Hydraulic Bench

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Hi all.

I have an old hospital bed base that I use for my workbench. lately I have been loosing pressure in the mechanism. It will go down slowly over night. It will drop about 10" especially if I have left something heavy on it like a chest of drawers.
Is there something I can do about this?
Does it need topping up with oil? And if so, how?

 

[sunnybob]

Thy O ring seal on the ram (or valve) is letting by. Only a strip down and replacement O rings will cure the problem.

 

[ColeyS1]

Hi all.

I have an old hospital bed base that I use for my workbench. lately I have been loosing pressure in the mechanism. It will go down slowly over night. It will drop about 10" especially if I have left something heavy on it like a chest of drawers.
Is there something I can do about this?
Does it need topping up with oil? And if so, how?

I had similar happen to a pallet truck, topping up the oil fixed the issue.

Coley

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Thank you for your replies Coley and sunnybob. I have had no oil on the floor! Do you know ow I would inspect it to see if it needed topping up or rings replaced? Do i unbolt the box section/

 

[sunnybob]

If you have no oil leakage, then there is nothing to top up.
The oil is moved through a valve to either side of a central ram. pump the oil one way and the bed raises. operate the valve and the oil will move to the other side of the ram and the bed will lower. As I said, the oil is sealed into its appropriate compartments with O rings on the shaft.
After time the pressure deforms the O rings or they become brittle if very old. They are not repairable, they have to be replaced.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Ok. Thanks Sunnybob. Will look into replacing them.

 

[rafezetter]

Hi all.

I have an old hospital bed base that I use for my workbench. lately I have been loosing pressure in the mechanism. It will go down slowly over night. It will drop about 10" especially if I have left something heavy on it like a chest of drawers.
Is there something I can do about this?
Does it need topping up with oil? And if so, how?

OK it's childish, but I couldn't help but read this post without laughing.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

You said it!

 

[Monkey Mark]

What a great idea using an old hospital bed! Must keep my eyes open in the future.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

Mark, I wish I had got one years ago. I only got this one last year after I developed a hernia. It makes getting heavy pieces onto and off the bench a doddle and being able to alter the height means that you are always working comfortably with less strain on your back and knees, also if you have a large heavy piece on the bench and need to turn it you just unlock the wheels and rotate the bench, much easier and safer than trying to rotate the piece on the bench. . A friend of mine has a couple of old dentist chair bases which also work very well, although they are fixed in one position on the floor, with a push of a peddle the top can be rotated 360°.
My bed was only £50 from ebay but I think I got it cheap because it was listed badly, they mostly go for around £100 which is still very good value.