My 50 Ton Hydraulic Press Build

[pb57]

Here is the 50 ton press I've been building. It has a 6" inside diameter cylinder with a 2.5 inch shaft. It weighs about 150 pounds. It will have a Williams hydraulic pump and valve driven by a 2hp electric motor. The total weight is going to be 1350 pounds when finished. All the holes were bored using my new Acer Mill with Newell DRO. It made it so much easier and the holes came out precise.

 

[scissorman]

Nice looking build going on there. I have a 40 ton Nugier press in my garage and sometime in the future i'm going to convert it to either air over hydraulic or electric over hydraulic.

 

[zTimbo]

That should make short work of beer cans


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[A_Pmech]

PB,

Your press build is looking very good so far and I like the basic design from channel and flat.

 

[930dreamer]

The press is looking good, how do you like the Acer mill?

 

[CGarcia]

Looks great. Quick question, What are you using for the pins that hold the table? And what would you use for a 20 ton press?

 

[zkling]

That is going to be one very nice press. Details on the cylinder, did you put that together yourself?

 

[pb57]

I am using 2 one inch pins on each side in the 12 inch channels. the uprights are 1 inch thick and 6 inches wide, two on each side. the top is the 12 inch channel as well and very heavy. I decided to bolt that all together since I have the Acer mill with DRO. It made it so simple and precise getting all the holes in perfect alignment. The Acer mill is awesome, I had a Bridgeport and had to sell it when I got divorced. The Acer is nicer and very well built with built in variable speed from the factory. Not to bash the Bridgeport because it was nice as well but had the variable speed drive in the pullies. The Acer is so quiet. with the 20 ton you could get buy with 2 one inch pins and lighter materials overall. I like to over build when I do it. My nephew is an engineer and he ran it through his program for fail points and at what tonnage. it is easily good to almost 100 ton before showing signs of stress points. and that was in the channel platform with the pressure directed on the outside edges of the channel pushing out which you don't do anyway while pressing. thanks for the replies

 

[Techie1961]

Really nice looking build you are doing. I am a little concerned about a couple of things though. The 1" pins might not be having equal loading once things wear in a bit and they might therefore start to deform. I would go heavier. The other concern that I have is that your uprights are not restrained from spreading. 1" is nice and thick but they are long. Were you going to put in some mid bracing?

 

[zcbauer89]

Great looking press. That's a build to be proud of for sure.

 

[2oolhound]

The other concern that I have is that your uprights are not restrained from spreading. 1" is nice and thick but they are long. Were you going to put in some mid bracing?

I'm no engineer or expert but was looking at that also. A simple solution would be to use bolts instead of pins and if you were doing some heavy work in the 50T range with a long object requiring a long vertical span you could place pipe sleeves over the bolts inside the 1" uprights to prevent bowing. Actually bolts with sleeves could be placed in any of the through holes and they could be moved if you wanted to locate the bottom platform there.

However it seems like the nephew already addressed this issue if he rated it near 100T.

What kind of system will you use to raise and lower the bottom platform while you are aligning and inserting pins? (it's going to be a workout)

 

[pb57]

yeah I was planning on putting a couple inside braces inside the verticles however don't think its necessary since the 2 12 inch channel platform will be a fairly tight fit over the uprights. I was planning on putting a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal between the channels and the uprights and clamp it all tight together, then weld some inside braces between the channels on each side which should keep the uprights from spreading. my nephew sent me several pictures from his fail point test. the 4 pins were never an issues as one of the stress points. there will also be a 3/8 plate 3 inches wide that will also be drilled 1 inch and welded to the channels on all four pin points on the channel that will give that area just under an inche of material on each pin as well as the a1 inch thick uprights. my other press I built before my divorce was around 35 ton and built lighter and I had stopped it numerous times without any wear shown in any area. I should be good. my nephew the engineer told me that the program he used is conservative on the fail rate as well so he couldn't for see any problems. thanks guys

 

[pb57]

2oolhound I like your idea of the bolts and my do that. thanks Paul

 

[pb57]

I almost forgot I will be using the push/pull of the press to raise and lower the platform which weighs 240 pounds. I will build a fixture to be screwed onto the shaft of the cylinder for this. thanks Paul

 

[pb57]

Well here are pics of my press completed. I like it a lot and has plenty of power for sure! Here are some pics of some bending dies that I picked up and will fabricate them to work on the press. thanks Paul

 

[Techie1961]

Beautiful job Paul. You should be proud of what you have built there. BTW, what's the stroke on the ram?

