My Omal "Insert Easy" hinge drilling and insert machine got hit while moving some stuff in the shop.
The pneumatic cylinder that moves the drilling assembly up and down got hit and its threads, which screw the cylinder to the solid aluminum block on it's bottom, got misaligned and now leak air. The threads are damaged beyond repair.
I have attached some pictures for details.
I've contacted Omal for some info, but i do not hold much hope, since I've heard that they make this machines for Salice, and Salice is not willing to help unless you can prove that you use Salice hinges, which I have no proof of.

So, in expectation that I'll need to replace the original cylinder with some generic one, I need some help with surrounding parts.
In the bottom of the cylinder is some blue component that screws into the cylinder and has two ports that accept 5/32" thick hose. One branch goes up to the top of the cylinder in that white divider (I'm not sure that's the right name) and other leads downwards, probably supplying air pressure.
Does anybody know what's the correct name for that component so I could google it?
Also, same thing for that divider on the top.
The threaded part (pipe) that screws into cylinder's aluminum block has 3/8" diameter.
I'm not necessarily looking for the same original parts, any generic replacement that does the same function is ok, even if I have to use reducers to fit it into the new cylinder with possible different ports...
Just need the name for those things so that I now what I'm looking for.

Thank you
Oggie

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Few more photos

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And machine's ID plate:

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Hi Oggie,

Have you contacted your Salice distributor from who you purchase your hinges? They should be able to help. They will have a record of your hinge purchases.

They would also be the place to order the replacement part for the machine, if you are using the machine with Salice products.

I can find out on Monday the correct name and part number for this piece.

Dennis

Denis,

thank you for the info, but the problem is I do not have any relation with Salice. None of the cabinet supply stores around me from whom I buy most of my materials (besides hardware) sell Salice, but mostly Blum, Grass or some Chinese stuff that I don't use, and for me to try to use Salice hardware exclusively or even remotely regularly would be somewhat problematic.

Oggie, do a search for SMC distibutors and you should find a local distributor, (smcusa.com/contact/distributor-locator/). All you have there are standard push to connect air fittings and a fairly standard cylinder. Your local SMC rep will be able to supply everything you need. Alternatively you could check McMaster Carr they supply lots of standard fittings and cylinders. Though with mcmaster you will need to know the dimensions of cylinder.

Mick,

thank you for the useful info. I'll check SMC distributors, but at this point I've stop expecting too much. I've sent email directly to Omal, no response. Few other companies that supply pneumatic components promised to find something that would work, but never heard back from them either.

Anyway, I've searched through countless catalogs of readily available pneumatic cylinders and nothing looks like this one, so I suppose it's some OEM part made specifically for this machine.

But, while I was looking for these parts and trying to find out replacements, I had to understand what they are and how they work. So actually, the "mysterious" blue part is one-way blocking valve, controlled by pilot signal (high pressure) coming through upper side input. It lets the air going in the bottom part of the cylinder always (to lift the drilling assembly), but it let's it out (t lower the drilling assembly) only if the system is pressurized (to avoid drilling head falling down if free fall on the material if the system looses pressure for whatever reason). That seemed interesting so I kept reading and learning more about it, far beyond what I actually needed in the first place....

So, I've learned few basic things about pneumatic systems and now I'm confident that I can remedy this problem using off the shelf components, and some improvised head mount flange to fit it on the Omal machine, that I can make myself in half an hour.

Now, I'm kind of glad this happened, because I've apparently learned enough of pneumatic to be able to equip my self-made case clamp with pneumatic system to provide necessary clamping force, instead of (over sized) manually screwed threaded rod based clamps as I initially planned.
And it happened at good time too, 'cause I'm just in the middle of moving my shop, so the machine is not in use anyway these days.

I'll give it a few more days for the Omal tech support and those guys from other companies I contacted to eventually respond to my emails and calls, but if not, I'll do it myself.

Thank you all,
O.

Oggie, like I said everything you are looking at are fairly standard parts. The blue check/control valve is not an unusual part. Best of luck.

Omal will not call you back. I have been down this road as I have two Omal machines I bought used. I use Blum hinges and they would not sell me the parts. My Blum distributer also sells Salice and I am
On great terms with my salesman and he ordered the parts for me through his company and o was able to fix the machine.
I think it’s short sighted of salice to have this attitude. If you spend good money on a machine, you should have the parts support and there have been other salice products that interested me, but I will buy alternatives every time because of their policy, in the old days you could get a hinge machine very cheaply by buying a large quantity of hinges, I understand that this is not a present day reality, but if you do buy a companies machinery, you should not be tied to a specific hardware.

So, just a quick update to close the case.

I ordered some generic pneumatic cylinder from smcusa.com, one that I thought would be the best replacement for the broken one.
Anyway, the next day a local SMC representative called me on the phone and said he would like to stop by my shop and just make sure I ordered the right one. (There were endless options on shapes, sizes, port threads and sizes and so on, so that visit helped a lot). He took measurements and suggested another one and took care of placing an order from one of the local SMC distributors. With a little bit tinkering with the flange, few screws and washers I was able to fit it to the machine relatively easy.
Ryan (the SMC guy) gave me few others components as free samples, to replace old ones connected to the original cylinder.
Everything is working fine now, and fixed for less than $120 and a half an hour of work.
Could not ask for a better service.

I want to thank Mick Steele for suggesting the SMC, and also confirm exactly the same experiences with other companies as Harold has described.

All the best,
Oggie

I have the same problem. What part did you use?