DIY hydraulic press build from repurposed parts

[sd455dan]

1st off this is not a well matched set of build parts for a press.
It is roughly copied from the HF 20 ton hydraulic press

I really wanted to use what I had laying around and most of this was pulled from the metal re-cycler pile.
So far -the only things purchased was a 4"x 4" x 72" square tube that will split to be used for the uprights and a 2 foot section of 7/8s round stock for the pins.

Thicker walled steel for the uprights would have been preferable, but the only square tubing that the local Pacific steel carries is only .188 walled and they didn't have C channel with the right dimensions either, so the 4x4 is what i ended up with to be split for the uprights.
It does (appear) to resemble what the HF 20 ton presses uprights are built from- but we don't have a store in town to measure them from and the info does not show up in their manuals either so it is what it is...
Here's a pic of some of what will be used to build it.

parts off junk garage door rails -plan on adding a hand winch to lift the aprons will salvage the cable pulleys, also need the springs to retract the hydraulic jack

old boat winch, will use to lift the aprons

part of a weight bench square tubing frame- think this will work for part of the base for the jack and guide between the uprights

Not shown,

several feet of 4"x 8" I beam for aprons and the top main frame support.

1 3/8" solid steel weight lifting bar and end pieces, thought this could be used for the main press shaft

1 1/2" bed frame C channel - a bit light but planning on using it for the uprights feet

1 BIG hydraulic jack- the others i have are nowhere near 20 ton , but this 1 is at least that, - plan is to plumb it at some point for a gauge and then work out the pressure.?. Right now don't have any big jobs planned for this press but don't want to break the uprights due to over stressing them.


It was Cold when starting on this,
12* in the shop when I laid out the 7/8" holes for the pins and scribed the lines to split the 4x4 in two.

Had warmed up to 26 when the hole drilling was done- Man drilling 32 holes in a row by hand is a work out
also began plasma cutting by splitting one side off of some of the 4 x 8 C channel and also splitting a 44 inch one in half to be used for front and back top plate pieces.
another little project in that picture- plasma cutting and shaping a piece of railroad rail into a small anvil, it should be handy

I was a bit concerned about firing up the plasma on my 3 in 1 machine in temps this low, but wanted to get going and thought that it might help to turn it on and let it idle for a couple minutes and then set the amps to just above minimum and lightly gouge a couple inches on the scribe line and warm the mosfets up a little bit before cranking it up to cut so that is what i did
It did a decent job of cutting the 4x4 piece into two but i left the very ends attached hoping to minimize warping, but even after letting it cool down there was some.

Next cut the bed frame rails and drilled holes in the uprights.

Welded the 2 trimmed 4 x 8 C channel together to form the top press piece with a void in the middle for the jack retract springs. Used 1/8 6011 and did my best to get full penetration in the gap between the 2 top plates added a piece of trimmed channel for where the jack seats on the top frame used 1/8 7018 for those welds.
Squared it up as much as I could ( sure would be nice to have a steel build table) -Someday
and welded the uprights to the center piece with more 1/8 7018- also added the (feet) thought i took some pictures but can't find them.

Here's the basic frame standing



more to follow

 

[dragoneggs]

Well alright! Thanks for starting a dedicated thread on this. Looking good! But your camera focus seems off though.

 

[FredH]

I have no idea if Your idea on letting Your plasma cutter " Warm Up " per say really works But I have been doing the same for over 5 years now

The reason I started doing it is I had a small t.v. in my semi and turned it on one weekend while home . Truck was really cold inside , worked for all about 4 or 5 seconds then all kinds of weird stuff with the screen , picture , even the sound started happening . Took it in the house and let it warm up and tried again . Nothing then , zero , ziltch . Recycled the t.v. but for some unknown flippin' reason , I had saved the remote and just recently found it when I traded in that old truck for a newer one :confused3:

Looks Good on your project . Brother has a homemade press , thing is huge and weighs a ???? . Put a crack and dent onto a cement floor one time when it fell over .

Fred H.

 

[BukitCase]

Dan, I'm not at my shop right now but my HF "20 ton" press uprights are maybe a tiny bit over 1/8", so your .188 wall should be OK - 7/8" pins seem a bit light, but "run whatcha brung" projects aren't always ideal - I only mention that as a caution, because of your mentioning a heavier jack...

