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Or the confessions of a vintage machine hoarder enthusiast.
This journey started during the "Cigar Fad" of the mid 90's. At the time, I had a partnership in a custom cabinet and millwork shop. One day, my partner, Philippe, brought in a picture of a humidor and said he had a friend who would wanted him to make one for him. The one on the picture was $1,500 but philippe said he could do it for half that, Indeed $750 back then was great money for fairly simple wooden box. Philippe made the humidor, his friend loved it and so did all his friends and more orders started coming. Seeing a wide market potential, we went all-into the humidor business.
Months later, we had a final design, I built custom jigs, fixtures, modified and built machines, all to optimize production. These humidors could sell up to $1k per unit and I wanted it to take less than 2 hrs to produce each unit. One of the slow spots in the production was veneering the boxes as conventional adhesives were messy and very time consuming. The answer, film adhesive a clear plastic film that was only about 3 thou thick but created a super strong, moisture proof, bond with only about a 1 minute cycle time. It was the perfect adhesive for bonding veneer to humidors. However, it required heat and a LOT of pressure. About 120 psi, far more than a vacuum bag, our usual go-to for veneering, could achieve. The first attempt was a HF (mail order) "12 ton" press, with a 1.25" thick aluminum platen heated with a heat gun. We got some success but the press proved to be a total pice of junk and was ultimately, unusable. I considered building a press but then found one one in the classified ads "30 ton hydraulic press $250" Perfect. It was a KR Wilson brand made in 1943 and had a US Navy badge on it but apparently spent most of its life in the Castro Convertible, sofa factory. It had a slight hydraulic leak, so I wound up rebuilding the cylinder and pump. With a redesigned electrically heated platen, the press was able to veneer the boxes in minutes instead of hours.
Indeed, I was able to bring production time to about two hours per box, including finishing. if we could have only sold them that fast we might have made some real money. Alas it was not to be, after a brief run of success, the humidor business dried up... The jigs and fixtures were repurposed the machines were restored to normal and the press was shoved in a corner and forgotten...
About 12 years later, I had left the business, Philippe still had the shop and wanted the press gone as he needed the space. I really wanted to hold on to it, knowing I would eventually have another shop and would "Need" it. However, I already had a few, more important machines, stored there and could use the extra cash at the time, so I sold the press for $400…
Sure enough, 2 years later I bought a house with a large basement for my shop. I brought my machines there, a lathe, 2 drill presses, a bandsaw, welders, etc.. and I immediately started lamenting the absence of the press…
Of course I had to ask myself, Do I really need a hydraulic press? I have certainly gone without one for quite some time, limping along with a measly 2 ton arbor press. Also, I don’t really have any space for one, at least down here in my basement shop. Bending that is a capability that would somewhat justify it but I could get by with the vise and torch like I’ve been doing, pressing bearings? also been making due with what I have… Though the longing still persisted, reason kept it at bey… However, I kept the eye out of that possible “Unicorn”.
The tipping point came when my friends Sven & Erica bought a place nearby. Sven is into flint knapping and makes beautiful knives out of stone, bone and other non-metallic materials. However he now wants to get into forging knives out of steel, something I have also wanted to get into for many years, as well. So after a few beers it was decided we would pool our resources and get a forging shop together.
Sven started by getting an anvil and gas forge from Vevor, just as a low cost start up. We figure we would get or make better gear as we progress an figure out exactly what we want. Watching dozens of forging videos and episodes of Forged in Fire showing blade smiths making Damascus steel, lead me to one conclusion, Now I need absolutely need a hydraulic press…
The the vintage tool gods listened, a week later an ad came up on Facebook Marketplace for a 50 ton KR Wilson Press with an electric HPU for only $400! But then my heart sank as I noticed The ad was placed 2 day prior, surely it was gone by now… Of course I sent a message anyway “I’ll take it, when can I come get it?” Two anxious days went by till I got a response “Tomorrow at 5:30?” A short two hr drive to Pennsylvania with the flatbed trailer and the press followed me home! It’s as if it was a lost son, away for all those years and now returned home, all grown up.
The Press as it appeared in the FB Marketplace ad.
The shop I bought it from had a crane on the loading dock, so getting it on the trailer was easy peasy.
Of course I don't have a loading dock or a gantry crane so how do I get this 1,300# beast off the trailer...
I attached some temporary skid plates I made out of plywood, 2x lumber and steel angle.
We put pipe rollers under the skids and tied the press to the generator pad, By inching the trailer forward the press tipped off the back...
Of course we had the top of the press also secured with a belay line so we could it set down gently. Sven made some side to side adjustments with the J-bar, he was a great help especially as he is a professional rigger.
Now the fun begins!
I crushed some steel just to test it. The plan is to rebuild it over the winter, relocate it to its permanent place in the spring, and then forge ahead!
