C frame hydraulic press?

[ert01]

I'm looking to build a new hydraulic press (air over hydraulic) using one of those cheap 20 ton air jacks.

Has anyone here built a c frame press? I'm trying to dig up ideas on how to do it and all I can find are huge industrial presses. I can always hack something together myself but I'd rather learn from other people's mistakes and ingenuity sometimes

Thanks in advance.

 

[Hiball]

I'm looking to build a new hydraulic press (air over hydraulic) using one of those cheap 20 ton air jacks.

Has anyone here built a c frame press? I'm trying to dig up ideas on how to do it and all I can find are huge industrial presses. I can always hack something together myself but I'd rather learn from other people's mistakes and ingenuity sometimes

Thanks in advance.

To fully Utilize a 20 ton Hydraulic Jack its gonna take a Hefty "C frame", I think a Standard "H" frame would be More efficient and Easier to Engineer.

IMO..

 

[ert01]

I'm sure it would be easier to make an H frame, but a C frame has so much more open areas to work with and it can be mounted closer to a wall with the post in the back. An H frame kinda has to be in an open area or not as close to a wall to feed long or awkward pieces into it.

Real estate is key in my garage and I would rather test my fab skills a bit rather then build something easy.

 

[Amitygravel]

I've never built a press , and while this isn't really a press it sort of is.
It's a Little Giant power hammer and its made from cast iron and stands about 6 ft tall.

Obviously I don't think you would be casting a frame , this might give you some design ideas though.

 

[ibedayank]

why they make CASTERS

will take far less material to make a H press than a C frame press that won't destroy its self the first time you use it

 

[Outlawmws]

Take a look at an arbor press in that capacity. I think it's going to be tough to manage home made. Not impossible, just a lot of work...

 

[sk farmer]

used to be a company that made a c press that would accept porta power cylinders. if i recall they had a 4 and 10 ton model. always wanted one but could never afford it and now they seem to have gone out of the biz.

 

[EVOLVO]

Got room for this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300-TON-HTC...951?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c0b280737

 

[ibedayank]

willing to bet that power hammer weighs over 2ton

20 ton H press weighs less than 200 pounds

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-32879.html
shipping weight 151 pounds

 

[ibedayank]

Got room for this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300-TON-HTC...951?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c0b280737

WEIGHT (EST.): 38,000 LBS.


yeah try and move that without taking it apart...

 

[Hiball]

I'm sure it would be easier to make an H frame, but a C frame has so much more open areas to work with and it can be mounted closer to a wall with the post in the back. An H frame kinda has to be in an open area or not as close to a wall to feed long or awkward pieces into it.

Real estate is key in my garage and I would rather test my fab skills a bit rather then build something easy.

NP.. Just making sure that you where aware of the Amount of Metal needed to withstand 40000lbs of Pressure. I rebuilt cylinder off a 5 ton (10000lbs) Hydraulic C-press and it Was a Beast. Good Luck with your Venture.. Snap some Pics along the Way.

 

[A_Pmech]

I've never built a press , and while this isn't really a press it sort of is.
It's a Little Giant power hammer and its made from cast iron and stands about 6 ft tall.

Is that yours?

 

[MechManiac]

H frame would offer great mechanical strength. To pull off a C frame you would need to support the shape (use of more beams) to prevent spreading of the C. Interesting but challenging. Please post pics if attempting.

 

[ert01]

I don't particularly like casters for something like a press. I use it to bend all sorts of stuff and it's not uncommon for me to put multiple bends in a 20' section. Those h frame presses aren't really solid when they have 15' of material out one end and they're not bolted down.

Getting the raw material to build the press isn't an issue... I work at an industrial plant and we have a 40' bin that we fill with scrap steel every other week that I am allowed to pull from. I already have a handful of 6" and 8" I-beams and a wide variety of plate and square tube of all sizes and thicknesses.

I'll try to draw up a rough draft here and post it up to get some input but I'm not all that great with cad/sketchup.

 

[TheGrooveking]

I don't particularly like casters for something like a press. I use it to bend all sorts of stuff and it's not uncommon for me to put multiple bends in a 20' section. Those h frame presses aren't really solid when they have 15' of material out one end and they're bot bolted down.

Getting the raw material to build the press isn't an issue... I work at an industrial plant and we have a 40' bin that we fill with scrap steel every other week that I am allowed to pull from. I already have a handful of 6" and 8" I-beams and a wide variety of plate and square tube of all sizes and thicknesses.

I'll try to draw up a rough draft here and post it up to get some input but I'm not all that great with cad/sketchup.

One of the biggest issues, if not the biggest is alignment, under load the c frame will want to yawn. That is why for large stamping and pressing a straight frame is prefered over a Gap frame(C frame). Good luck, but I wouldn't stand in front of it, just think as the frame yawns the least amount of pressure is at the front of the press, so things are much more likely to squirt out from there.

TheGrooveking

 

[W650Mike]

At a moderate throat depth a C-frame would be fairly manageable. Throat depth will be the challenge. Note that Amitygravel’s side throat is fairly shallow.

Keep us posted. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be attempted.

 

[ert01]

I realize what a true C shape would want to do under pressure... But I should probably clarify that I don't require this to be a "true" c frame press. More just a single post design would be probably a more accurate description.

Like a really really tall narrow C rather then a squished C (if that makes any sense).

This design is the closest I've been able to find. His cylinder is right tight to the post and I'd like mine put farther out by maybe 6" or so to give a bit more wiggle room for the materials.

 

[ert01]

Sorry for the bad picture... This one may be a bit better. (I'm posting from my phone at work so bear with me. Haha)

 

[greasemonkey44]

search weldingweb.com
or ask them
they are great at design and iirc someone attempted this before

 

[Packard V8]

A friend has a shop-built C-frame press which has served him well. I'll get photos next I'm up there. It is a 4" wide x 6" tall x 4" long I-beam with a 1"-thick triangular plate welded to it at the top for a cylinder mount. The bed is two smaller I-beams notched and welded perpendicularly to the vertical beam. Simple as simple can be.

jack vines

 

[Mmfh]

I have been looking around at building a press myself. I'm wanting to build a smaller bench top type with a hydraulic or air over hydraulic type ram.

While doing my online research I ran across a kit for building a "C" frame style press that might be just what your looking for. The pictures were fairly clear, you could probably look at them and see exactly how they did it.

I'll have a look and see if I can find them, might be tomorrow morning though.

Have you figured out yet what you are going to use for the ram part of it?

Seems like if you make it plenty stout, and keep the ram up close to the "C" it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to make it happen.
http://www.airhydraulics.com/HydraulicPresses/HydraulicPress.htm

Mm

 

[ert01]

I have very little experience with hydraulics so to keep it simple I wanted to use a 20ton air/hydraulic jack. They're cheap and easy to find (even up here in Canada) and I saw a writeup on the internet somewhere on how to add a pressure gauge to them.

 

[csp]

Not exactly what you're looking for, but it might lend some ideas. I found these photos years ago and saved them for possible future reference.

 

[machine_punk]

Another thought is to look at 'iron workers.' Not exactly a 'c' press, but they handle that many tons. I think they end up being a 'double c' (back to back), or a 'lever c' (pivot at one end and hydraulic cylinder in the middle. Just a thought on another device built to handle a lot of force.

I'm watching with interest too. I have an air over hydraulic 20 ton I am dying to get into a 20-ton H frame.