Here's a thread on one of MY uses of the HF press - still a 20 ton jack, but I repl. the original with the air/hydraulic version - maxed out the jack doing that push, didn't notice during the push but when I RELEASED the pressure, the whole press "straightened itself back out", kinda spooked me -

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...vice-requested.html?highlight=press+weld+bend

Know what you mean about hand drills and big holes - the last couple years before I retired there was boatloads of REQUIRED overtime (company was too cheap to replace retirees; OT was cheaper than benefit package supposedly) - I quit complaining when I realized what the OT would do for social security income AND the "toy money fund", and was able to add a mag drill to the list - now, any time I drill a hole bigger than 7/16" I just grin :thumbsup:

'Nuf blather, I don't envy you working in that cold shop, I've gotten too soft living in western Oregon... Steve

 

[Stimw]

You mentioned boat winch and drums.
Here is a trick I used on my HF-
Mount the boat winch on one of the uprights so the cable can go straight down to the table.
Put a pulley (I used an old one from a comalong) on the other upright so the cable can go straight down.
Then clamp the cable to the winch spool with one side down and the other side to pulley then down.
When you wind, both cables wrap or unwrap and go up or down keeping table level.
HOPE THIS MADE SOME KIND OF SENSE???? But it works great.
Also swapped out for air jack and much better.
Plus I put extensions on the uprights so I didn't have to stand on my knees to use it.

 

[davedj1]

Looks good so far. Now you will need to build yourself a brake for in the press. I have one I built and I can't tell you how handy it is.
There are companies that sell kits you have to weld together if that's a route you want to take.
I can fill you in on mine if you are interested.

 

[dragoneggs]

Looks good so far. Now you will need to build yourself a brake for in the press. I have one I built and I can't tell you how handy it is.
There are companies that sell kits you have to weld together if that's a route you want to take.
I can fill you in on mine if you are interested.

I just bought the SwagOffroad DIY press brake kit for my 20T HF press and it was a fun little project to weld together and I was up in running in a little over an hour of assembly time. And I am slow and deliberate. Works great.

 

[sd455dan]

Well alright! Thanks for starting a dedicated thread on this. Looking good! But your camera focus seems off though.

Yeah Sorry about the camera, need to find our actual camera, these are from my trac phone and it has a cracked lens.
I switched when TBN required 1meg or less pictures and it was a bit of a pain re sizing every pic. the tracphones are under the 1 meg so it makes uploading a bit easier.

 

[dragoneggs]

Yeah Sorry about the camera, need to find our actual camera, these are from my trac phone and it has a cracked lens.
I switched when TBN required 1meg or less pictures and it was a bit of a pain re sizing every pic. the tracphones are under the 1 meg so it makes uploading a bit easier.

I hear ya... these fancy new phones have impressive cameras that are pixel monsters. I have a routine now to reduce but it is a bit of a process to resize and upload. I have to do everything on my laptop because my iPhone TBN app won't allow posts or replies anymore for some reason.

 

[sd455dan]

I have no idea if Your idea on letting Your plasma cutter " Warm Up " per say really works But I have been doing the same for over 5 years now

The reason I started doing it is I had a small t.v. in my semi and turned it on one weekend while home . Truck was really cold inside , worked for all about 4 or 5 seconds then all kinds of weird stuff with the screen , picture , even the sound started happening . Took it in the house and let it warm up and tried again . Nothing then , zero , ziltch . Recycled the t.v. but for some unknown flippin' reason , I had saved the remote and just recently found it when I traded in that old truck for a newer one :confused3:



Fred H.

Not sure how much it helps but don't think it will hurt, years ago worked on an oil exploration crew in the recording dog house, and we weren't allowed to start up the electronics equipment until the temp reached 55*
But that was so long ago the system used reel to reel magnetic tape to record digital data:laughing:

Looks Good on your project . Brother has a homemade press , thing is huge and weighs a ???? . Put a crack and dent onto a cement floor one time when it fell over .

Thanks, Hoping this one doesn't fall over- but I did already drop it once from leaning it on my table saw after the uprights were welded:duh: