Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

[fwsorg]

Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

You dont need to tell me Alan- I wish I was there! I was just posting so that its there ready for monday

[woody]

Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

Well ... In lieu of an accredited expert Ill throw in my twopenorth.

Id suggest that you get your company to treat it as they would any other hydraulic ram and certificate it to a working pressure of 150 bar ... It would then become a standard ram.

This should result in a ram that ( when its derated by 50%* ) should easily meet the FRA rules.

* If you take an unmodified standard hydraulic ram, you can use it on pneumatics to a pressure level of 50% of the rams hydraulic rating or 1000 psi - which ever is the lower without requiring further test certification

Im working on the assumption that Pauls hydraulic rating is refering to working pressure as opposed to test pressure.

[m2xt]

Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

Eddy, assuming the ram has been built using standard cylinder tube, rod and end caps that your employer would normally use then it sounds very much a standard ram to me. I would suggest that you ask your employer for a certificate of conformity for it to confirm this fact. Thank you Alan, that just about sums it up.

Mack, all pneumatic systems are considered as gas systems rather than liquid even though the CO2 is stored as a liquid and sometimes injected into rams as a liquid. This is because the CO2 liquid rapidly boils off as a gas when the pressure drops.

Paul
FRA Technical Team

[fwsorg]

Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

Thank you paul. I will do that- its not quite built as a normal ram in that I have stronger, tie-roded end caps and low friction o-rings, but certainly it could pass as one :-)

Many thanks for your confirmation,

Eddy

[team_ireland]

Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

Slightly off topic I know but I was just curious. Do I need a cert for my 600g bottle? I have pressure test certs for my ram, valve, buffer and my 2 prds but I dont have one for my 600g co2 bottle. Do I need one or does everyone just kinda say ah well its a 600g bottle we know thats safe.

Regards
Ian

[maddox]

Testing of home-made pneumatic rams

Normaly the stamp and other markers applied by the firms working with them are enough, as a normal bottle is its own certificate.

Things handy to know and to look for on a bottle.

Datemark of last testing-some bottles have up to 4 datemarks up on them. Every 5 years a bottle needs retesting, max age of a CO2 cannister is 20 years.
With a very new bottle a Pi stamp.
A country related pressure testing mark is another stamp common.
A tarra and netto weight, sometimes a volume is stamped in.
Test pressure and work pressure.
Brandname, or ownername-there are some Maddox branded bottles around, as the firm that does the CO2 bottles for me marks them as being mine.