:: View topic - New press design-manual hydraulic

I am in the process of building a new press and wanted to document the progress. My goal was to make a professional grade press with a hydraulic lift. I taught myself how to weld so I could fabricate this beast in my shop. So far so good!

The bottom 2 I-beams are fixed. The top 2 beams will slide up and down within the tube steel guides. I still need to weld on end caps so the beams do not shoot out the sides of the press. I will use manual hydraulic bottle jacks on each end to lift the beams. Eventually, I will replace these with a true hydraulic system. I plan on filling in under the bottom I-beams with 3x6 tube steel so I will have a second press cavity. FYI-I found all this steel on craigslist for $700! more details to come

Dude that thing is a beast! Looking great so far, I'm jealous!

Congrats on picking up welding - it's a skill everyone should have. Are you doing flux core, MIG, TIG?

Thanks Twizz, I took your advice from this forum and bought a Hobart 140 MIG. I added the 75argon/25 CO2 gas as well. I love it and it works so well. Thanks for the advice because I had no idea which welder to buy!

Awesome!!! I'm still loving my Hobart! I actually just picked up a new tank of gas yesterday (also using the argon/CO2 mix), took me nearly 2 years to use up the first tank. I don't do a ton of welding, but I do a fair amount and I'm surprised how long it lasted. Sooo much better than flux core welding! I've got a big weekend ahead of me welding parts for my CNC machine, woohoo!

great job looks good.

how about two short pieces of fire hose at the end? maybe loop around like horseshoe. Even small diameter hose should work

I love welding. I am so excited to just weld stuff! I may never use another bolt again.

Great idea! I ended up buying two air powered hydraulic bottle jacks so that I can just use my compressor. I will post some new pics tomorrow.

Wow! Press envy. The hydraulic lift is a great idea. That will make loading and unload so much easier.

Really damn cool! How are you going to hold the top beams down when pressing? Surely the jacks aren't enough to hold against the firehose?

thanks Skidesmond and Twizz!

Good question and I am still up for suggestions if you have any. My thought is to find the rough location where the press will settle down on the mold and drill some holes in the two TS upright beams and place a 1" round rod all the way through that can be pulled when lifting the top beams.

I am not welding the pumps to the beam just because they are Harbor Freight and chance are they wont last for years!

WHat about a bladder over the top beam to hold it down? It would require another beefy beam on the top but you could just have a very small space just wide enough for a bladder to fit ad then inflate it to hold the top cavity beam in place.

Nice work COsurfer!

Before you weld to much...

This might be what you really would like to build

You could put the Jacks on top instead..?

Thanks Skidesmond and deepskis.

Initially, I wanted to build a Langzauner style press but for some reason the hydraulics are super expensive. Even a manual pump is like $400-$500 plus all the cylinders($200+ ea.). I am not sure why you can buy a 20 ton bottle jack for $100 but trying to build a hydraulic system is going to be $2,000. I may still try it by pricing out used equipment to make it cheaper. The Langzauner is the perfect system and I don't think they even use an air bladder. The press puts out 200,000 pounds of pressure.

Video:

I'm speechless.... that is way too cool! Looks like it works great!

Almost complete. I made a few design revisions. The 1" bar on each side to hold down the press didn't work. The bar deflected quite a bit and I didn't feel comfortable with it. Plan B was to welded some c channel to each side and press with wood spacers under the C-Channel. It didnt hold and the press blew off the welded C-channels! scared the crap out of me and I am lucky it didn't hurt anyone. One thing I have noticed is when I have the bladder fully flattened and inflate the force is dramatically higher than a hose that has 2-3" of slack between the mold. I didn't realize how much area I was losing by not having the hose pressed tight. I used to press at 80psi. Not a chance with this press, I plan on pressing at around 50 psi max. The final design that appears to work and pictured here is the same C-Channels welded and bolted with 5/8" high strength threaded rod. I insert wood blocks in the vacant space. I pressed today upto 50 psi and it didnt budge.

Nice. I'd shorten the bags 3".

I have a really similar design for my press that I plan on building. When you were testing the 1" steel rods, how much deflection did they have? My press design was similar but I planned on using two per side with 1-1/4 inch rods, and then welding steel sleeves onto the press frame. Thoughts?

