Using sockets with the shop press?
- Thread starter quilty
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DAWrench
Well-known member
Either one is fine. Biggest use for my 3/4 drive chrome sockets
One has to be safer than the other though, right?
bwringer
Well-known member
IIRC, impact sockets are somewhat less brittle.
That said, I just use whatever fits best if I don't have a correctly sized round object.
I have a large collection of steel discs sized in 1mm increments in a nice case I bought from the Brazilian River a while back at a very reasonable price; since getting those, my socket abuse has declined to near zero. I also have a few different bearing driver sets, and between all that it's rare that I have to rummage in my sockets for a victim unless I need to reach over a middle bolt.
That said, I just use whatever fits best if I don't have a correctly sized round object.
I have a large collection of steel discs sized in 1mm increments in a nice case I bought from the Brazilian River a while back at a very reasonable price; since getting those, my socket abuse has declined to near zero. I also have a few different bearing driver sets, and between all that it's rare that I have to rummage in my sockets for a victim unless I need to reach over a middle bolt.
Agreed - which makes them better suited to be used in the press correct?
dnschmidt
Well-known member
The answer is yes but the difference should be inconsequential. Impact sockets exist because impact wrenches wallow out normal sockets. There is no such action when being used for pressing. Chrome Vanadium and Chrome Moly have very similar characteristics. If you worry about this go to HF and buy the cheap Pittsburgh Deep impact sockets for $20 and be done with worrying about it.
If you're asking because you have easy access to either and want to know which to select, I would personally choose the impact sockets. I expect there could be some risk of chipping chrome if you're pressing hard or something slips. However, the different steel types (i.e. aside from the surface coating) aren't going to behave differently in a pressing application (not unless you're that Youtuber with the giant press that likes to crush things for views).
I probably wouldn't use my best socket set for fear I might chip or scratch them if something slipped - but if I didn't have the luxury of selecting between multiple sets, I probably wouldn't sweat it.
I probably wouldn't use my best socket set for fear I might chip or scratch them if something slipped - but if I didn't have the luxury of selecting between multiple sets, I probably wouldn't sweat it.
micromind
Well-known member
Unless it's several hundred tons, I doubt if it matters.
bwringer
Well-known member
Yup, unless you're pressing off-angle or doing something else that's dumb, anything you can do in a garage press is far below the material strength you're working with.
Cheap sockets (regular and especially impacts) tend to have thicker walls and so may be even better choices for press duty. Of course, if you're pressing into a bore, then the thinner wall socket might be the only one that fits.
I will admit to using sockets for one-off stuff but mostly will chuck up in the lathe and make a solid or hollow press tool to suit. My main mandrel is threaded 3/4 UNC on 20T so most male tools thread in but OD stuff is usually a tube with loose small plate on top. I haven't made much tooling for the 100T but on that I will never use sockets and do everything with the guard screen pulled up.
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Retired dozer fixer
Well-known member
Guard screen??? Apparently I haven’t worked in a shop with that modern of a press. Old 50 ton Dake never had any so in a hard push just stand to the side
I have a 14 YO helper and another younger one coming up, so have to use all PPE to full extent (Dad a firefighter). Even so, in my old age with a pretty long history of workplace injuries I am starting to see the light (not just from eye damage healing).
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The Bean
Well-known member
I just watched a C&C Equipment YT video where they used a HF chrome socket on their press to push a shaft back into a JD dozer transmission. They laughed about how the viewers were not going to be happy. No problem. Pushing it out took 10 tons of force (not with a socket). Great channel for heavy machinery repair.
leadfoot415
Well-known member
I've shattered a few matco axle nut sockets in use (on a fastener, not in the shop press), but all had been recently used to press out things using a 25 ton press. Take it as you will. I continue to use my big sockets in the press... just be careful and wear eye/face protection.
Debcrow
Well-known member
I just use what I can find that is the right size to work. Then I make sure everything is a straight press.
I do not think having a plated or bare medal socket makes any difference.
(Especially if the are lamp sockets that do not seem to work very well for pressing things
I do not think having a plated or bare medal socket makes any difference.
(Especially if the are lamp sockets that do not seem to work very well for pressing things
nadogail
Well-known member
I vote that you use the socket that best fits the job at hand, other firm objects of bits and pieces of various materials also come in handy.
General Geoff
Well-known member
impact, the black oxide finish is a little less slippery than chrome and has no chance of cracking/flaking under unusual stress
That is probably not a bad suggestion. While all may not agree, I think I will put a set on my "to buy" for this particular job.
I'm not an engineer, although sometimes think I am at my wife's behest (and I have calipers and micrometers to prove it), but TO ME, the difference between chrome and impact sockets (for example, crv vs cromo) is more related to how each metallurgy deals with IMPACTS.
Although it will also lend to factors regarding brittleness and potentially explosive failure, in the end the constant and increasing pressure experienced under a press has very different dynamics from sudden and violent impacts from an impact tool.
In other words, for press use, I use whatever old junky one I can find that fits (don't want to use good/new stuff).
