Do any of you use hydraulic presses in your work?

If you do, what do you use the most for tooling?

I built my own press and have been building a few tools, but am interested to see what others are doing.

I lust after a hydralic press myself. Can you post pics?

This is my press.

The frame was the base of a snow V plow on the front of a No. 12 Cat Motor Grader.

I purchased the cylinder off Ebay.

The value is off our old farm truck. The truck had a hydraulic auger for loading grain drills.

I use our small Kubota tractor for the power. That is why there are the long hoses wrapped around the top.

It pushes like a champ but...don't let it hear me say this....it's ugly!

I used the steel balls and the ends of the oxygen tanks as tooling for making bowls. It works well. I built two bowl from 10 guage plate and the press didn't have to work very hard.

I will try to get pictures of the bowls later.

I am interested to see if anyone else on here does work with a press and what type of tooling they use.

looks useful i don't knwo for tooling bot i will also hopefully soon build my own press might take a few years before i got room and means to do it tho :/

DC

mine is a log splitter, I can show you my dies but not sure if that is what you would use for a hand operated?

mine is a log splitter, I can show you my dies but not sure if that is what you would use for a hand operated?

I would be interested in pictures my sister-in-law has a log splitter for sale and if not a lot of trouble I would be interested how you converted yours and the tooling you use. William

This is in the gallery...maybe it will help:
Can-Iron 2007 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery
The guy working on the press is Paul Thorne. He does Press forging...maybe someone to look into tracking down.

Peyton

Peyton thanks for the pictures - did he make those masks using the press? Pretty cool stuff.

My press doesn't use a hand pump, instead it uses the hydraulic pump from the tractor to drive the cylinder. So I would be interested to see any tooling folks have come up with.

Thanks

John

These are a couple bowls I made this week using the steel balls and cylindar bases that I showed above.

I haven't come up with a real clean way of putting legs on aside from welding.

I tried to punch and rivet, but didn't like the results on the leg.

Selden asked for some closer pictures of the press. I hope this helps.

If anyone else uses a press in their work, I would appreciate any comments and maybe a view of some of the tooling you utilize.

Thanks,

Boy... Press tooling.
From what I have seen you can go anywhere you want with tooling. I've seen dies for flat forming 9"X9" copper tiles using a rubber press pad (150 ton). I've seen top and bottom tools made for vaining drawn out parts. I've seen lathe turned elements pressed into blocks for making door handles (45 ton)... No, I don't have press (yet) but I'm designing a product line for that application. The BIG word of caution is be careful not to make your tools or work squirt out in your or any direction....The force is tremendus = deadly. Be Careful!!!

I think the most versitile set up I've seen is a male threaded shaft on the ram that has a female threaded receiver on one end and slip receiver on the other for dies. The bottom is a plate with the same kind of slip receiver welded on and bolted to a "T" slotted table so you can easily line up top and bottom tools. With the slip type receivers, you can customize tools to whatever you want and weld them to a post that fits in the slip joint.

Hope this helps...As far as steel? whatever you got will work for hot work in a pinch but won't last very long...

Double Y, thanks for the pics and information. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Am curious which Kubota model you use and what the hydraulic system is. QD's and you ready to go. I have no tractor but am considering a hydraulic system for the shop and this would include a press among other things. Again, thanks.

I have also heard that beauty is in the eye of the BEER holder....so have one and my press doesn't look too bad!

The Kubota we have is a 2500 - about a 30 horse 3 cyl diesel. It is a heck of a little tractor. We use the begebers out of it. I have been wanting to hook the press up to our 4430 John Deere to see if there is much difference in the hydralic pressure. The JD is a 130 horse and should have power to spare. However the cost of runing the JD compared to the Kubota is significant. Maybe just a test, but for the most part I am going to use the Kubota.

Hi, John,
I've got a 60 ton double cylinder press and that's 'bout all I'm doing is making up tooling. It's a great machine for forging, like in drawing out and flattening. So you need a fuller and flatter. To make it work faster a top and bottom set. Also a hardie for cutting off, but make it so it doesn't cut all the way through. Don't want it to drop off or fly across the room with that pressure! I also use it for texturing so many texturing dies. Alos helps if you can interchange the tooling as fast as possible so some sort of a slide in affair with a latch. Then it depends on what you want to make.

