# New Press Build



## HSS (Oct 13, 2014)

Arkie has a 50 ton press but sometimes it just wasn't stout enough to get the job done. My wife and I spend a bit of time helping him in his machine shop, along with his full time employee and one part time employee, and between the 5 of us we have been constructing a new hydraulic press. I don't know any of the dimensions except the width which is the last thing I measured on it last night. It is 95" on the outside of the uprights which will give you a table 89" long. Now if I can post pictures. I've had problems before with pictures on here. Well, i got all but one right, and that took a while. I finally just gave up. More to come as we continue the build.
Patrick


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## JimDawson (Oct 13, 2014)

That's a big press!  What's the planned tonnage?


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## Rbeckett (Oct 13, 2014)

Since the span is so wide the tonnage will have to be fairly low to prevent bending the 2 C-beams with too much juice.  Might weld in some flat plate to stiffen up the base and then the tonnage goes back up to 50 or 100 tons easily, buy thay must be continuously welded from one end to the other on top and bottom of both sides.

Bob


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## RandyM (Oct 13, 2014)

WOW! That's big.


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## Hardly (Oct 13, 2014)

Nice press. Better to have something bigger than you need than to have something that's not big enough to do the job.


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## righto88 (Oct 13, 2014)

I worked with a guy and his only tools were a big hammer and a pipe wrench. He would fit right in there.... :allgood:


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## HSS (Oct 13, 2014)

Well, we've got big hammers and several pipe wrenches, so no problem there. We're planning on about 180 tons but not sure of the hydraulic unit's output, at this time, but think it's around 4600 psi. Still have to build the hydraulic cylinder. it's in the lathe now. Stay tuned


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## kd4gij (Oct 13, 2014)

RandyM said:


> WOW! That's big.





  You know what's comming don't you???:nono:













  That is what she said.:roflmao:










had to do it.:jester:


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## jpfabricator (Oct 13, 2014)

Glad someone said it!

Jake Parker


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## HSS (Oct 13, 2014)

This is the DOM tubing that will be the hydraulic cylinder. it has a 10" id. and the stroke probably won't be over 10".
Later
Patrick


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## John_Dennis (Oct 13, 2014)

The company my dad used to run had some 100 ton presses that weighed around 7000# to handle that kind of pressure with a fraction of that span.  I think you are going to have to add a lot more steel to that rig to handle that much tonnage.

Dont forget the safety cage. That press you are building could easily throw a 200# part a city block.


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## jam (Oct 14, 2014)

HSS said:


> Arkie has a 50 ton press but sometimes it just wasn't stout enough to get the job done. My wife and I spend a bit of time helping him in his machine shop, along with his full time employee and one part time employee, and between the 5 of us we have been constructing a new hydraulic press. I don't know any of the dimensions except the width which is the last thing I measured on it last night. It is 95" on the outside of the uprights which will give you a table 89" long. Now if I can post pictures. I've had problems before with pictures on here. Well, i got all but one right, and that took a while. I finally just gave up. More to come as we continue the build.
> Patrick




nice job looking good what do you do to have to have a press that big   ?:think1:


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## ScrapMetal (Oct 14, 2014)

jam said:


> nice job looking good what do you do to have to have a press that big   ?:think1:



Come on!  What a silly question.  The answer, of course, is because he can!  :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

If my shop was big enough I'd want one like that as well. 

-Ron


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## Bill Gruby (Oct 14, 2014)

Love that Spider.

 "Billy G"


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## HSS (Oct 14, 2014)

jam said:


> nice job looking good what do you do to have to have a press that big   ?:think1:


The shaft in this gear is the new one. Arkie had to bore out most of the old shaft before the 50 ton press could press it out of the gear. Needed something with a little more muscle. Also for pressing on and off forklift tires.
Later 
Patrick


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## HSS (Dec 7, 2014)

Update on the press build. Been busy on money jobs and the press took a back seat for a while, but we're back on it some now.
Well, I was going to include pictures but every time I downloaded them and previewed them they were all turned on their side. I'm tired of messing with the way this site handles pictures. I'll leave the pictures out.


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## magu (Dec 7, 2014)

WOW that is really imPRESSive!!

I am sorry everyone, I apologize for my behavior....:slapping: please don't PUNish me badly.


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## HSS (Dec 16, 2014)

Well, I finally got the lifting gear installed after Arky got my pulley brackets welded on.  We found out we need some rollers running on the inside of the frame to keep the table from shifting from side to side. It's not a problem with a smaller press but on this thing the table is really heavy. Now I'm waiting on Arky to finish the cylinder. We calculated the weight of the cylinder when it's finished and it's going to be right at 1000 pounds. The problem is still money making jobs keep getting in the way of the press build.


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## melsdad (Dec 20, 2014)

I'm making popcorn for this one! That is one giant press!


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## HSS (Dec 26, 2014)

Ok, more pictures. I made a guide wheel for the table so that it doesn't wander from side to side when moving it. This is the piston for the cylinder and the picture under that one is the rod gland for the cylinder.


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## HSS (Dec 26, 2014)

And this is the base for the cylinder to hang from. We need to figure out some wheels to be able to move the cylinder laterally. I think I might have an idea for that. The plate is 14X18X2 and weighs about 148 pounds. Thats not a hole in the plate but a patch of Dykem.


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## Torbo (Dec 27, 2014)

Good work! Impressing!
A little bigger than my press!


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## HSS (Jan 5, 2015)

Update on the hydraulics with pictures. Things have slowed down a bit at Arky's and we can spend a little more time on the press. We had a guy come by and said the cabling for moving the bed wouldn't work. Little did he know we had already tested it and it works great. I wasn't there when he made the comment. Arky finished the rod, piston and threading the cylinder. When I finish the base plate, we can mark the butt of the cylinder so we can drill and tap it and bolt them together.


