Honed Tube for Pneumatic Cylinders: Different Demands from Hydraulics

Pneumatic cylinders demand different honed tube than hydraulics. How low pressure, minimal lubrication and moist air change the bore specification.

The Costly Mistake of Specifying Pneumatic Tube Like Hydraulic Tube

An engineer recently copied his standard hydraulic tube spec over to a compressed air application. The result? A cylinder that was heavier, costlier, and still ran poorly.

When it comes to honed tube, air is not oil.

Compressed air and hydraulic oil behave nothing alike. Hydraulics runs at high pressure with lubricating oil. Pneumatics runs at low pressure with air that provides almost no lubrication. This changes everything about the ideal bore: wall thickness, surface finish, and seal compatibility.

But there is one hidden risk that catches hydraulics-trained engineers completely off guard: compressed air carries moisture. Without an oil film to protect it, a standard bare steel bore can rust from the inside out.

Don't let a copy-paste specification ruin your pneumatic performance. Read our latest deep dive to learn how to specify lighter, smoother, and corrosion-resistant tube for air applications.