 

[pb57]

Thanks Techie, the stroke is 10 inches, I also plan on building threaded extensions to the ram on the lathe as well as numerous other fixtures. lots of fun

 

[CwazyWabbit]

That's a lovely job you have done there, looks much stronger than any commercial one. You should be very proud if it, I bet you keep looking around for things to use it on now

I think I'd have been inclined to stick the power unit on top of the press to keep it out of the way, but the way you have it makes it easy to check oil and no need for linkages to reach the valves.

 

[A_Pmech]

That turned out very nice!

 

[HAP]

Looks great! Curious if you tested the final tonnage at your pumps rated pressure. I know you can do the math and all but just wondring if you verified actual performance?

Thanks,
HAP

 

[Dust Devil]

Most excellent

 

[pb57]

Thanks for the comments guys. Hap, no I haven't tested the tonnage. I plan on putting a pressure gauge on it but for now am relying on the manufacturer of the pump for psi when I say around 50 ton. They do set the psi on the pumps before they leave the factory I am told. The pump was made in Iowa by a reputable company I have used in the past. I have smashed flat some 2 inch schedule 80 pipe for the heck of it and it did this with ease. Lots of power there. Paul

 

[thieltech]

very nice build ! ! do u have pics of how the dies ,etc attach to the ram?

 

[gooblunar]

I like using a pressure gauge on a large press. I find they are very helpful. I like to use different shape attachments on the ram and many different shapes to press on always come in handy.

 

[pb57]

Here is another project I just got done for the hydraulic press. I was able to buy a bunch of press die's cheap so a made a platform (1 inch by 6 inch plate) and slotted it on the mill for the bottom die. then I made the upper piece that attaches to the upper die with set screws. pretty simple design and works great. thanks Paul

 

[HAP]

Very nice!!

 

[Heavymetalmechanic]

Have you considered setting up a hand winch with cables to help raise and lower the deck?

 

[pb57]

No hand winch with cables, just one more thing to get in the way. I am going to make something quick that attaches to the cylinder shaft and to the platform and use the cylinder to move it up and down. Paul

 

[Olafur]

This turned out really nice. Great job.

 

[pb57]

I just picked up a brand new 4 foot long press brake die from where I bought my new Acer mill from. I actually had it given to me. They sold a brand new 8 foot brake and had to buy 12 feet of the bottom die so they cut the 8 feet they needed for the new brake and I got the left over. It has numerous different bending angles built all in one. Its 4X4 inches and is heavy. I will need to cut it to 3 foot so it fits in between my press. I also picked up a couple more upper dies that he through in. Awesome day for sure. here's some pics

 

[Smokenfire2018]

I have a 52-ton dual piston press running off of my pro gator 2020. Plenty of pressure 2000 psi plus but it’s slow. I want to change to an electric motor system. I bought a 2hp 240v Weg and mounted it to a used hydraulic system I bought from a local resale place. I have no idea what the pump is rated at. We hooked it up and ran it. Way quicker but the manual thermocoupler kicks at around 1200psi. Had to dial the relief on my detent to 600psi which is hardly any pressure. Just wondering what your specs were for your pump to get 50 tones on a 2 hp electric motor. In researching it seems I would need more like a 5-7 hp motor to drive the pump to get 2000psi plus. Let me know.

 

[Sincerd]

Where are you guys getting these cylinders from? I've looked all over and can't find good cylinders that aren't $5,000

 

[Firebrick43]

Where are you guys getting these cylinders from? I've looked all over and can't find good cylinders that aren't $5,000

Your going to have to buy something and modify it if you want it cheap. It appears that the OP has done so as well.

Look on ebay and Surplus center.

