Laurie Tedcastle
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This topic is for modifications to hydraulic presses and tooling you may have made. Please add links to other relevent existing posts.
We probably should have a separate topic for fly-presses and tooling as they are somwhat different (anyone?).
I bought my 10ton bench press from Machine mart in about 1988 and it's done me well. I mounted it on a 7 drawer roll cabinet, so I can move if necessary to work on a large item. If I were to buy again and had the room, I would choose a floor standing version and higher tonnage.
As supplied the pump unit was not attached to the press. It needed to be accessible of course but out of the way, so I made brackets to mount it
on top of the press:
Some more modern presses and particularly higher rated ones mount the pump to the side with the handle pointing
towards the operator, but I would find that very inconvenient and it can limit use of longer objects side to side. I've also added a telescopic
extension to the handle to reduce the force needed at higher pressure loadings.
The ram units on these presses can be moved sideways. To avoid the need for spanners, I welded plates to the top mount to prevent the hex headed
bolts rotating and replaced the hex nuts with wingnuts. Now easy to move, but I rarely seem to have the need now.
I always found it difficult to adjust the plattern up and down (it's heavy!). So designed my own simple winch arrangement. Thin
polypropylene builders line runs over 25mm dia pulleys to the winch "drum" which is just 10mm bar. Since there are 2 lines on front and back
(to keep the plattern horizontal when lifting), there are "repair washers" to keep the lines separated on the drum:
Works really well. Some larger presses do have winches, but they generally block access to put long items through from the side.
Many modern presses of this type come with tonnage gauges. Mine didn't, so bought a gauge from Flowfit (had to calculate a psi to tons chart) and
tee'd it into the hydraulic line. At the same time I bought an air over hydraulic foot operated pump from Vevor (cheapest I could find) and tee'd
it into the standard ram hose via an on/off valve. No more exhausting hand pumping just to move the ram down. When I want fine ram control, just
close the on/off valve and use the hand pump. All works really well.
The press originally came with a common serrated ram fitting and one machined multi-dimensioned. I cut off the smallest spigot and drilled this fitting
to take any other sized tooling I need:
Oh, and of course I have the usual box of odd bits of pipe, bearing races, etc, but frequently not the right size for the job in hand, but I
do have a lathe.
I have a 3in1 shear/pressbake/roll for processing sheet material up to about 1.2mm thick but for occasional bending thicker material use this
crude arrangement:
which fits between the press uprights and works surprisingly well.
Has anyone used an hydraulic press with a broach to produce internal keyways?
Some links to other presses:
This post shows a similar Vevor unit:
Separating m/cycle crank webs: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/attachments/img_3067-jpeg.505228/
Dismantling a m/cycle damper: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/attachments/img_1268-jpeg.509990/
Laurie
We probably should have a separate topic for fly-presses and tooling as they are somwhat different (anyone?).
I bought my 10ton bench press from Machine mart in about 1988 and it's done me well. I mounted it on a 7 drawer roll cabinet, so I can move if necessary to work on a large item. If I were to buy again and had the room, I would choose a floor standing version and higher tonnage.
As supplied the pump unit was not attached to the press. It needed to be accessible of course but out of the way, so I made brackets to mount it
on top of the press:
Some more modern presses and particularly higher rated ones mount the pump to the side with the handle pointing
towards the operator, but I would find that very inconvenient and it can limit use of longer objects side to side. I've also added a telescopic
extension to the handle to reduce the force needed at higher pressure loadings.
The ram units on these presses can be moved sideways. To avoid the need for spanners, I welded plates to the top mount to prevent the hex headed
bolts rotating and replaced the hex nuts with wingnuts. Now easy to move, but I rarely seem to have the need now.
I always found it difficult to adjust the plattern up and down (it's heavy!). So designed my own simple winch arrangement. Thin
polypropylene builders line runs over 25mm dia pulleys to the winch "drum" which is just 10mm bar. Since there are 2 lines on front and back
(to keep the plattern horizontal when lifting), there are "repair washers" to keep the lines separated on the drum:
Works really well. Some larger presses do have winches, but they generally block access to put long items through from the side.
Many modern presses of this type come with tonnage gauges. Mine didn't, so bought a gauge from Flowfit (had to calculate a psi to tons chart) and
tee'd it into the hydraulic line. At the same time I bought an air over hydraulic foot operated pump from Vevor (cheapest I could find) and tee'd
it into the standard ram hose via an on/off valve. No more exhausting hand pumping just to move the ram down. When I want fine ram control, just
close the on/off valve and use the hand pump. All works really well.
The press originally came with a common serrated ram fitting and one machined multi-dimensioned. I cut off the smallest spigot and drilled this fitting
to take any other sized tooling I need:
Oh, and of course I have the usual box of odd bits of pipe, bearing races, etc, but frequently not the right size for the job in hand, but I
do have a lathe.
I have a 3in1 shear/pressbake/roll for processing sheet material up to about 1.2mm thick but for occasional bending thicker material use this
crude arrangement:
which fits between the press uprights and works surprisingly well.
Has anyone used an hydraulic press with a broach to produce internal keyways?
Some links to other presses:
This post shows a similar Vevor unit:
I made this hydraulic press about twenty years ago out of channel and a few second hand hydraulic bits lying about, its been in a storage container for a few years getting rusty and gathering dust so I am cleaning it up and painting it. It will fold 15mm thick plate @ 90 degrees, I dont know the tonnage but it must be a fair bit. Hydraulic pump/motor is a £50 3phase unit off ebay.
Here is a few pics to be getting on with, if anyone is interested in copying it feel free.
...
Here is a few pics to be getting on with, if anyone is interested in copying it feel free.
...Separating m/cycle crank webs: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/attachments/img_3067-jpeg.505228/
Dismantling a m/cycle damper: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/attachments/img_1268-jpeg.509990/
Laurie
