A marine services company in Dubai relies on a hydraulic pipe bending machine in its workshop. Over two visits in late 2025 we rebuilt six of its cylinders, four of them with new piston rods, machined the swing cylinder gland, resealed a solenoid valve and renewed 25 hoses.
The problem
A pipe bender loads its cylinders hard and unevenly: the main cylinder pushes the bend, while clamping, tailstock and swing cylinders hold and position the pipe. Leaks and worn rods reduce clamping force and bending accuracy, and a machine like this is often the bottleneck of the workshop it sits in. The machine first came to us with leaking main and auxiliary cylinders, and came back a few weeks later for the positioning cylinders.
What we found
First visit, October 2025
- The main cylinder, 140 mm diameter and 1,500 mm long, leaking and needing a full reseal
- Two smaller cylinders, 100 mm diameter and 600 mm long, also leaking
- A damaged piston rod and worn mounting screw threads
- Two hoses due for renewal
Second visit, November to December 2025
- Tailstock, clamping and swing cylinders all leaking, with damaged piston rods on each
- Wear in the swing cylinder gland
- Leaking O-rings on the clamping circuit’s solenoid valve
- 23 hoses aged and due for renewal
What we did
- Removed all six cylinders and stripped them in our workshop
- Resealed and bench tested the main cylinder and both 100 mm cylinders
- Had new piston rods made for one cylinder on the first visit, and for the tailstock, clamping and swing cylinders on the second, through our machining partners
- Machined the swing cylinder gland and reworked the mounting screw threads
- Renewed the O-rings on the clamping circuit solenoid valve and re-tightened the hoses on that circuit
- Renewed 2 hoses on the first visit and 23 on the second
- Refitted the cylinders and tested them in place
Result
Six cylinders were rebuilt and tested, four with new piston rods, and 25 hoses were renewed across two visits. The machine went back to work with rebuilt cylinders on every main function and a full set of new hoses on the second visit.
Making new rods rather than chasing a replacement cylinder kept the machine’s original dimensions and mounts, so nothing else on the machine had to change.
