 2023
3) Photograph sourced from Ezy Wheels from Exy Engineering Ezy Engineering | Ezy Wheels on 9th April 2023.

Not after much aye! I have spare time on my hands to study - this can be a very dangerous thing. :0)

Oh, and for your viewing pleasure - how 40 foot shipping containers are transported and unloaded by a gooseneck trailer in the US of A... accessed 9th April 2023 from, Shipping container delivery - YouTube


Also, how to straighten a bent hydraulic ram accessed 9th of April 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_5F-ZITFQs.

Kind regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

which tractor?

most have a pto, there were hydraulic kits that could be coupled directly to the tractor pto.

if you're not after huge flow rates you'd be pleasantly surprised as to how far you can go using just a power steering pump driven off the engine belt.

You can still get pumps that are a direct fit to a std pto , and step up boxes (around 3:1) to give a better shaft speed and mount a std SAE or DIN mount gear pump to that. Can be a bit of a pain if tractor Dosnt have a live pto (pto stops with clutch pedal engaged) like old fordsons and such.
Have seen guys run a jack shaft off front crank pulley and run a pump that way.
All depends on what tractor, and what it’s already got I guess…