Hydraulic piston as a pneumatic one?

[drummerdimitri]

I recently purchased a used hydraulic piston thinking it was a pneumatic one and although it wasn't my intention, I have found it to be excellent for my requirements.

I would like to make a can crusher using a pneumatic piston but the hydraulic one works perfectly well. It moves very fast in both directions and it nice and smooth.

It is rated at 160 bar even though I am only using it with 10 bar of compressed air.

My question is the following: Are there any downsides to using this hydraulic piston with air instead of hydraulic oil?

 

[Snip's]

Hydraulic oil provides lubrication...
Compressed air provides water...
Cylinder may not be optimally designed to handle corrosion...

 

[drummerdimitri]

Hydraulic oil provides lubrication...
Compressed air provides water...
Cylinder may not be optimally designed to handle corrosion...

I have a screw compressor with a built in dryer so water and corrosion won't be an issue at all.

I can always add a few drops of hydraulic oil to lubricate the innards.

 

[SwissMetric]

There are devices which automatically add a small quantity of oil to the compressed air, I've forgotten the name.

In the industry compressed air is usually dried by refrigeration-based driers. Some smaller ones are integrated in the compressor housing. A good reason to get a small used screw compressor with integrated drier, especially if used a lot.