EDIT: Ok so I'd like a few thoughts on this projected 3D drawing of my press, not concerned about opinions on sizes, mainly just the structure and positioning of my end frames. Wondering if the way the C-Channels that support the I-Beams while under pressure should be positions differently or any other opinions.

OP, how did you weld your press? It scares the living hell out of me that some of the channel blew off under pressure, and I'd like to avoid that. Wondering if you think the welds didnt penetrate deep enough or there just wasn't enough support?

Thanks for the help and any opinions, its appreciated!

It was bowing the 1" rod in the middle by a 1/2"(span of 14") and I stopped. IMO it shouldn't bow/flex at all. You could try 2 rods/side but the problem is if you don't get the holes exactly in the same location when the press starts pushing up it will engage the first bar it hits and will take the majority of the load.

Regarding your design: I dont know what to tell you. I am not a welding expert. In fact, this press is the first time I welded and I probably didn't do the best job but I wouldn't rely on just welded connections under the loads we use. Bolts provide so much more strength.

Ehhhh, not really.

At least if you are comparing a proper weld to a bolt.

A good weld should be almost as strong as the material being welded.

^^^

I agree, my press is 100% welded and there are 0 issues with stability. I have a frame made from 6x6 tube (2 top 2 bottom) stitch welded together and 14 inch H beam sides welded in placed with reinforcement along the side joints of the tube steel and H beam, with center supports front and back. No creaks, no pops, and minimal deflection due to the center posts. I press at 50-60 psi and I feel I could go higher but don't need to with the results I've been getting.

pretty sure a 1" weld is comparable to sheer and load of a grade 8 bolt at the same size. So technically welding will be stronger, if done properly.

94 - On your press design... You have bottle jacks on the bottom of the press..... I'm assuming they are there to raise and lower the bottom mold.

When you raise the bottom mold and then inflate the hose to 50-60 psi will the bottle jacks be able to hold the bottom mold in place? What's the capacity of the bottle jacks?

94

IMO raising bottom I-beams bad idea.good question to ask why you want to go this design.

Anyhow if I understand your drawing correctly you put U-channel on the top and bottom of supporting frame horizontally if so better option go with 2 u-channels positioned like this ][ or smaller size I-beam

Ok to start off Desmond, I'm plan

Smaller version

Ok so, would like a few opinions on each press design and their endframes. The press on the left will likely be stronger, but will be more restricted with how large my vertical opening can be, and it shortens the size you can side load from by four inches.

Also, instead of pinning the press in place, I think I'm going to have some C-Channel that will sit verticall underneath the bottom part of my press, and it will be held in place with a single bolt so It can't blow out sideways under pressure. Much in the same way that OP has a bunch of wood restricting the upper part of his press.

Mad Russian, my press will be similar to Kam's "Kublai" and Rockauckum's press. My press is actually based on Rockaukum's press, he also states in that thread that if he were to build it again, he would have it so that the bottom of the press would drop down because the jacks that raise the top restrict the fire hoses. I'm not that big of a fan of how Kam's press lifts, it looks pretty complex.

As far as end frame construction goes, I will use the design on the left of the page where I have to vertical c-channels as opposed to the one horizontal channel on the right.

Back to welding, I have the option to arc weld and mig weld the press. Obviously I want to get deep penetration, which the arc welder will achieve regardless. The mig is a Lincoln 180 (240V) welder and it can weld up to 1/2" steel. The mig welding will be done with gas, none of that flux core crap. Would like opinions on that. And the welds will be done by my buddy who is very experience with both arc and mig, so skill with each style of welding isn't a factor here.

Don't know what to say. Doesn't looks complicated. Well I don't have any options because my press is built long time ago. Have to do a little bit differently because I have no any space between I-beams

I can't advise you on welding. I'm not welder. What I see ... thick steel of that size welder with big welding machines which have its own gas powered generator that's how mine was welded[/quote]

A 180 amp mig has no place near that press IMO. Use the arc welder.

Yeah, wasn't too sure on that. It's rated to weld up to half inch, but I myaswell play it safe and use the deep penetration of the arc. I'll use the mug for any non critical stitch welds.

And Russian it's not the worst but the way rockaukum's press is, so simple.

do you have pics or link?

do you have pics or link?

Woops! Sorry I was so vague on that man, the pictures of Rockaukum's press where down a few posts in that thread of Kam's about lifting the Kublai. Lemme try an embed here:

[/img]

EDIT