Layered 3/16 vs solid 3/8 steel

[ChrisB]

I need to make a flypress bolster plate. I can get 4x8 sheets of 3/16 for the same price as 4x4 of 3/8.

I can cut 3/16 with ease on my plasma.
(The plasma will severe 1/4 if I am careful and go real slow.)

I figure I can get the 3/16 and cut two bolster plates and put a few welds around the edges.

Will the layered 3/16 have the same strength as solid 3/8? I know battleships/tanks are multi layered steel.

[Dodge]

Chris,
I believe if the plates are on edge, they would have more strength than if laid flat. Laid flat they could flex, but as long as you weld them together they should work, however solid is certainly best. That being said, I was told that a stack of plates wouldn't work for my power hammer anvil due to the bounce factor and I would have a "dead" anvil. Well, stacked plates was what I could manage within the budget I wanted to maintain so it was suggested that I put the stack (18 round discs, 1.25" thick, 8" diameter) under pressure. So, I used a friends 70k # hydraulic press and welded them under pressure. I can't be certain, but I believe my power hammer "thinks" its solid. With a fly press, you won't be bouncing the dies off your work as you would with a power hammer. If laminated bolsters is what you have to work with, work with them. Improvise, adapt, and overcome!!

[racer3j]

My suggestion would be the edges and a circle of rosette welds to connect plates.jet

[irnsrgn]

the thin plates will flex between themselves like the leaf springs on a vehicle, you will only have about 60 to 75 % of the strength of a solid plate. Do it right the first time, its cheaper in the long run.

[ThomasPowers]

ahhh my bolster plates start at 1" thick and go up to around 3" thick and I can still see them flex when the ram comes down.

My take would be to scroung heavier material!

[John B]

What size flypress are you talking about?

Is it a forging press as opposed to a flypress? (Speed of ram travel is the main difference)

Normally flypresses have a very rigid frame, and sit on a "table" or similar with access through the base to allow punched out blanks to be removed. Which means the main impact is taken around the base and not in one compact area as under a power hammers tup.

Deflection of base / bolster plate I have not found to be a problem, the torque imparted when using them is usually more of a problem, and they have to be secured firmly to stop them walking round in use.

As for a base, I have them securely mounted onto a table which is firmly bolted down and has a top made of 3" thick timber with a 1/4" steel plate on top between the press and timber preventing the flypress compacting the wood and allowing it to "bed in", it also helps to have large steel washers under the table top to secure press in situ with suitable nuts and bolts

The table also has holes through to allow blanks to drop out when punching out shapes.

The one I use mostly for forgework is mounted on a steel plate top,(again with a hole through) supported by structural channel sections at a convenient height, and then welded to a base plate which is firmly secured to the floor. The channel is directly under the press's base casting which leaves access to the blanked out parts.