Horizontal bottle jacks / cylinder jacks

[Thrashsmith]

Hi all,
A while ago I got a chunk of 25mm plate, so I drilled a bunch of 17mm holes in it to make a jig table. (It has subsequently been superceded by the 5ft x 5ft peg table).

I half finished some bending jigs to slot into the 25mm peg table, which I originally intended to include an acme lead screw type mechanism for cold tweaking/bending, but I've subsequently discovered the wonderful world of bottle jacks - which believe it or not, I'd never used before.

I believe you need special ones to work horizontally, is that right?

OR...someone told me about Enerpac cylinders & jacks...which are waaaayyyyy beyond my budget, but, it did get me thinking that a hydraulic cylinder maybe better for this situation. Can they used be horizontally? And if so, is there a poor man's version of them? The smaller the jack size the better.

Thanks in advance

 

[Wildefalcon]

Trolley jack innards are horizontal.

 

[Redsailor]

Any hydraulic cylinder should work in any position, it's the pump that has special needs. The pump needs a constant supply of oil from the reservoir to push out to the cylinder. The "portopower" type as found in car body repair ram kits has a rubber bellows inside the pump reservoir to feed oil so the pump assembly can be hand held in all sorts of positions.

Look on the usual auction site for either a 4 +1/2 ton or 10 ton portable power body kits.

There are posts on youtube showing how to modify standard bottle jacks so they work upside down, enabling them to be used for press builds. Might be worth looking at for the ultra cheap option!

 

[MetalMonkey]

Hi all,
I believe you need special ones to work horizontally, is that right?

OR...someone told me about Enerpac cylinders & jacks...which are waaaayyyyy beyond my budget, but, it did get me thinking that a hydraulic cylinder maybe better for this situation. Can they used be horizontally? And if so, is there a poor man's version of them? The smaller the jack size the better.

Mega bottle jacks are perhaps what you are looking for:

https://www.mega.es

https://www.abcohydraulics.com/product-category/garage-workshop-equipment/jacks/bottle-jacks/

They have a rotating pump mechanism which is handy, and they can work horizontally.

"Our jack may be used in a horizontal position provided that the pump is located on the lower side."

They are not cheap, but they are nice. I have a couple

 

[steve t]

This is what I use to bend rails on site . The ram and pump oil an old pipe bender. Thinkbits 10 ton

 

[anto44]

Something like this would work perfectly for what you want.

VEVOR 12 Ton Hydraulic Jack Air Pump Lift Ram Body Frame Porta Power Repair Kits | VEVOR EU

Shop VEVOR 12 Ton Hydraulic Jack Air Pump Lift Ram Body Frame Porta Power Repair Kits at lowest price, 2-day delivery, 30-day returns. Shop now at VEVOR.

eur.vevor.com

 

[Thrashsmith]

Something like this would work perfectly for what you want.

VEVOR 12 Ton Hydraulic Jack Air Pump Lift Ram Body Frame Porta Power Repair Kits | VEVOR EU

Shop VEVOR 12 Ton Hydraulic Jack Air Pump Lift Ram Body Frame Porta Power Repair Kits at lowest price, 2-day delivery, 30-day returns. Shop now at VEVOR.

eur.vevor.com

Thank you

 

[the snooper]

Any bottle jack will work on its side if you attach another reservoir above its own so that the reservoir in the bottle jack is constantly full