home made shop press

joshuaz223 · Mar 5, 2012

here is a press i have been saving up scrap steel for for a long time. press will be 50 ton and so far i have purchased no steel for it which has dictated the design. original calculations showed the table was going to be very close the the bending state so i put the x bracing in it and the top. the one leg can be moved out to allow for a little more room if needed. a 50 ton enerpac cylinder will be mounted on a trolley that will slide between the uprights and a 20 ton enerpac will be mounted on the "C" end. the holes in the legs are 6" apart and the holes in the table are 4" apart leaving a 2" per step adjustment. still have to make the cylinder mounts and install the winch for raising and lowering the table. then it will get disassembled and given a black beauty blast and some paint. hopefully have it done in a few weeks.

i little secret i learned a long time ago is when hole sawing thick material to touch off with the hole saw so that you have a mark. then drill a few holes in the outer edge so that the chips can fall out without plugging up the curf and dulling the saw. i drilled all these holes (over 70" of steel) with one cheap hole saw and it is still sharp.

jtbinvalrico · Mar 6, 2012

Geez that looks stout......Nice work. What kind of work you gonna do with that press? I'm thinking you can straighten drive shafts on aircraft carriers or the like.... :beer:

Steve from Socal · Mar 6, 2012

Your workmanship and the press look very nice. The energy in a 50 ton press is tremendous, please check the deflection and verify you have at least a 2-1 safety factor. An explosive failure can do plenty of damage.

Steve

cowboy73 · Mar 6, 2012

That looks a very well built press!

NUTTSGT · Mar 6, 2012

It looks to be well built.

Jim Stabe · Mar 6, 2012

Now THAT'S a press!!!

DekeT · Mar 6, 2012

Thank you for that drilling tip. You are do a fine job.

Jagmandave · Mar 6, 2012

I'm sorry, I don't understand......drill some holes where so the chips can get out? In the circumference of the hole you marked with the hole saw? On a saw hole of that size, what size holes did you drill for the chips to fall thru? seems it would need to be pretty good sized or it would easily clog?

mike54 · Mar 6, 2012

Jagmandave said:
I'm sorry, I don't understand......drill some holes where so the chips can get out? In the circumference of the hole you marked with the hole saw? On a saw hole of that size, what size holes did you drill for the chips to fall thru? seems it would need to be pretty good sized or it would easily clog?

See the grooves in the side of the plug that came from the hole? That's what he's talking about.

bad_idea · Mar 6, 2012

I usually drill a 1/4" hole (the arbor bit) in the circumference of the hole to be drilled if the material is thicker than the teeth of the hole saw are deep. It is like drilling a hole with a drill bit deeper than the flutes of the drill bit without the hole in the circumference. Plugging the hole isn't really an issue.

Anywho, nice looking work on the press. I don't understand why you are making scrap material work when you have a nice milling machine? Is it for the challenge? Or are you really that cheap?

Either way, be safe. Presses make me nervous.

I am not following you on the mounting of the 20 ton cylinder. Could you elaborate a bit please?

Mmfh · Mar 6, 2012

That's a really cool idea of drilling a relief hole for the junk to get out of, that is the kind of trick that most people keep to themselves.

Thanks for sharing that!

Mm

twarren · Mar 6, 2012

"Thanks for sharing that"!

X2

twarren.......

machine_punk · Mar 6, 2012

That's really imPRESSive! Cool build. I'd like to get a shop press soon (thinking more in the 20-30 ton range...I have a 20-ton air-over-hydraulic jack I would use in the press).

M_P

CarterKraft · Mar 7, 2012

Nice work there, I like the beef of the uprights.

If you don't mind me asking... When you ran the calcs where did the bolted blocks come in strength wise.
I am looking to do something similar and hadn't had time to run the numbers on bolting the bed or uprights. I have a bunch of 8" channel that I was going to use for the bed and uprights and there really isn't enough meat on the flanges to drill for the size pins I need.
I was thinking I would just bolt the channel to the uprights as I have a 30" stroke cylinder, moving the bed won't happen often.

And I really like the 20 ton on the end, I am doing the same thing and not sure on the tonnage yet, I have a 10 ton like yours just not sure.

joshuaz223 · Mar 7, 2012

when putting a bolt or pin or anything else in shear the rule of thumb is to use 60% of the tensile strength. on my top i used 1/2" grade 8 bolts. 6 would have taken the load so i used 16. the rest of the press is similarly over rated.

when i say scrap i mean leftovers and re purposed steel. i do a lot of dumpster diving at the local steel place. when i get my new garage built and all my tools in one place i will post a pic. i have 3 mills, 3 lathes, 2 surface grinders, a nice horizontal metal band saw, huge drill press, portable and fixed MIG, tig and stick and more abuse tools than you can shake a stick at. i once worked on heavy equipment and did all the maint at a rock quarry.

Nealcrenshaw · Mar 7, 2012

Very nice! i'm also not comprehending the "relief hole"

buening · Mar 8, 2012

Nice work using what you have laying around! Very good tip on the relief holes. Something that may have saved you time would have been to just weld a plate to the top and bottom flange near midspan in order to increase your bending strength. This was done in the bridge industry back in the day and were referred to as "cover plates". As long as the section has enough shear capacity at the ends (which web stiffeners would help), the cover plate idea would work. Max moment occurs at the middle of the span, so the plate would only need to be a couple feet long depending on how far off you were.

Not to nitpick but typically you don't want three planes of welds meeting at a single point (referring to your web Xs), as this is a high failure location where crack propogation can occur. In this case the press isn't a high fatigue member so it shouldn't be an issue. Also be careful welding that much on a web, as the heat can weaken it.

