Your press ever scare you?

[zkdiesel]

Found the big boy is just too plain scary for normal use. Glad I purchased its baby brother for general shop usage

The monster didn’t give you any indication before it just exploded the part you were trying to press apart

 

[uscarry45]

Very nice press. Yes they have made me nervous I always though I should build a removable safety screen and figure out how to operate from a distance on those particularly difficult jobs

 

[Professional Tool User]

All hydraulic presses are scary, especially the hard to control big ones and those that don't come with safety equipment.

 

[ChefRex]

The numbers on the gauge determined my nervousness.

 

[yelchevelle]

I don’t remember what I was doing, but I was being “creative” taking apart a bearing to make something. I didn’t have a ton of pressure on it when it let go. Not gonna lie, I checked myself for leaks afterwards. I did find part of the bearing ring that broke in the Sheetrock wall of my office. I thought of hanging some pieces of small chain kinda of like on the back of a bushhog to slow down potential shrapnel in the future.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I only have a 20 ton at work. I only get questionable when something suddenly POPs and startles me, or I'm using the torch to heat something while pressing. I've been known to turn away from the business end when maxing it out, even though it's just a baby 20 ton.

Frankly I'm more concerned about some adapter or arbor plate exploding, than the knuckle or whatever itself.

 

[Zewnten]

Always freaks me out a bit when you load it up and nothing happens and I have to leave it under pressure with some sort of penetrating oil and then heat it later. I try to throw a welding blanket over it but it's hard to see what's going on then. Luckily the 100 ton the dealer had, some one bolted a 1" thick lexan to the side of it where the operator stood.

I too am usually worried about the various plates or adapters needed to hold it slipping, thus the blanket.

 

[speed bump]

We have a 200 ton press at work. The guys pressed out a 6 inch spherical bearing a couple of weeks ago that we are still finding pieces of. For sketchy **** we have a cage (didn't use it this time) and the controls are setup so you have to stand to the side where you are pretty well protected.

For big presses I would absolutely build a cage for when you are really putting some pressure on stuff.

 

[Sumboodie]

I was lowering the "table" with the arbor plates still in plate. Arbor plate fell off and went through the drywall and vapor barrier and into the bottom of the wall

 

[Jeepster04]

I like loading up my little 20 ton press till she wont go anymore, then putting the ol air hammer on it... Gotta get right up on it to see if she moves.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Being a little scared of any press bigger than an arbor press will improve your life expectancy.

One of my first jobs was rebuilding heavy truck transmissions, breaking countershaft gears loose can take 60 tons and the gear is only supported by the teeth. For those we’d set up the press then control it from the breaker box at the other end of the shop.

Only had one seriously grenade, part of the gear went 40’ from the press at the back of the shop and through the steel rollup door.

 

[redwrench60]

Yeah you definitely need to respect the danger a big press can create.

When rigging up some real janky **** I turn Jim and the twins away from the danger while pumping. Rather lose an *** cheek.

 

[64C10]

A few years ago I was pressing the shaft out of a pump barrel on our ancient 600 ton horizontal press, gave it just a little too much and ended up shattering the cast iron housing. Shook pretty much all the dust off the rafters when it let go.

 

[Steve_P]

Years ago I worked with a guy that previously worked at an auto machine shop. It was Saturday and they had some part for a bulldozer that they were trying to press a large bearing off of. It was at least a 50T press and it wouldn't come off. They maxed out the press with the part on it and went home. Monday morning, they came in and the block wall of the shop is broken out (you know where this is going...). They thought someone took a sledgehammer to it and that they'd been robbed. Nope, the bearing exploded at some point after they left and took out a portion of the block wall large enough to easily crawl thru.

 

[Radio Flyer]

Locally, there was a truck shop that moved into an old ComEd shop. It was left fully stocked with overhead cranes, forklift, shear, and brake. It looked like ComEd just locked the door and walked away from the shop. It also had a 200 ton hydraulic press. It had an electric motor which made the lights dim, and moved ever so slowly. I brought some items over occasionally that were too big for a traditional press. One of the mechanics made a comment that every time that it was turned on, something was about to be broken.

 

[johninct]

Any press over like 10 ton or 20 ton is overkill. If you need more force, something is probably going to break. I know some stuff requires a lot more force but chances are something will break.

 

[Lassen Forge]

We had a 50 ton press in high school, when we were learning welding your weld had to hold up to a minimum of 20 tons to get a passing grade - those were fun days, and we praciced and practiced until we got well over 20 ton... One guy was in the 40's... needless to say he passed with flying colors.

We had a 100T attached to the machine shop in college... I've seen it "spit" things out at high velocity, we have 1/4" steel plates to cage in whatever's being pressed, I started looking at the spit out failures - they were either misalignment on the part of yours tr... er... "the operator", or something breaking.

I kinda sorta couldn't do without one. Sure, an arbor is good for small jobs, but a press is awesome when that mechanical "pull" isn't quite enough.