Although it will also lend to factors regarding brittleness and potentially explosive failure, in the end the constant and increasing pressure experienced under a press has very different dynamics from sudden and violent impacts from an impact tool.
In other words, for press use, I use whatever old junky one I can find that fits (don't want to use good/new stuff).
Astro_Pneumatic_Tools
Well-known member
Using sockets with a shop press is not recommended because when you look at the specific details in the drawings of the socket and specifically the material heat treatment process and compare that to the press plates and bearing adapter sets we sell, you'll notice we'll sell a lot less of those if you guys keep using your sockets which also work perfectly well whether chrome or impact
also secretly why we make no skip sets that include sizes you might never need, especially on larger sets, sometimes the perfect diameter is the perfect diameter
also secretly why we make no skip sets that include sizes you might never need, especially on larger sets, sometimes the perfect diameter is the perfect diameter
Well, that's an honest answer if I ever saw one.Using sockets with a shop press is not recommended because when you look at the specific details in the drawings of the socket and specifically the material heat treatment process and compare that to the press plates and bearing adapter sets we sell, you'll notice we'll sell a lot less of those if you guys keep using your sockets which also work perfectly well whether chrome or impact
also secretly why we make no skip sets that include sizes you might never need, especially on larger sets, sometimes the perfect diameter is the perfect diameter
Coming Christmas '26 from Astro, a set of no skip hydraulic press dies. . . .in Metric and SAE.
iagsxr
Well-known member
I closed up a 15/16" impact socket one time. Thought it was the perfect OD, apparently it was slightly large. Wouldn't fit a 15/16" bolt afterwards.
I feel like if it would have been chrome it would have broken or at least flaked. I didn't even know I'd damaged it until the next time I tried to put it on a bolt. It's a full-time press accessory now.
I feel like if it would have been chrome it would have broken or at least flaked. I didn't even know I'd damaged it until the next time I tried to put it on a bolt. It's a full-time press accessory now.
B_Bimmer
Well-known member
The only socket I've broken in a press is one I tried to break... for science.
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
Never gave it a second thought, whatever fits gets pressed, i also cut up different sizes of pipe in sch 40 & 80, 1/2 - 4" comes in handy & free.
The Bean
Well-known member
C&C Equipment just posted a video working on excavator hydraulic cylinders. Clint paid $800 for two impact sockets, 3-3/8" and 3-1/2". The big one he says weighs 60 lbs. I doubt this one will find its way into the press. Lol.
The big air-powered impact gun packs a heluva punch.
The big air-powered impact gun packs a heluva punch.
Retired dozer fixer
Well-known member
I’ve got a 3 1/2” Cat (Snap-On) 1” dr impact socket and it doesn’t even come close to 60 lbs. More like 10-15 pounds
OccupantRJ
Well-known member
The beauty of owning a metal lathe. I machine various pipe cutoff diameters and lengths to fit the need, then as they accumulate they get blasted and painted safety yellow and stored in a 20” hand tote toolbox sitting on the base of the press. Thick hole saw blanks are used to place on top of the adapters, and I have been known to machine an old yard sale import socket to size as needed.
I got one a couple days ago. You are right on with the weight. I was buying tools for $2 a pound, so everything was getting weighed.
I have a similar sized bench anvil. It is a factory cutoff of solid steel round stock. I would guess that it is 20lbs or less.
I used sockets in the press for decades never a major issue, only issue with chrome sockets is you could damage/lift chrome plating on lip of socket or cause bit of a bur on a stubborn press job with hardened materials .
I keep my past their best wallowed impact sockets specifically for press jobs (hydraulic or the old swing press) and only use my best sockets when it the only thing right dimensions do the job .
I keep my past their best wallowed impact sockets specifically for press jobs (hydraulic or the old swing press) and only use my best sockets when it the only thing right dimensions do the job .
The Bean
Well-known member
Yeah. 60lbs seemed ridiculous to me but I don't own one. The excavator cylinders were torqued to like 2500 and 4500 ft-lbs. That also surprised me but he showed the specs. I'm guessing Kurtis at CEE has seen even bigger on the mining equipment. Where do you get the torque wrench for that stuff?
Probably using torque multipliers.
Wrench97
Well-known member
Some of the new ones have the controls in a separate room behind a block wall and bullet proof glass......insurance companies run amok I suspect.....
Retired dozer fixer
Well-known member
Company had one. All big and heavy. Don’t miss those days
Nobody-named-Olli
Well-known member
One option is HYTORC. https://www.hytorc.com/ “We”, as in my former employer, supplied these depending on scope of delivery/ contractual obligation with the open pit mining equipment “we” engineered, built & sold.
Kind regards,
Olli
The Bean
Well-known member
Nope. Kevin went all John Rambo on it in the vice with a big impact gun.
The Bean
Well-known member
Oh, I knew that....I subscribe...I was just answering in general how people get high torque specs done.
Ultradog MN
Well-known member
Lathes not only work for the things you mentioned but for making specialized seal drivers too.
