What kind of hydraulic press to buy

[Memmeddu]

Hy everyone, as always I come here asking what I should buy after having f***** up something.
In this case a ball bearing, a spindle, and a puller.
Anyways before destroying my Loved forged steel bench vise Wich is what I'm using to drive bearings and gears on shafts and housings, I thought I might have to ask advice about what hydraulic press I should get.
I'm used to a big 100 tons hydraulic press at work and it's kinda surgical gear there are a load of things you can do with it ....
Very useful tool.
Back to the thread I need something to replace/ remove/ install gears and bearings on power tools and such later I'll might use it for small press fit couplings you know this kind of stuff.
I did my research and I have 3 options really that fit the footprint I can use and the budget.
Now I'm not sure about what to get because they have advantages and disadvantages
Option #1 the cheaper

6 tons capacity lightweight construction
110mm stroke might be enough might be not.
You can adjust the table up and down about 200mm.
The ram runs through the square tube in the middle Wich might be an advantage because it's kinda like a proper hydraulic ram but it's an additional wearing spot

Option 2 the kinda ok for me

Not expensive really but not as cheap as the other one
12 ton capacity, 120mm stroke, the table can be adjusted up to 610mm between ram and table
Useless manometer I really can't understand why they put manometers on hydraulic presses
Still a bottle jack design so it's possible to replace the jack if needed
But it has a very short fixed ram.

Here we arrived to the third option
Wich is at the edge of my budget

This one has a proper ram and a separate pump 130mm stroke.
Table can be adjusted 750mm up an down in 6 different positions.
The pump has not a fast and slow valve just the release one

Which one should I buy ?

 

[premmington]

What press to buy...

Biggest floor standing one you can afford.

One with a wide bed - big gap in middle if you doing automotive stuff.

Tons - only ever needed a press bigger than 30tons once in a life time of fixing cars full time.

Bed width is the deal breaker here.

------------

But it not an impossible task with some U channel and longer pins to make a wider bed for any press you buy/find/beg/borrow or steel.

Lots of people widen the existing beds on floor presses - but having a narrow and wide one - really makes life easy

 

[Barking Mat]

The one at the bottom of your photos, the overhead hydraulic ram.

Really, really useful in a workshop.

We've something very similar if not the same at work.

Beats my previous home made attempt.

 

[reb78]

Have you got links? Am interested in the prices.

@RaceDiagnostics just got a good one at not a bad price.

 

[tom2207]

bit of overkill if its only for power tools ,,, could you not make something small and handy

 

[Barking Mat]

bit of overkill if its only for power tools ,,, could you not make something small and handy

That was what I did some years ago, rectangular box section welded into a rectangle, with a 20 ton hydraulic jack, did the job fine.

 

[MattF]

I'm with @Barking Mat. Out of that selection, the last one.

 

[daedalusminos]

I've got an option 3...not sure I'd trust it to 20 ton, probably most I've been up to is 15. You need to consider that the frame will flex, and that means if you need to press to a certain precision shimming will be required.

 

[frank horton]

my pref is option 2.....but the deciding factor for me would be the width/ thickness of the uprights...
bed width is a prob under 50cm.....it's suprising how quickly u run out of room.....
wait until u get a Reno / Citroen Trany size van front hubbearings to do.....
I have often got to the 25 ton limit on my home made effort.....and yes it'll take a bigger jack.....
also my head will slide from side to side, I can get a 6cyl Perkin's block on it to press out cylinder liners....and was reg used for the 4 cyl tractor engines...

not sure on what around or if u can get used from the mainland....but I'd go used or make my own.....nothing wrong with a Chinese 25 ton hyd jack.....
this is all made from Off cuts n scrap.....

 

[JOEPRO]

I have a 20 tonne press and find I can near max it out on some wheel bearings so that's a good size and wouldn't go any lower IMO.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Which one should I buy ?

