My Mini Hydraulic Press

[boilermaker]

Excellent machine thunder, i think i'll give it a go making one. Can you tell me what stroke your jack has? cheers mate!

 

By the way i work construction and mining jobs, pipefitting etc. what sort of boilermaking do you do?

[Thunder]

Excellent machine thunder, i think i'll give it a go making one. Can you tell me what stroke your jack has? cheers mate!

 

By the way i work construction and mining jobs, pipefitting etc. what sort of boilermaking do you do?

 

From HF website:

20 ton maximum load capacity; Minimum height: 10-1/4"; Maximum height: 20" with screw extension, 16-1/4" without screw extension; Operating pressure: 90-120 PSI; Ram travel: 6-1/2"; Overall base dimensions: 9"L x 5-3/16"W; Air fitting: 1/4" NPT with quick release; Tool weight: 36 lbs.

 

I used to do mostly powerhouse and refineries, 17 year book, The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers - my book is now on withdrawal.

 

The jack works best if you are pressing on the first few inches of travel- try not to extend it out to the full 6", I usually adjust the screw head up to only use about 3" of press travel.

 

I am in the process of making a few changes to the press - these will take a few weeks to accomplish.

T. A. Toler

[Ken Wolfe]

I just want to thank Thunder & Madmax for this great info. I'd always heard that these jacks would not work as they were too slow. Maybe slow for some work, but it might just make it possible for this old guys to do some Damascus and some small forging.

[Thunder]

I just came across an intresting webpage showing another version of this style press. It gives well thought out design for the controls. It is here - press controls. I though some of you might be intrested.

T. A. Toler

[L Murdock]

I finished my press. I already see a change I want to make, but that will have to wait until later. The dies are 2x2 mild steel welded to a 3/16 plate welded to a 2" piece of 2x2 tubing. The tubing has 1/4" walls. The upper die is held in place with a set screw. The lower die just sits in a socket.

 

Larry

[Will Leavitt]

Looks very nice, Murdock, where you at? I'm up near Montgomery, you in Foley or Daphne?

 

Will

[L Murdock]

Looks very nice, Murdock, where you at? I'm up near Montgomery, you in Foley or Daphne?

 

Will

 

 

I'm in East L. A. (Dothan). You must be close to Billy Watson and John Wayne Taylor.

[Will Leavitt]

I'm in East L. A. (Dothan). You must be close to Billy Watson and John Wayne Taylor.

 

Yup, my fiance's father is Art "Bunky" Price, Billy's best friend. John Wayne speaks highly of y'all's forge group down there in the Wiregrass.

 

Will

[Thunder]

Murdock - man that is one nice press, they look much better when made from new materials. Can I have permission to add the pictures of your press to my info page - my mini hydraulic knife forging press? I am documenting my construction so others can see how they are built and work. Might as well show how others have built and improved the design. Very nice job.

T. A. Toler

[L Murdock]

Murdock - man that is one nice press, they look much better when made from new materials. Can I have permission to add the pictures of your press to my info page - my mini hydraulic knife forging press? I am documenting my construction so others can see how they are built and work. Might as well show how others have built and improved the design. Very nice job.

T. A. Toler

 

 

You have my permission. The only change I plan to make to the press is to shorten the legs by about 3". I was tired and didn't do a fit measure before welding on the top. I am attaching a rough drawing of the parts.

[Thunder]

You have my permission. The only change I plan to make to the press is to shorten the legs by about 3". I was tired and didn't do a fit measure before welding on the top. I am attaching a rough drawing of the parts.

 

I made the same mistake or came to the same conclusion on my design. In the link that I provided, look at the third graphic down, the frame starts out (about 24" tall) with a two inch square tubing top brace and then the fourth graphic down shows at about 3" or so down I mounted the 1"X2" flat bar stack. This brings the top anvil down to about what you are talking about. However, I am finding that I am using this little jack for a lot more than just pressing billets. If you weld the brace too low it makes it hard to do other things like bending 90 degree angles with dies and such. I wish I had made the top anvil with an adjustable height instead of welding it solid. I probably will on the next version of this design, along with a few more changes. I just bought two more of the HF jacks.

 

Thanks for the ok on the graphics and the component view is great.

LMurdock - You have made a great clean machine.

T.A. Toler

[L Murdock]

Well this morning I finally got around to using the mini-press. The photos show the press sitting on a stand and apiece of mokume gane I made with it. I was trying to make ladder pattern, this is my first try. I didn't grind the grooves close enough, oh well, next time. I usually just twist the billit and slice it in two for star patterns. By the way the press weighs 110 pounds. I plan to make a better stand with casters for it.

 

Larry

[Thunder]

I like that foot switch, cool looking mokume! I'll try to post some pics of 1" cable I pressed down, 1760 layers - I made a squaring die set out of angle 2" X 2" cut down to 3/4" - 1/4" thick, works pretty good. I like your Mr. Masher! That's what everyones calling my press.

