BryanWillman Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Ka-ching - thanks ptree. one of those places where a torque wrench and some thought about how something works are in order! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Super responses! Guess this should carry on to other safety issues. Let's start with other safety things for the press itself. Have a shelf on the front and back of the press. They are used to keep scale and hot metal from the cylinder and hoses. The front one doubles as a place to have tooling ready for a job. The one on the back should be quite a bit larger than the front one as you are protecting the hoses with this one. You may want to add a fence to it also. This will keep hot pieces from rolling towards your hoses. I also recommend using foot pedals instead of a hand lever that comes with the valve. At least give yourself the option of having both. It's hard to work with one hand on the metal and one on the operating lever. Foot pedals make both hand available for holding the metal or for tooling. And they are easy to make for your existing set up. Robert Eggerling came up with this setup. The one pedal is hinged in the back, so it pulls down. The other pedal hinges in the middle, so it pushes up. Simplicity itself. Easy to make and install. Make your whole construction bigger and more supported than is required. I'd rather have a press built extra strong than on the border of what will safely work. That includes all of the bolts, too. Safety in operation: Do not use hand held tools in the press! If that thing breaks or kicks sideways it can fly at you at what ever pressure your press is rated for. Also the longer the tool the more chance for disaster. A way around this is to have short handled tools. I wrap a piece of 1/4" round stock tightly around the tool twice, in the middle of the round stock and bring the two ends together to form the handle. You can use link tongs that wrap tightly all around the tool, but I prefer a totally enclosed handle better. Work hot. Once the piece you're working on gets cold that's when a number of things can happen to you. The piece can shatter or it can go sideways and fly out. Either way isn't good. Well, that's a start. Let's hear what you have to add to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainely,Bob Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 On foot pedals,if you want to use them then guard them. More than once I`ve seen someone get something crushed because they were using both hands to set something into a machine and something like a wrench or part was knocked off or tipped over and hit the pedal setting the ram in motion. While pedals are handy the ones I favor are the "kick" (vertical)type rather than a "stomp" (horizontal) pedal. if something drops and hits a kick type it`ll most likely bounce or roll off rather than lay on it activating the machine.Gravity can either work for or against you. Every time I see those unguarded, floor level pedals on your press Randy I shudder. A large paddle operated kill or reverse switch mounted at knee level is also a sound and flesh saving investment. As are valves that are plumbed so their "at rest" position is one that will return moving parts like the ram to a full open position. Another thing we found helpful for both operators and observers was to get everyone to understand the idea of "line of fire". If something is going to be kicked out of a machine during a process what is the most likely direction of travel gonna be? In manufacturing we painted or otherwise marked this area clearly so someone walking into it would know they were at risk. In the home shop this concept could be applied simply as not bolting down a press or any other machine so the most likely direction of travel is not aimed directly toward the main access door. or an auxiliary bench where another person could be working. You`d be surprised how many people miss this simple concept. Think of the last time you went to a public demo and saw someone forge welding. Did they take into account where the flux or sparks would fly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poleframer Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I think I mentioned that I have a kill switch for the electric clutch that links my pump to the diesel that runs my system. It's right at the valve bank, so if anything pops I can stop the pump right now. I also notice that some systems I look at dont have a pressure guage in view. I'm working up another hammer press combination, and will do a thread on it when I get it going. I've thought it would be neat if the people doing presses could do a thread like the power hammer test, to show what work can be done to a sample piece, listing the force used, cylinder size/system pressure, amount of pressure used to do the work, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Good info! Bob your point is well taken. If you notice my pedals are attached to a big piece of angle and that is higher than the pedals so anything that would fall lays on the angle not the pedals. I see more of a call for this in a shop with more people, but may just take a piece of sheet metal and cover it, just in case. Actually when working at the nearby vise I have more of a problem with pieces rolling under the pedals. I should make a guard for that! Also my on/off switch is right on the press in easy reach for quick turn off. A kill switch is a great idea. Safety, safety, safety! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciladog Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 My press is electro-mechanically controlled. I had a valve block and two solenoid valves form a project I was working on a long time ago. So when I decided to build a press, I used the solenoid valves to control it. The press is controlled with a two position foot pedal that actuates the valves. The up side of this arrangement is that I have a limit switch on the press that is adjustable and it will stop the downward travel at a preset distance. It comes in very handy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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