Something like this

https://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydra...TIONAL-322-074-Hydraulic-Cylinder-9-16301.axd

Cut of the rod end and the cylinder attach point on the back and weld it to a plate.

Maybe something like this

https://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydra...-25x2-5-Hydraulic-Cylinder-FA9407-9-13415.axd

Again cut the rod end off and the two mounting ears attached to the center ring welded to the cylinder. Cut a hole in the plate that the back of the cylinder will fit thru but not the ring and weld the ring to the plate.

 

[Sincerd]

Your going to have to buy something and modify it if you want it cheap. It appears that the OP has done so as well.

Look on ebay and Surplus center.

Something like this

https://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydra...TIONAL-322-074-Hydraulic-Cylinder-9-16301.axd

Cut of the rod end and the cylinder attach point on the back and weld it to a plate.

Maybe something like this

https://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydra...-25x2-5-Hydraulic-Cylinder-FA9407-9-13415.axd

Again cut the rod end off and the two mounting ears attached to the center ring welded to the cylinder. Cut a hole in the plate that the back of the cylinder will fit thru but not the ring and weld the ring to the plate.

Is it just me that feels sketchy about welding on a 10K PSI tank? How thick are those walls? I understand people weld them all the time to fix them. But I'm also only somewhat experienced at mig and worry about one of those tanks popping at full pressure.

Ideally I would want to weld half inch plate up around the top of the tank, then 3/4 or 1 in on the back side. Then sandwich and weld both plates between two H beams.

 

[Firebrick43]

Is it just me that feels sketchy about welding on a 10K PSI tank? How thick are those walls? I understand people weld them all the time to fix them. But I'm also only somewhat experienced at mig and worry about one of those tanks popping at full pressure.

Ideally I would want to weld half inch plate up around the top of the tank, then 3/4 or 1 in on the back side. Then sandwich and weld both plates between two H beams.

Neither way was I talking about welding on the side walls. You don’t want to weld directly to the walls due to distortion of the bore. On the first example I was talking about on the end cap and on the second example to the 1” thick mount ring.

10k PSI? Are you dreaming? We are talking about 3000 psi cylinders.

 

[Sincerd]

Neither way was I talking about welding on the side walls. You don’t want to weld directly to the walls due to distortion of the bore. On the first example I was talking about on the end cap and on the second example to the 1” thick mount ring.

10k PSI? Are you dreaming? We are talking about 3000 psi cylinders.

Everything I'm looking at is 10k psi. I'm not sure if that's needed but this is about as cheap as I can find any complete unit. I'm wondering if enerpac hush pup type units changed the market?

TEMCo HP0003 - Electric Hydraulic Pump Power Pack Unit 2 Stage Double Acting 110v 10k psi 488 Cubic in Capacity https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M0YIHKU/?tag=atomicindus08-20

All the rams are also 10k

 

[Firebrick43]

Everything I'm looking at is 10k psi. I'm not sure if that's needed but this is about as cheap as I can find any complete unit. I'm wondering if enerpac hush pup type units changed the market?

TEMCo HP0003 - Electric Hydraulic Pump Power Pack Unit 2 Stage Double Acting 110v 10k psi 488 Cubic in Capacity https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M0YIHKU/?tag=atomicindus08-20

All the rams are also 10k

But as you said the rams cost 5000 dollars.

 

[Retired dozer fixer]

Go to Farm & Fleet and buy a 10 or 12” at cylinder and modify it. Most are rated at 2500 psi. $200-300

 

[Firebrick43]

Go to Farm & Fleet and buy a 10 or 12” at cylinder and modify it. Most are rated at 2500 psi. $200-300

Farm and fleet isn’t going to have 6 or 7” bore cylinders.

At largest they are going to have 5” but more than likely just 4”

4” at 2500 psi is 16 tons

5” at 2500 psi is 25 tons.

Both a long way from 50 tons.

 

[Sincerd]

50 tons 8" Stroke Double Acting Hydraulic Cylinder 10000PSI Jack Ram YG-50200S https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074Y7M7GZ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Wonder how bad these are