[Frogfish]

OK finally got my version working I made the top anvil adjustable and I did a different take on securing the dies.

 

 

Dies are made from 1" x 2" mild steel and are 3" long welded to 1/4" plates secures with a 1/4" hold down bolt.

 

 

 

 

I have another set of plates that I'm adding 1/2 of a 1 1/2" round stock too for drawing dies next project is a foot switch for the air supply to speed up the process I've only done a few test runs and without the tee handle I got a few presses on a heat.

 

Tim

[Craig Hashimoto]

Very cool guys.... I may need to try one of these.... !

Nice job Froggy...

Kalimalena

[Thunder]

Very nice press FrogFish!

What size are the bolts used on the top anvil?

Are they standing up to the pressure from pressing?

The T handle will really speed the work, almost essential.

I took the original jack handle and drilled it out for a 1/4" cold roll bar to make the T portion.

It makes a great difference in speed of operation.

T. A. Toler

[Frogfish]

Very nice press FrogFish!

What size are the bolts used on the top anvil?

Are they standing up to the pressure from pressing?

The T handle will really speed the work, almost essential.

I took the original jack handle and drilled it out for a 1/4" cold roll bar to make the T portion.

It makes a great difference in speed of operation.

T. A. Toler

 

Thanks, the bolts are 1/2" and seem to be doing fine I did tweek a pair of bolts when I didn't tighten them before pressing but these seem to be holding up fine and yes now that I have the T handle all set up it really does the job.

[Thunder]

I made a set of squaring dies to press a 1" cable last week, the cable is 12" long, weight about 1 pound - Here is a graphic of my squaring dies they are made from cut down 1/4" 2 X 2 Angle iron, cut to about 3/4" sides and welded to 1/2" plate. I also I made about a two minute video of using them, the video is on youtube, located here

The video is really compressed and I was just trying to show use of the dies, I cut out the fluxing, twisting, etc. It is just to show what can be done with this little press.

T. A. Toler

[Thunder]

Almost forgot, final view of billet on the video is about 1760 layers, starts out with about 220 wires, folded to 440, folded to 880 folded to 1760. This billet was made last week it isn’t the one being shown on the video.

T. A. Toler

[Tom Megow]

Thunder

Thank you very much for sharing this (Oh thanks to frogfish and murdoch as well.)

Have you "finished" your mini-press now? Could you share the final design if yes??

 

Tom

So.Ga.

[Thunder]

Megow

Thanks for the comments.

I am still working on the design, I am thinking about putting two presses together for a 40 ton press. Wow that might cost 160.00. I have the jacks but haven’t tried them in tandem yet. I am not sure if my little compressor will pull both. Also I am considering a double upright rail design to get a larger press area. Press between the uprights instead of across. I really don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied, the building and designing is almost more fun than the using.

 

Also - Frogfish, would it be all right for me to use your graphics on the webpages I am building for this little project?

Thanks

T. A. Toler

[patrickrock]

Wow great job all. I'll have to look into this for fall when blacksmithing season rolls back around.

[Christoph Alpermann]

Hi,

 

that thing looks interesting to say the least.

 

I understand most of the construction you made, but one thing still makes me wonder (I´ve red this thread two times, maybe I still skipped some infos).

That bottlejack is meant to be hand operated and you managed to get it to work with a compressor - how is that done?

Or am I completely wrong and this thing is some sort of combo piece?

 

 

Regards,

 

Christoph

 

 

Oh, and by the way, you have an excellent taste for beer - Paulaner is my favourite choice for "helles Weizen" .

[HSJackson]

Hi,

 

that thing looks interesting to say the least.

 

I understand most of the construction you made, but one thing still makes me wonder (I´ve red this thread two times, maybe I still skipped some infos).

That bottlejack is meant to be hand operated and you managed to get it to work with a compressor - how is that done?

Or am I completely wrong and this thing is some sort of combo piece?

 

 

Regards,

 

Christoph

 

 

Oh, and by the way, you have an excellent taste for beer - Paulaner is my favourite choice for "helles Weizen" .

 

It's an air over hydraulic jack meant to be run by a compressor. Here's the link to Harbor Freight's version: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=95553 They hava a couple more variations on their site if you search for "air jack".

[Frogfish]

Megow

Thanks for the comments.

I am still working on the design, I am thinking about putting two presses together for a 40 ton press. Wow that might cost 160.00. I have the jacks but haven’t tried them in tandem yet. I am not sure if my little compressor will pull both. Also I am considering a double upright rail design to get a larger press area. Press between the uprights instead of across. I really don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied, the building and designing is almost more fun than the using.

 

Also - Frogfish, would it be all right for me to use your graphics on the webpages I am building for this little project?

Thanks

T. A. Toler

 

Thunder your welcome to use them.

 

Cheers Tim