Here's some videos of my set up:

Part 1 : YouTube - Hydraulic Forging Press: Part 1

Part 2 : YouTube - Hydraulic Forging Press: Part 2

Randy,
Wow! I really enjoy your informative videos; in fact I would like to be a fly on the wall of your shop that is if your fly swatter was broken!
You make using your press look so easy, but I am sure it is due to years of preparation of your equipment and the resultant training you have obtained.

I wish there was a way we could impress upon some (only a few) of the new blacksmiths who come onto this site who seem unwilling to take the time and effort to obtain the skills that you exhibit, that it does take time and effort to develop the skills that you use.

Some time I wonder if some of them have seen someone like your self who have mastered various aspects of the blacksmithing craft and make it look so easy and effortless, that it seems like a slam dunk to them.
I sure enjoy the instructions you provide to us!
Ted Throckmorton

Thanks, Ted. The thing that turned me around from a few years of struggling with hammering is learning the basic hammer blows. Once you know those 80% of the work is done. The rest is putting them together with the other techniques. You can even practice them on modeling clay and a 2x4. Remember, hot metal works under the hammer like clay does!

Back to presses: Be sure to have protective coverings on your high pressure hoses. Like Kevlar or nylon sleeves. This helps prevent wear and if a pin hole does develope stops that stream from cutting off a finger, or worse, and from it becoming a flame thrower. It costs about $3 a foot and is easy to install.

hey Randy,
do you have info on your press such as type of i beam used, top and bottom rail used? i'm in the process of building my own press and kind of stuck on design of the frame and trying to get ideas. Chad

ps your videos were awesome, very well done

Edited July 11, 200916 yr by chadj
ps was added

Hi, Chad,

The I-beam came from a scrap yard so I assume it's pretty standard. As the press stands it's 24" across with 7" end plates. The web is 1/2" thick as is the rest of the plating. The sides and tops have other 1/2" plates welded onto it and the top and bottom is built out to 2-1/2" & 3-1/2" thick. Look at the videos again and you'll see the added on plates. Overall it is 25" wide and 56" high. It doesn't move at all in operation.

Main thing is the frame has to fit your plans for what you want to make, the size of your cylinder and what tonnage you're pushing.

The guy who designed and built my press started by using Batson's book. Before he did mine he built 3 or 4 of them, all H style for doing damascus. It's the only double cylinder that he did. If you don't have Batson's book, get it!

I don't know what you mean by a "rail". The plates where I work and have the tooling are 5" x 11" and there's 7" between the top and bottom working plates. In other words the opening is 7" x 11".

Hope that helps.

hey Randy,
do you have info on your press such as type of i beam used, top and bottom rail used? i'm in the process of building my own press and kind of stuck on design of the frame and trying to get ideas. Chad

ps your videos were awesome, very well done

don fogg sells a great book that has everything you need to know to build your own press.........HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!

covers both hydraulics and structural in great detail......[email protected]


also see http://www.dfoggknives.com/hydralic.htm

Edited July 11, 200916 yr by johnptc

thanks all i appreciate the info. Double y sorry for taking over your thread. i seen some good info and wanted more!

johnptc i have that book. it is very informative even to the depth of explaining the safety factor of steel used for the frame. when i seen Randy's frame and that it was a i beam cut down the middle i thought what cool idea never would of thought of that.

Again Sorry for hijacking your thread Double Y!

Chad

Randy,

Thank you for sharing the videos of the press and tooling. Very nice indeed!

Here's another link to "Build Your Own Hydraulic Forging Press", by James Batson:
Forging Press

Randy,

Thanks for the great videos. I have been working on some comissions and haven't had time to check out this site for a while.

Great work!

John

clapper type dies and mounted is a fuller and flatter on mine, just mild steel.

Boy, I'm really jealous now!! guess I better start collecting parts!! Thanks for posting the pics! Selden