Zsartell Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hello everyone, Here is a picture of my new Mini Press I built. I made a few mods to the other designs I have seen, but nothing major. I also have built a foot pedal for the bottle jack that is not seen here. So far it's cost me about $170, maybe less.... It works really well so far and hope to get some more pictures and probably a video as well. Mini Press - Blacksmith Photo Gallery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 That looks real nice. I like the guide system,too. How much clearance does the bottom (moving) rack have between the uprights and the sliding guides? At first glance, I wished it had a solid header plate at the top to cut down possibility of the frame tweaking under load. Do you think it's unnecessary? I'm quite interested in press designs, I got an hydraulic enerpack last year, a nice press is high on the to-do list. The bottom ram design you have seems to make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zsartell Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Mike, The inside guides have under a 1/16" in clearance and as you can see ca be bent out further on the top and the bottom to be adjusted. So far I have not bothered to adjust it as it seems to work just fine. I also have done some tests pressing out of center and the long guides seem to help really well although I have a feeling they may need a bit of reinforcing later on. One thing I had also considered was to weld a long 1/2" plate on the adjustable ram on the bottle jack to help distribute the load better instead of being only pushed in the center. This might work great and might also put a lot of lateral stress on the bottle jack and prematurely blow the seals. I think the key is to make sure everything is extremely parallel and perpendicular. The uprights are within thousandths, not measurable on a ruler. I had considered a solid header plate at the top or even a heave duty adjustable one with a turnbuckle for adjustments, but I really don't think it's needed. The upper die that bolts on seems to hold everything together perfectly and it still easily adjustable. The quick release dies are just mild steel and should be fine, but I think I might try to super quench them anyway. There are still a few things to do to this press, but I am really happy with it so far. Zach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zsartell Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 I've had a few people ask me about the foot control I use with my mini press. Here is a couple pictures of it. It's made from a piece of channel the valve the press came with and some other scrap I had lying around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney Skinner Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 very nice and handy. I must include that on mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernielim Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I am a new to jewellery making. I have strong interest and is learning. I am strong in 3D model design (CAD) and I have a small CNC machine center that could machine template, die for anybody that has the hydraulic press. 3D designing and machining is just my hobby, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 What type of jack is that? Air over hydraulic? Love it, simple design, most parts in tension. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
double_edge2 Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 nice press..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melonkernel Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 The pedal looks very nice! Perhaps someone will also combine the pedal idea with the release mechanism, so that when you depress the pedal it would let out the pressure from the jack. I have no idea at the moment how it would be done, but combining them into two motions on the pedal would increase the amount of presses and freeing both your hands. it would of course need some fine tuning and calibration so that you get the ventile completely fastened before the air-button is pressed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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