Horizontal Press

[astro_al]

Hi folks, I have acquired a weird old tool, which is a slightly odd version of a horizontal press. I'd like to rebuild it into a proper horizontal press, but I've never seen inside one. Does anyone have one, and could take some picks of the actual mechanics between ram and 'bit that sticks up from the table'?

I'm curious to see how they have the actuator part that does the pushing in single shear, but remaining parallel to the table at all times - does it just run in a channel under the table?

Any inputs much appreciated. I have all the useful bits - hydraulics etc, but the tool I've come across was built specifically for one job and is very limited as a result.

Ta, Al.

P.S. - this is the kind of press I'm on about:
http://www.bii1.com/press-brakes/horizontal-press-brake-hpb45-ORIGINAL.php

 

[astro_al]

Hmm, ok, looking at this vid maybe I don't need the mechanicals under the table, I can just mount the ram on top - to one end so there is clearance for tooling on the table.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7-uZg16BPU&feature=channel_page

Shame they can't spell 'straight', but hey...

Hmmm, looks much simpler than plonking it all underneath. I've just acquired the perfect table for it too.

Anyone got any thoughts???

Al

 

[wyn]

I've never seen one, but they do look like reasonably versatile machines...part bender, part metalworker sort of thing.

And also a log splitter.

 

[Hitch]

They are very usefull machines, id be inclined to leave it almost as is if i acquired one.
Or is it not a case of simple adaptions?
The tooling that you put in them decides how usefull they are.
Good for bending small brackets etc, you can just plonk your bar on the table and it stays square and flat as it bends.

 

[astro_al]

Sadly its not that simple - the ram is mounted at a strange angle, and the tooling is kind of fixed in as it only ever did one job, there isn't really a table as such - its just kind of sat in a frame. So the principle is the same, but the similarity ends there.

Still, I can cannibalise the hydraulics, and I just acquired a table about 2 foot square, 2" thick with T-slots and a milled face - £25 - perfect!

Agree about the tooling - in fact, I'm thinking if I play my cards right, I can use this as the ring roller I've been thinking about too. I'll mount the single roller to the ram, and the have a de-mountable unit for the double driven rollers which contains the motor etc.

I don't think the tonnage is enormous, but I'll make it so that the ram can be upgraded later on if I need to.

Al.

 

[wyn]

Does it have it's own pump and motor, Al , or do you have to power it off something else.

 

[astro_al]

Yes, its all sort of self contained within the frame - 3 phase power input, nice chunky motor, drives a pump (also got a spare pump with it), through a 2 way manual lever valve jobber thing (fwd / reverse), via a pressure gauge to a double acting ram.

I'm basically stealing the hydro system and building a new tool around it.

I figured on a digi read-out on the ram displacement for repeatability. If I was smarter, hydraulically speaking, I'd have 2 limit switches on the hydraulics (max and min displacement) - complete with DROs - to set the thing up repeatably. But I know N-O-T-H-I-N-G about hydraulics. And I mean NOTHING. So I'll do some digging, but not hold my breath on that one...

Al.

 

[astro_al]

I'm still digging - in case anytone is interested, some useful specs in the table given here: http://www.vansantent.com/stierli_benders.htm

Plus a vid (follow link near top of page) - I love the rotary bending

Nice tooling tips down the bottom of the page too. I'm getting inspired to get this done!

Al.