Large Screw Press

[Chad J]

Hey All

I found this press on KSL.com a local classified place and was wondering if any body had comments or give me any ideas of stuff i should look for. Is this a fairly good deal? i contacted him and will be going over there tomorrow to check it out.
Thanks Chad J

[fciron]

Good deals, as you may have gathered, are dependent upon location and desire/need.

That's a fairly small picture, and youtube says the video has been removed, so there's not a lot of info there. Everything I am about to say could be wrong

That press looks like it has a single lead screw , so it will give more of a squeeze action like a hydraulic press than a hit action like a hammer. Most folks maintain that you need a faster screw for forging, but it depends to a large degree on what type of work you're doing. A faster press will allow multiple blows to the work, because the contact with the work is shorter and there is less heat lost. A slower press will give more of a squeeze than a hit and will rob more heat from the work. A shorter lead on the thread means that you will have a shorter range of motion, most of the presses you see being used for smithing have an inch or so of travel within a 90 degree arm's-length stroke; a press like this may only move a 1/4 inch or so in an arm's length. This may not seem like much, but most of the time you don't want to make multiple spins of the handle, just a simple pull with the arm that's not holding the work.

The nature of the action means that multiple impact type blows will continue to do work whereas squeeze type blows reach a maximum pressure and are done. I suspect that this will be less of an issue with this press, since it is still a a momentum-driven, impact type blow, loss of heat and the slow movement of the screw will be the thing that will limit the number of blows available.

If you want to do hammer type work, you could be disappointed. If you want to make a lot of tooling and do press-type work, this could be great.

[ThomasPowers]

I have a 2 lead H frame screw press and have found it helpful in my shop; however mine cost me US$100 total.

If I was going to use it for smithing I would like a 3-5 lead screw for that price myself. I assume you already have a powerhammer as that price
is getting to be a powerhammer price and a powerhammer is a lot more useful to the general smith.

[clinton]

From what I can see in the picture the screw does not look right for forging

[Fosterob]

I must agree the screw looks to be to slow, I don't think it is a fly press if that is what you are looking for. Seems a lot of money for what it is. I hope it is not a long drive .
Rob

[Andrew T]

Problems to look for are cracked/broken ram hidden by grease, and excessive wear on the screw and nut.

The 8 foot arm will take up a lot of room and don't seem as handy as the presses with wheels on top.
I have a #6 from Old World Anvils (4 start screw)and I like it and use it much more than my large old 2 start press.

If the press in Utah had a wheel and a 3 start screw I'd pay $1500 or more (it looks super stout). I wonder if you could get a new #5 or #6 for that kind of money, I think that would be more usable for general work.


This is a photo of my old 2 start screw press with new paint.

[Chad J]

Thanks Andrew, Fosterob, Clinton, Thomas, Fciron I appreciate the feed back and it has made me ponder on this press. I just got back from there the screw is a 2 lead and one revolution it traveled 1 5/8" and had approximately 8" of travel. the picture from KSL.com don't do it justice. I thought that i would go there and look down at it, and to my surprise it was taller than me! (I'm 6'-2") there's not a lot i literally look up to but this was one of them! It needs to be torn down and thoroughly cleaned. Which is just one of many little projects i have if i decide to take it. Anyway Thanks guys for the info. Chad J




P.S. Sorry for the large pictures, I haven't quite figured that part out.