Hydraulic press mods

[dieselsamurai]

Ok so I bought this press earlier in the year on a punt as it had been outside for a while and seller said it was 10ton and a bit small for me but it was £50 . When I picked it up pretty obvious way bigger than 10ton more like 20 or 30! its been in workshop for a while unloved but used a couple of times but the table is bent on edges and a pain to move so time to improve. Also think a gauge would be handy too





I have 2 bits of steel i reckon are suitable



one is 6x6 rsj i can cut out on one side of webb

other is a 8x3 channel i have longer pieces

but im thinking that i could weld two pieces of rsj together to form a table and cut out for the uprights and cut out a circle in the center to press through if needed

thoughts guys ?

 

[gaz1]

id be using u channel again

a look at your pics tells me they was really forcing something down as the metal apears to have split apart at the tops the bottom piece of you channel shows this effect

as goes to stop the seperation weld pieces inside of the u channel to try to stop them splitting apart

also i bought a thicker top plate to stop as much push out when your pressing down with the press but what id like to do is add wedges to the back of it to counter the force inside of the middle of the press

 

[awemawson]

Now if you had a press, you could straighten those

 

[dieselsamurai]

cheers Gaz i will dig out the u channel i have to check for squareness , I have a funny feeling i looked at it before and may have been used as a ramp in a a previous life

i dont see how it could bend that badly tbh as one side is much worse than the other

 

[dieselsamurai]

Now if you had a press, you could straighten those

Haha i did look at ways i could but its just not worth the effort as i want to change the table part anyway

 

[gaz1]

cheers Gaz i will dig out the u channel i have to check for squareness , I have a funny feeling i looked at it before and may have been used as a ramp in a a previous life

i dont see how it could bend that badly tbh as one side is much worse than the other

it bends easily when people use the wrong top plate too thin and it will push out at the tops as you push material down

webbed reinforced inside of the u channel will help but also a webbed internal plate piece will also help as well

 

[James1979]

I’d use the channel in the same orientation it’s in. However I would drill it just inboard of the upright, both sides and bolt through with a pipe as a spacer. It will make a rigid structure and just use the bolts on the outside as locators.

it’s better to use a thick bit of plate to push on rather than the table. A decent thickness with a hole burnt in the middle and then cut in half works well.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@dieselsamurai I'll be watching when you come to add a gauge, that's one thing I regret not incorporating into mine when I built it.

 

[dieselsamurai]

@dieselsamurai I'll be watching when you come to add a gauge, that's one thing I regret not incorporating into mine when I built it.

I have a plan for that and im hoping to be able to work out using maths and a lot of googling how to calibrate the gauge to show force by tons not psi

I think ive worked out what bits i need just need to find out what type of fitting is at the ram end

 

[dieselsamurai]

This is a project that i didnt really intend to start but it was looking sad in corner of workshop, and in theory wont cost much as I have the steel i need and just ordered a hand winch for the table lift mechanism as it needs one this is current solution....

 

[Hopefuldave]

I have a plan for that and im hoping to be able to work out using maths and a lot of googling how to calibrate the gauge to show force by tons not psi

I think ive worked out what bits i need just need to find out what type of fitting is at the ram end

Measure the ram diameter accurately in inches, halve it, do the Pi x r x r bit for area, force is that (square inches) times the PSI shown on the gauge and make a new face to suit?
Looking at the construction, a hydraulic Tee on the pump to cylinder hose with the (very high pressure) gauge screwed in should do it?

Dave H. (the other one)

P.S. divide the force in pounds by 2240 to get tons, of course

 

[dieselsamurai]

wish i had paid more attention at school! max pressure of pump is 700bar (10,000psi) scary but you can get gauges

 

[Brad93]

With your new channels cut two or three stiffener plates and just tack them in with stitch welds. You won’t bend the channels ever again.

you want a pair of nice thick plates to go across the channels to spread the load.

 

[Brad93]

wish i had paid more attention at school! max pressure of pump is 700bar (10,000psi) scary but you can get gauges

You should definitely be using a gauge with a pump that goes that high. What make is the pump/ram? Enerpac and Powerteam make tonnage gauges

 

[dieselsamurai]

You should definitely be using a gauge with a pump that goes that high. What make is the pump/ram? Enerpac and Powerteam make tonnage gauges

Pretty sure its an enerpac pump cant see anything on ram

 

[Brad93]

Pretty sure its an enerpac pump cant see anything on ram

Well if you know the ram diameter you can go one the Enerpac site and select the right gauge to suit the ram.

 

[dieselsamurai]

Well if you know the ram diameter you can go one the Enerpac site and select the right gauge to suit the ram.

I had a look but the one I need is over £150 ! Just found a second hand one for £29 with the adapter want to keep costs down

 

[Brad93]

I had a look but the one I need is over £150 ! Just found a second hand one for £29 with the adapter want to keep costs down

Yeah 10,000PSI gauges aren’t cheap

 

[LandRoverTom]

Try these guys for gauges - https://www.flowfitonline.com
I've used them for a few odds and ends before and the seem pretty reasonable with fast delivery.
The website isn't great to find your way around though

 

[awemawson]

I had a similar gauge issue when I rebuilt my Epco 60 ton press after it had been in a fire. Again 10,000 psi hydraulic pressure and wanted a gauge calibrated in tons, so I made up a chart and fixed it next to the gauge (which came from Flowfit as mentioned in the previous post!)