Any press is better than no press.
Out of the three listed, I'd probably go for the last one as this has a proper direct acting ram, the others are really just repurposed bottle jacks.
Although I dislike the way the pump sticks out on that particular model.

However, they will all probably do the job, so higher the capacity, the better.

This is the type I have:
https://automotechservices.co.uk/products/03019-30t-two-stage-hydraulic-floor-mounted-press-2/

This is a nice machine as the ram can be moved from side to side to position it exactly where you need.

But they do a smaller version which RaceDiagnostics just put a thread up about here
They are all rebadged Chinese items so you should be able to find similar products locally.

You could always build your own, but I suspect the steel would cost more than a cheap press these days!
Or look for a good quality second hand one.

 

[dave h 2]

The last one, I have the C shape 10 ton bench one. The ram takes all the body fixing tools.

 

[Trevorleach]

I have the first one in my garage, bought it to do seals/bearings on a raw water pump, not used it since!
Being bench mounted it is always in the way.

I would buy the best/most expensive one you can afford, it will pay dividends.

Even at work it is rare I need one (twice in last 18mths) but a 50 tonner would be great for some bushes on truck A frames.

 

[sako243]

I have a 20 tonne (on the gauge) but it is running an enerpac 700bar ram so could go a lot higher. It's almost 6ft tall and has huge spacers made by the previous owner.

I've popped over to a nearby neighbour to use his 150t one as it has 7.5" between the table so I could drop the RR hub between it. I'd have had to make a table to support mine so his was just easier. It also had a screw thread on the bottom which was nice to take up slack before pumping. Pumping gets old quick when you've got a big ram and small pump.

I prefer the third style as you can step further away from the press. They're scary when things suddenly go flying.

 

[tom2207]

what size of power tools are you working on , wouldnt an arbour press do your job ,,,

 

[plewlandsbob]

If you get , the 3rd one, you can take pump of and use it , for other things. Like this hollow ram, for pulling, or pressing.

 

[Memmeddu]

what size of power tools are you working on , wouldnt an arbour press do your job ,,,

Nothing special biggest bearings are 6003 so around 20mm inner race at most
Most on plastic and aluminum housings so again nothing extremely difficult to extract or replace.
Problems come with gears those have small shaft hole diameter but interference fit so it's always a problem.
An arbour press would do for bearings because they are kinda flexible but gears is hardened steel on steel and are pretty damn hard to get in and out as most of them don't have a keyway just press fit.

Now I'm answering to you all in this message because I couldn't before.
My personal choice would be the third option (around 300 euro) because it has the pump and separate ram but I don't have any advantage compared to bottle jack ones(170 euro) Wich I can potentially upgrade to a bigger one or replace the bottle jack in no time if it fails and I need the press .
This press would be for home use just power tools.
Honestly the second option would do more than what I need right now.
Once finished the shop I'd most likely build one out of an excavator or tractor cylinder and hydraulic pump.
Because for me a proper press has to have a movable ram
But those are enough expensive.
If I manage to pay in three times on Amazon I will get the third option

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

I prefer the third style as you can step further away from the press. They're scary when things suddenly go flying

Agreed, it's not just stuff flying off either, if you're pressing things together then an undetected crack can cause housings to (very literally) grenade on you in a terrifying way.

I have a 50T version of style 2 above because it was cheap and space efficient, and a 100T ram that I will eventually use it to upgrade to a style 3 when I find a suitable pump at an acceptable price.

 

[ATGNI]

When I was so much younger than I am today I made a video on a ten tonne press. The one with single acting ram with the pressure gauge at the top. I haven’t really used it very much it just been taking up an annoying amount of space in my workshop However I think 10 tonne was very underwhelming. Buy 20 tonnes or above.

The just skip to the last two minutes.

 

[Memmeddu]

On Amazon I found 30 ton rams for little more than 100 euro and a dual stage pump for the same price.
Making a proper press or upgrade one will not be a problem