Hydraulic Press Project

[Mic]

Hi there,
First project thread. Im from Ireland and im making a hydraulic press for my garage.
I do a small bit of work on cars so im only looking at building a midrange press. Around the 12-20T range.

I have the advantage of working in an engineering company that specialises in laser cutting so will look to use that to my advantage.

Iv been looking at this http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-60603.html as a base/'stealing of the ideas'.

My plan is to use some 6" or 8" stock channel for the upper crossmember and the lower crossmember.
For the side rails i am going to cut some 6/8mm S275 mild steel sheet material, pre-cut the holes and then get it folded on the press.

I am thinking about cutting some 6mm washers to weld around each hole on the sidechannels for extra strenght but Im not sure if thats overkill (or not enough :/)
Any thoughts/ideas criticism shoot away!

Ill hopefully get the parts cut before the weekend as we are closing for 2 weeks holidays. Im also waiting on my new Pprtamig 215 to arrive.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Id go with thicker side walls, and just use plate, leave it open if you see what i mean, as unless your making it VERY wide you'll come across something that is wider than the bed and with open sides you can just stick the excess through the gaps between plates.

Dan

 

[Shox Dr]

How confident are you in the holes lining up after folding. Might be better to use channel and drill the holes

 

[Paul.]

As per Shox, better to use rolled channel, one of the problems you will find with pre drilling / cutting is that if the holes are inside the press tool vee width they will distort when bending.

 

[Mic]

How confident are you in the holes lining up after folding. Might be better to use channel and drill the holes

Id be very confident of the holes lining up mm perfect, the lasers are very very precise and the folding is done to a very high standard.

As per Shox, better to use rolled channel, one of the problems you will find with pre drilling / cutting is that if the holes are inside the press tool vee width they will distort when bending.

Doing some solidworks models iv offset the holes enough that they should not distort.

Do you think the rolled channel will be better from a strenght point of view or is it purely for hole distortion?

Id go with thicker side walls, and just use plate, leave it open if you see what i mean, as unless your making it VERY wide you'll come across something that is wider than the bed and with open sides you can just stick the excess through the gaps between plates.

Dan

Do you mean instead of using a pressed channel for the uprights, use two flats on each side? (i.e 4 no. uprights?)

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Yes 4 uprights as opposed to channel, I use mine for straightening buckrake and grab tines so they need to fit between the uprights otherwise the press would need to be about 6' off the wall which isn't practical in most workshops!

Dan

 

[Mic]

Yes 4 uprights as opposed to channel, I use mine for straightening buckrake and grab tines so they need to fit between the uprights otherwise the press would need to be about 6' off the wall which isn't practical in most workshops!

Dan

Individual uprights might be the way to go. I could go with s355 in that case.

The only reason I'm not using channel throughout is because it will work out much cheaper for me to go with the laser cutting rather than buying and drilling channel. I will be using it for the cross members though.

 

[aametalmaster]

Here is mine just thought i would share some build ideas...Bob
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=19649

 

[KemppiFrog]

I would use RSJ for the top and bottom members. Used channel for my swaging press and bent it. Though 8" might be OK.

 

[aametalmaster]

MC channel would make a great press frame as its thick and long legged...Bob