Chem

I wanted to thank everyone for the advice that I got. I built a home made hydraulic press that wasn't performing as well as it should. I built it with the cylinder retracting when it did the compress. I redesigned the press (thanks to yall) to where the work was done with the cylinder ram extending. It worked so well that I actually had to limit it so it wouldn't crush more than I intended. It was easy to fine tune it by dropping the pressure from 2800 down to 1700 psi. If anyone interested in making one, or just curious, I can load a few pictures of the new design. Hopefully it will help someone.

Another trick is knowing when you're in a danger area. I make lists to go shopping and don't look at the nifty gadgets or ads. Occasionally I'll deliberately go impulse shopping, usually for dinner but I'm filling a menu so it's not pure impulse. I've had to develop a lot of tricks to cope and they work, usually. Avoiding trigger situations is I don't think I will change the press body after all. I took a tape and a scratch pad to the press and realized it was going to be a lot more complicated than I thought. The press does put out a moderate amount of power now. Almost enough for my needs. The fullering dyes do move metal, but It just doesn't do enough with flat and squaring dyes. I've decided to get a 10 hp single phase electric motor, to get me over the hump. I also thought about a 7.5 hp motor, but with the larger motor I'm positive it willi be more than enough. If I have too much force, I can always back off the pressure relief valve to exactly where I want it.

You must be an incredibly strong person to not only deal with your challenges like you do, but to talk about them openly. It is so important to talk about our hardships, but most of us compartmentalize the problem. That works for a while, but no man is a rock forever. Sooner or later handling stresses alone ends up with a less than desirable experience for everyone involved.

Awesome, thanks

The guys here explained that my system would get more "crush force" if I make an adjustment to the press frame. I am planning to modify the press so that the cylinder work is done with a push (cylinder extending), instead of the pull (retracting) that I have now. As for smaller dyes, I plan to make many more for a broader range of tasks that I need. Currently I have sets of flat, squaring, and fullering dyes. That just covers me with the bare basics for now. I have more work than I can handle right now. This press will surely speed up my productivity... As soon as I make the modifications.

Thank you. Im pretty sure I can redesign my press without too much hassle. I just somehow missed the whole push pull difference, and I actually gave it some thought in the original design phase. I found that out yesterday when my backhoe blew a hydraulic hose three feet from me. That is not a pleasant experience.

I think you nailed it. I just did some measuring, and I will just have to make a few small modifications. I wish I would have talked to yall about this when I was in the original design phase. I literally thought about if there was a difference in push and pull, and figured it didn't matter too much. I got it WAY wrong. It was a priority for me that the press be as short as possible in overall height.

Thank you.

Yes I built the frame out of a 6×6 1/4 I beam.I couldn't find ant tubing that fit the OD diameter of my 2" close enough, so I plasma cut some plate and welded it together for my guides. I probably shouldn't have painted the top plate risers, but coastal Texas is brutal to exposed metal. There is some slight rubbing, as you can see from the paint, but the tolerances are not binding an any way. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

How big of a difference are we talking about? Enough to make a difference? As I understand a hydraulic piston, the pressure is diverted from one side of the ram to the other. Both lines and holes are the same size and the pressure is the same in both directions. The pump doesn't know which way the pressure flows.

Alright, I thought I'd missed something.

Oh, scratch that. Maybe I do have some "fool" lurking somewhere in my genome, because I don't ever remember reading anything on accumulator in any of my research. Im sending pictures of my press body and the separate power pack located on the other side of my shop wall. Hopefully someone will see something I missed. If you can't tell from the photos, my hoses are half inch. They are mostly 24 inches in length with the exception of the two passing through the wall. They are both 48". Before anyone gets mad at me, I do have a steel plate protecting my hoses from hot slag. Its pretty big, so removed it so I could get better pictures. Thank you for taking the time to help. I signed up to this site some time ago, but "got busy" and haven't really been on much. After I posted my last question, I've gone back and read a mountain of chat. Im am so impressed with the brotherhood on this site! Its awesome to see everyone giving freely; sometimes a lifetime of hard earned experience in blacksmithing. Thank you all. Hi Frosty, I'm a little computer "Special" so you may have to bear with me. I think i posted my info on the header,after your suggestion to do so, but I'm not positive. After my last question I went back to see if anyone had similar problems with a hydraulic system. I found a post where you were explaining the difference in how a cylinder preforms between in and out ram stroke. Could you try to explain that some more, but please try not to get any math on me.

Ok, I'll look into it. I was a little disappointed with the lack of information in Randy McDaniels book. Thanks

Im no fool. I was attempting to post a short question, to keep it simple. I have studied hydraulic systems for a couple of years. I have McDaniels forging book. I loosely built my system around one of his examples. I'm not sure what an accumulator is. My psi is regulated by my control valve. I have it set at 2200 psi. The system is theoretically capable of 3000 psi max, but truthfully I didn't want to run it close to max. I bought my cylinder, I'll have to check the brand and seals. I would be happy to get a couple of pictures in the morning. Is there anything specific I should get a close up picture of? Actually I really didn't see much of any difference in the ram speed between the two different cylinders. I did notice some increase in crush power, but as I said, it still isn't where it should be. A friend has a 4 ton electric log splitter that he converted into a press. He has almost as much power as I do. Yeah that's my thoughts as well. I think It must be something simple that I'm missing, but I've gotten nowhere so far. My tank is 10 gallon, but I have about 8 1/2 gallons in it for expansion.

Hey everyone. I recently built a hydraulic press without any plans. It has a 5hp electric motor powering a 2 stage 19 gpm pump. Originally it had a 4 inch bore with a 12 inch stroke. I was disappointed with the power. I replaced the ram with a 5 inch 10 inch stroke. It helped a small amount, but I'm still nowhere where I should be. Any help would be appreciated

Sorry if this was covered, if it is I couldn't find it. I was recently given a coil spring. He said it was from Toyota tundra. Having worked with spring steel, I was confident I could make some nice knines. I hot cut a small price to test the steel. Problem is that I can't get this spring to harden. File bites easily I to it. I first quenched in oil, twice. Thinking it may be .your oil, I got new oil. Still too soft. Finally I tried a brine ( salt water) quench with the same results. Has anyone worked with coil springs?