 

[engineer2]

Was told this story by a guy in a technical college.
They were trying to push a hub bushing out of a big cast iron farm equipment gear in the shop's 50 ton press.
After it exploded in a hundred pieces they realized it was a one piece casting.

 

[MFortie]

Yeah, when one of the HF cast press plate blew up while trying to press a rear axle bearing on for my Jeep. Immediately tossed the other one out and ordered new plates from S.W.A.G.

And this was on the little 12-ton unit from HF. Can’t even imagine the forces involved with the big boys!

 

[Shoreline_]

My friend works at a coop shop (think barber chair) up in mass. Mostly German stuff. They have this cool one off press where it's very wide and you can move the ram around left and right for pressing really odd parts. Sorry doesn't really answer the OP question but just thought I'd share.

 

[speed bump]

Any press over like 10 ton or 20 ton is overkill. If you need more force, something is probably going to break. I know some stuff requires a lot more force but chances are something will break.

Depends on what you are doing. When our machine shop drops a new shaft in a trunnion roll it is everything that 200 ton press has to seat it (even after heating the roll for 12 hours). For a shop that only does Hondas a 20 ton may do the job.

If you are going be doing sketchy stuff with a press consider investing in a cage.

 

[Firebrick43]

Where I worked before they had a big 100 ton OTC with electric pump. Several times people in the know would tell apprentices and such to clear the area.

Once I was trying to remove a rusty shaft from a gear box(that no one but the supervisor was enthusiastic about it) and practically hit 100 tons. Everyone cleared and I stood behind a column. And just as you said ZK, it finally blew apart with no warning. The shaft actually expanded in diameter cracking the ring gear and ring gear carrier in half and their force flying cracked the housing pretty badly.

 

[Steve_P]

12T press is not enough to remove pressed on hubs on axles- BTDT. And these are old car axles; I'm not talking about commercial trucks. 20T is the minimum required to get most things done, and if you have any type of commercial shop you need at least 50T. I like the cage in the above pic. When I get concerned, the face shield, blankets, and such come out, but I know that's not enough.

 

[whateg01]

Yeah, when one of the HF cast press plate blew up while trying to press a rear axle bearing on for my Jeep. Immediately tossed the other one out and ordered new plates from S.W.A.G.

And this was on the little 12-ton unit from HF. Can’t even imagine the forces involved with the big boys!

I tell people to get rid of those things and get forged or even just a piece of plate steel. I always get the same response "it's never broken on me yet"

 

[HaiKarate]

OP is scared of his Dakes? Sounds like someone needs to take a trip to HF to see how the other half live lol.

 

[John McA]

Recently bought a 20T. It has a gauge on top. And, an air hook up. What really sold me was that it was black and, labeled: Black Widow.
It helps me remember to respectfully keep things lined up and square discreetly.

In college: Unsupervised late nights in the materials testing lab were fun and way more dangerous. I was able to shake hands with danger and be lucky to move on.

Things made of Carbon Fiber that fail in compression are pretty scary. Nasty splinters.

Be safe.

 

[Oldsnapper]

When I worked in the heavy truck spring shop, we had an electric 100 ton press that we used to change walking beam bushings. For a table on top of the cross beams, we had a 2 in thick steel plate about 24" X 30" with about a 4" hole in the center. On the really tight bushings, when they let go out of the beam and started to move, that 2" plate would actually jump up off from the cross beams.

 

[Leevon]

Mechanic that worked for me lost sight in his dominant eye pressing a wheel bearing 3 years ago. One of the bearings went straight into his retina. Terrible day. Caution!

 

[RedneckWelder]

many years ago we had a guy killed by a press.

i have never liked pressing or pulling whether it be with a shop press, portable pulling/pressing rods, track press, etc. My rule for all is get it set up and get behind cover.

 

[mrb1]

Old "WW II" era vertical Pines 50?T press at my old shop blew a hydraulic line one day. Coworker and I were standing about 10 feet away, shoulder to shoulder, with our backs to the press. When it let go, a marble sized piece of a fitting went straight between our heads and through a probably 1/4" thick steel plate like butter. We just turned and looked at each other speechless, knowing that it would have killed either one of us.

 

[crguy]

Where I worked there was an ancient 200 ton horizontal press we used occasionally. Had a 2 cylinder pump that just chugged away building up pressure. Everybody got nervous as the tone of that pump changed as the pressure got higher. Frequently, some ******* would go outside and bang a piece of metal against the metal siding about that time. It certainly got your attention!

 

[charbar]

Good call ZK. I'm pretty sure you aren't stupid about that ****, but everyone knows a press can be sketchy at best.....especially when you have a big one and are doing 'smaller' things that can still put a 5 inch hole through the side of the building.

I get a bit concerned sometimes on my small manual pump one. The power hydraulic one that has a 3" ram.....yeah....it has a gauge for a reason.....and you better know wtf you are doing or you will probably end up looking like swiss cheese.