carbureted iron
Active member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2023
- Messages
- 35
Anyone ever retrofit their shop press with a strain gauge a/o force gauge?
I bought a Chinaseum-quality $200 20-ton shop press from Harbor Freight to complete a one-off job, which it did competently. I was curious—and mildly concerned—that the thing lacked any sort of indicator. This tool builds a lot of potential energy when used against stubborn friction fits. I'd like to know where I am within the tonnage range at any given point, especially as I approach (meaning: risk) potential explosive failure. Frankly I'm surprised the safety feature of a gauge isn't standard accessory on any shop press regardless of price point. But it ain't.
This got me to consider the difficulty of functionally integrating such onto a typical bottle jack driven shop press. Dunno how or what type of an analog gauge could work; perhaps a digital strain gauge would be more accommodating as a retrofit. Maybe a linear strain gauge attached to a spring btwn the cross beam and the jack slide? Or maybe a compression-type strain gauge mounted btwn bearing plate surfaces? ...etc, etc.
This notion strikes me as the perfect "guys-talkin'-tools" topic, and so I post it here. It'd be awesome if someone has done this; and you happen across this topic, please share your experience.
I bought a Chinaseum-quality $200 20-ton shop press from Harbor Freight to complete a one-off job, which it did competently. I was curious—and mildly concerned—that the thing lacked any sort of indicator. This tool builds a lot of potential energy when used against stubborn friction fits. I'd like to know where I am within the tonnage range at any given point, especially as I approach (meaning: risk) potential explosive failure. Frankly I'm surprised the safety feature of a gauge isn't standard accessory on any shop press regardless of price point. But it ain't.
This got me to consider the difficulty of functionally integrating such onto a typical bottle jack driven shop press. Dunno how or what type of an analog gauge could work; perhaps a digital strain gauge would be more accommodating as a retrofit. Maybe a linear strain gauge attached to a spring btwn the cross beam and the jack slide? Or maybe a compression-type strain gauge mounted btwn bearing plate surfaces? ...etc, etc.
This notion strikes me as the perfect "guys-talkin'-tools" topic, and so I post it here. It'd be awesome if someone has done this; and you happen across this topic, please share your experience.