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## 12bolts (Jan 6, 2015)

HSS said:


> .... We had a guy come by and said the cabling for moving the bed wouldn't work. Little did he know we had already tested it and it works great. I wasn't there when he made the comment. ....



Any idea behind why he made the remark? I see no reason for it not to work

Cheers Phil


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## brav65 (Jan 6, 2015)

HSS said:


> The shaft in this gear is the new one. Arkie had to bore out most of the old shaft before the 50 ton press could press it out of the gear. Needed something with a little more muscle. Also for pressing on and off forklift tires.
> Later
> Patrick




So when do you guys start to work on some big things?:LOL:   I am busy setting up my 7x12 lathe so this stuff looks absolutely crazy!  Thanks for sharing.


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## blay127 (Jan 6, 2015)

what a monster! thanks for sharing! Cant wait to see it run


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## HSS (Jan 6, 2015)

12bolts said:


> Any idea behind why he made the remark? I see no reason for it not to work
> 
> Cheers Phil



Well Phil, the guy that made the remark is an old pipe fitter and mechanic and I guess he just didn't look at it and think about what was going to happen when the winch started taking up line. I like the guy, so I would never say anything to hurt his feelings. I would have just pulled the pins and started the winch. Lol

Brav65, making chips is making chips. Some people rough them off in thousandths and some in hundredths. The big difference is what you have to use to get the material into the lathe. In this case, you use either a chain hoist or a forklift with a boom attachment. Arky has both and another jib crane to install later.

I'll add more pictures as the build continues. Don't go away.

Pat


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## HSS (Feb 6, 2015)

We have installed the cylinder and hooked up the hydraulics for testing. These are the press plates we made and the cylinder is on rollers to make it easier to load the press. We tested it on a gear pressed onto a 5 inch shaft and it took 78 tons to press it off. The press held up just fine. We are very happy with the results.

Pat


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## brav65 (Feb 6, 2015)

Looks great Pat!  I love to see how huge things go together.  There was a show on discovery channel called build it bigger.  Your press would fit right in.


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## HSS (Feb 9, 2015)

HSS said:


> Well, we've got big hammers and several pipe wrenches, so no problem there. We're planning on about 180 tons but not sure of the hydraulic unit's output, at this time, but think it's around 4600 psi. Still have to build the hydraulic cylinder. it's in the lathe now. Stay tuned



It turns out the hydraulic unit bypasses at 2150 pounds so we tied in another hydraulic unit that will put out 10,000 pounds. The intent is to use the 2150 until it gives up then isolate it and continue with the 10,000 pound unit. Should be something to see, which gives up first, the table, the frame, or the shaft. Stay tuned. 

Pat


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## David (Feb 9, 2015)

Very nice press!  Looks like it can take all the HP you throw at it!


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## FOMOGO (Feb 9, 2015)

Interesting is a great description. I know I'll be staying tuned and hopefully it will give some warning. I built a much smaller one years ago from donated material as a 12T. A few years back I had an axle hub stub shaft I couldn't get out and made some changes to it and went to a 20T air/hyd. I got the stub-shaft out, but bent the table. Redesigned the table and so far so good. Without experimentation where would we be? I have 2 100T jacks that I bought from a guy cleaning out his shop. They are mounted together and where on a device to test Spancrete beams. You my friend have inspired me. Thanks for posting, and good luck hunting for that limit. :thumbsup2:  Mike


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## HSS (Feb 14, 2015)

Well, we tested the press on a couple of forklift tires. These are the small steering tires so the load wasn't as much as the larger tires will be.
http://youtube/9b9Gn0DOmvQ


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## HSS (Feb 16, 2015)

Rbeckett said:


> Since the span is so wide the tonnage will have to be fairly low to prevent bending the 2 C-beams with too much juice.  Might weld in some flat plate to stiffen up the base and then the tonnage goes back up to 50 or 100 tons easily, buy thay must be continuously welded from one end to the other on top and bottom of both sides.
> 
> Bob


We pressed a shaft out of it's gear and got the pressure on the shaft up to a little over 314 tons with the new press. I am imPRESSed with the results. The gauge in the photo is showing the pressure when the gear finally broke loose and was moving off of the shaft but it broke loose at 8000 lbs.
Pat


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## HSS (Feb 16, 2015)

More videos.








We did end up heating the gear to get the shaft to push out but even then it took over 300 tons to get it to move. Arky said it saved him 2 to 3 days work to get it pressed out otherwise he would have spent that much time boring the shaft to get some relief from the interference fit.
We have already realized we need to make a few modifications to it, but so far we are quite pleased.


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## FOMOGO (Feb 16, 2015)

Very cool. I can imagine it might get a little tense waiting for something to move. I pressed a bearing pack out of a water pump from my backhoe on a friends 80 ton and it sounded like a gun going off when it broke loose right at the limit. I was amazed the casting survived unscathed. Nice job. Mike


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## HSS (Feb 16, 2015)

Yeah, Mike, when we pressed the forklift tires off, one of the guys was across the shop working on a lathe when it popped at 78 tons and he hollered. He said how about giving a guy some warning. 
Thanks Mike


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## HSS (Mar 8, 2015)

We made a slight modification to the press. The things that need to be pressed on this press are a bit heavy and loading it on a cold day with the overhead door up to get the fork truck in was very inconvenient, so we installed an overhead hoist and have another to install so that we can drift in the really heavy gears and gearboxes.
Pat


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## HSS (Apr 15, 2015)

Arkie informed me this evening, that he pressed off some solid forklift tires sunday afternoon and they came loose at 4000 psi. That works out to 157 tons. He and I are in agreement that the press can easily handle 200 tons. 
Later
Pat


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