Hi All,
My denbeigh no3 press has been working great untill this morning. After drawing out billets 1" x 1/4" billets for 3 hours its starting to seize up!
Oiled up the ram/triangular bit and no real difference.
Took out the side leveling plate to see if anything is creating friction. Nothing there and the resistence is still there so I am assuming its in the screw?
The screw goes up and down and I can't see anything that could be causing the resistance. Or how anything got in as there is a collar above the screw.
Do I have to take the whole screw apart to clean out the screw box section?
What else could be going on. I need to do a load more work in the next few weeks with it.
If I need to regrease are ther any particular greases to use or avoid?
Thanks
andrew

Don't use grease, use oil. Grease traps dirt and grit whilst a regular application of oil washes dirt out of the moving parts.

after three hours of drawing out that size stock, maybe it's you that is seizing up?

sorry.


Actually i had the same trouble after using mine for a while. I solved it by cleaning the crud and old oil (prob grease) from the threads using that gunk gone stuff to degrease and a wire brush. Then I re oiled it and it's much much better now I think the old grease was full of dust and debri and the heat from working all day in a warm forge was causing it to act like a hot melt glue!

Denbigh fly presses are not designed for long sessions of hot forging, and a No3 is not particularly large, clean out the threads and re oil, that won't do any harm,

It may be that the slides and ram are just expanding with the heat after 3 hours constant use.

If you have compressed air available you could use that to keep them cooler,

Good luck with it, and please enter your location at the top in the CP we may have members near to you.

My press has two large nuts at the bearing where the screw thread hits the ram. These are for setting the falling rate. I had the same problem after a while and loosed them up a bit (big wrench!).

Hi All
Well I think I have found the problem. Now all I need is to find a large spanner. Nudge I think its the same problem as you had. The screw used to be very loose where it joins the ram. Its now almost locked tight.
Well I think the press was getting tired as well as my shoulder.
Andrew

Hello Andrew,
would you be the same Australian chap I met a few years ago before my trip oversea's who worked in the Armoury at Leeds?
If so really glad to see you found this place, and thanks for helping inspire me to carry on with my plans to pound Iron.
Good to have you aboard. I've got my own little forge down in London now and am slowly getting it sorted into a bigger and better one.

Ian

Hi Ian,
Yes I am one and the same. Though I no longer work at the Armouries at Leeds. I was made redundent last May. Problem of not climbing the corporate ladder high enough. Middle managers are always vunerable.
Glad to hear I inspired some people along the way. I dont get down to london all that much but where abouts in London?
Andrew

Stepney Green, Andrew.
A place called Stepping Stones City Farm. I have a tiny little shop I share with a mate of mine who's also into metal work. Nothing very impressive at all right now but its better than nothing :)