Krokodil · Mar 8, 2012

Wow, that is a mean press!

CarterKraft · Mar 9, 2012

buening said:
Nice work using what you have laying around! Very good tip on the relief holes. Something that may have saved you time would have been to just weld a plate to the top and bottom flange near midspan in order to increase your bending strength. This was done in the bridge industry back in the day and were referred to as "cover plates". As long as the section has enough shear capacity at the ends (which web stiffeners would help), the cover plate idea would work. Max moment occurs at the middle of the span, so the plate would only need to be a couple feet long depending on how far off you were.

Not to nitpick but typically you don't want three planes of welds meeting at a single point (referring to your web Xs), as this is a high failure location where crack propogation can occur. In this case the press isn't a high fatigue member so it shouldn't be an issue. Also be careful welding that much on a web, as the heat can weaken it.

do you have a illistrationof this, I think I get just not sure.

buening · Mar 9, 2012

Sure do! Here is a helpful link regarding cover plates: http://www.bgstructuralengineering.com/BGSCM/BGSCM008/Design/BGSCM0080602.htm

Regarding the weld, google "gusset plate Hoan detail". Again that is for more used welds where fatigue is an issue, which in this case should not. Below is your picture that I was referring to, and as you can see you have X, Y, & Z axis having welds and all three weld lines meet. Common practice is to end the weld a little before that intersection in all planes.

joshuaz223 · Mar 10, 2012

got the trolley for the ram mostly complete. looks like a simple enough piece but took most of the day.

joshuaz223 · Mar 10, 2012

Buening

thanks for your input. i went back and looked at the diagram my cousin gave me and sure enough it had the welds like you said. i thought he just meant to stitch weld so i figured just weld it 100% for a little overkill. he recommended the x bracing for looks. I'm elect eng but took a lot of mech classes because i thought it was more interesting than elect. obviously without working in it i have forgotten a lot since 86. but i am smart enough to ask my cousin when i do dangerous stuff.

CarterKraft · Nov 29, 2012

Any more progress, I love this press.

A_Pmech · Nov 29, 2012

Time for an update!

:thumbup:

eurokid · Dec 1, 2012

That's a awesome looking press, very well thought out. I like the gussets.

joshuaz223 · Jan 22, 2013

like a lot of projects ( at least mine) after becoming usable the progress has slowed.

with atv winch installed to lift table

first thing i crushed steel tomato can

the pump which i haven't mounted anywhere yet

a couple press plates i cut out of scrap 2". prolly wont last like the harbor freight ones but oh well. :bounce:

after crushing the can i put both the 50 and 20 ton rams in the center and maxed both of them. i got about 5/8" deflection of the table/ top beam. let it set for about 15 min to see if it would explode, then let the pressure off as rapidly as possible to see what it sounded like. nothing exciting and an inspection shows no visible damage.

iron_worker · Jan 23, 2013

Nothing like a trial by fire. ha

IW

Strouty · Jan 23, 2013

When you say both, do you mean at the same time or you tested twice? You should have taken pics!

joshuaz223 · Jan 23, 2013

both at the same time 140,000lb i was standing outside the garage like a coward watching thru the corner of the window.

Rickenbackerman · Jan 24, 2013

Haha that's awesome!

kmoon · Jan 24, 2013

That's very cool

Strouty · Jan 24, 2013

joshuaz223 said:
both at the same time 140,000lb i was standing outside the garage like a coward watching thru the corner of the window.

I think that was the smart thing to do, not cowardly. So nothing stayed bent from the deflection? I would have been afraid it would destroy all your hard work. Thanks for posting all your pictures, now we need a video of it in action.

R.Anderson · Jan 24, 2013

bad_idea said:
Anywho, nice looking work on the press. I don't understand why you are making scrap material work when you have a nice milling machine? Is it for the challenge? Or are you really that cheap? Either way, be safe. Presses make me nervous.

I would of thought you spent all your money on milling machines. lol Great tip/trick in cutting holes in thick material. Impressive press, looks like you will be needing your new garage/shop real soon now.

ckpitt55 · Jan 25, 2013

that's some robust construction there. i really like how you can move the ram off center to give you more clearance for oddly shaped parts. should come in handy for pressing wheel bearings out of trailing arms and the like.

now i just gotta find me some scrap I-beams :lol_hitti

joshuaz223 · Jan 25, 2013

R.Anderson said:
I would of thought you spent all your money on milling machines. lol Great tip/trick in cutting holes in thick material. Impressive press, looks like you will be needing your new garage/shop real soon now.

Actually I have never purchased a working machine tool. The grizzly mill in the pictures I got at the tent sale as scrap. The head was missing and a lot of other parts. After two years of searching I gave up on the grizzly head and bought a broken chevalier head that a machine shop had. I fixed that and made all the rest of the parts I needed and now I have a fairly nice mill for about $620.

If anyone is considering that mill from Grizzly think twice there is NO parts support for it.

As for needing room thats a no s*#ter. i have two 40' conex boxes full **** and 7 other machine tools in my brothers garage.

Broth9640 · Dec 2, 2016

Sorry for the old thread revival, but could you update us with a review since you built it. Anything you would change? Could you also elaborate on the hydraulic cylinder and pump that you used. What was the stroke,ton, and pump? Thanks. Nice job! Looks awesome!

pete379 · Dec 3, 2016

in the fist post he mentions it is a 50 ton enerpac. just guessing in comparison to the size of the steel used it is probably a 6 inch stroke, just my s.w.a.g. !!

Badasssapper67 · Dec 3, 2016

I'd also love to see an update, a video or two and some advice about replicating this shop press!
This homemade shop press is exactly why I joined this site. It's awesome because the members are awesome.

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