Thanks for looking.
This journey started during the "Cigar Fad" of the mid 90's. At the time, I had a partnership in a custom cabinet and millwork shop. One day, my partner, Philippe, brought in a picture of a humidor and said he had a friend who would wanted him to make one for him. The one on the picture was $1,500 but philippe said he could do it for half that, Indeed $750 back then was great money for fairly simple wooden box. Philippe made the humidor, his friend loved it and so did all his friends and more orders started coming. Seeing a wide market potential, we went all-into the humidor business.
Months later, we had a final design, I built custom jigs, fixtures, modified and built machines, all to optimize production. These humidors could sell up to $1k per unit and I wanted it to take less than 2 hrs to produce each unit. One of the slow spots in the production was veneering the boxes as conventional adhesives were messy and very time consuming. The answer, film adhesive a clear plastic film that was only about 3 thou thick but created a super strong, moisture proof, bond with only about a 1 minute cycle time. It was the perfect adhesive for bonding veneer to humidors. However, it required heat and a LOT of pressure. About 120 psi, far more than a vacuum bag, our usual go-to for veneering, could achieve. The first attempt was a HF (mail order) "12 ton" press, with a 1.25" thick aluminum platen heated with a heat gun. We got some success but the press proved to be a total pice of junk and was ultimately, unusable. I considered building a press but then found one one in the classified ads "30 ton hydraulic press $250" Perfect. It was a KR Wilson brand made in 1943 and had a US Navy badge on it but apparently spent most of its life in the Castro Convertible, sofa factory. It had a slight hydraulic leak, so I wound up rebuilding the cylinder and pump. With a redesigned electrically heated platen, the press was able to veneer the boxes in minutes instead of hours.
Indeed, I was able to bring production time to about two hours per box, including finishing. if we could have only sold them that fast we might have made some real money. Alas it was not to be, after a brief run of success, the humidor business dried up... The jigs and fixtures were repurposed the machines were restored to normal and the press was shoved in a corner and forgotten...
About 12 years later, I had left the business, Philippe still had the shop and wanted the press gone as he needed the space. I really wanted to hold on to it, knowing I would eventually have another shop and would "Need" it. However, I already had a few, more important machines, stored there and could use the extra cash at the time, so I sold the press for $400…
Sure enough, 2 years later I bought a house with a large basement for my shop. I brought my machines there, a lathe, 2 drill presses, a bandsaw, welders, etc.. and I immediately started lamenting the absence of the press…
Of course I had to ask myself, Do I really need a hydraulic press? I have certainly gone without one for quite some time, limping along with a measly 2 ton arbor press. Also, I don’t really have any space for one, at least down here in my basement shop. Bending that is a capability that would somewhat justify it but I could get by with the vise and torch like I’ve been doing, pressing bearings? also been making due with what I have… Though the longing still persisted, reason kept it at bey… However, I kept the eye out of that possible “Unicorn”.
The tipping point came when my friends Sven & Erica bought a place nearby. Sven is into flint knapping and makes beautiful knives out of stone, bone and other non-metallic materials. However he now wants to get into forging knives out of steel, something I have also wanted to get into for many years, as well. So after a few beers it was decided we would pool our resources and get a forging shop together.
Sven started by getting an anvil and gas forge from Vevor, just as a low cost start up. We figure we would get or make better gear as we progress an figure out exactly what we want. Watching dozens of forging videos and episodes of Forged in Fire showing blade smiths making Damascus steel, lead me to one conclusion, Now I need absolutely need a hydraulic press…
The the vintage tool gods listened, a week later an ad came up on Facebook Marketplace for a 50 ton KR Wilson Press with an electric HPU for only $400! But then my heart sank as I noticed The ad was placed 2 day prior, surely it was gone by now… Of course I sent a message anyway “I’ll take it, when can I come get it?” Two anxious days went by till I got a response “Tomorrow at 5:30?” A short two hr drive to Pennsylvania with the flatbed trailer and the press followed me home! It’s as if it was a lost son, away for all those years and now returned home, all grown up.
The Press as it appeared in the FB Marketplace ad.
The shop I bought it from had a crane on the loading dock, so getting it on the trailer was easy peasy.
Of course I don't have a loading dock or a gantry crane so how do I get this 1,300# beast off the trailer...
I attached some temporary skid plates I made out of plywood, 2x lumber and steel angle.
We put pipe rollers under the skids and tied the press to the generator pad, By inching the trailer forward the press tipped off the back...
Of course we had the top of the press also secured with a belay line so we could it set down gently. Sven made some side to side adjustments with the J-bar, he was a great help especially as he is a professional rigger.
Now the fun begins!
I crushed some steel just to test it. The plan is to rebuild it over the winter, relocate it to its permanent place in the spring, and then forge ahead!
Thanks for looking.
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