Project 1 by redbeard : Hydrualic Shop Press

[redbeard]

This is a shop press I built a couple of years ago. The outfit I worked for long ago during my life as an air compressor mechanic had one, and it didn't look too hard to build, so I figured why not. I acquired and cut the steel quite a long time ago and finally got it together after getting the HF 3-in-1 to drill all the holes.

The overall height is 6ft with a bed width of 32in. The I beam is 5 x 5 x 5/16 and all channel is 1 3/4 x 5 x 3/16.

Everything except the jack and grade 8 bolts was scrounged or gifted so total cot was around $20. I don't remember how much time it took, other than that it was way too long.



Details of the top attachment, guides and table.



The HF 12 ton jack (I was too cheap to spring for a bigger one) also doubles as the ram for my cherry picker.



Improvements for when I finally get that elusive "round tuit":
Tap the die holder for a setscrew
Drill, tap and install 1/2 grade 8s for top beam.
Install real hooks for springs.
Prep and paint (ha ha ha).

Oh, and I almost forgot, it bends 4" worth of 1/4 without breaking a sweat.

[everlastsupport]

Ed,

Looks nice and big. I need to put wheels on mine, it has handles on each side, but takes two to move it.

The 20 ton will make even thicker bends if you ever need them (done 1/2"x4" no problem) .

What type 3-in-1, the multi-purpose machine? If so figure you got $300 back on that investment.

[redbeard]

What type 3-in-1, the multi-purpose machine? If so figure you got $300 back on that investment.

And here I was kicking myself because I hardly ever use it. It is a now discontinued HF T5980 mill/drill/lathe from 4-5 yrs ago. About 600 if I remember correctly plus another 150 or so accessorizing at Enco. Still haven't gotten around to teaching myself basic machining yet, so it sits forlorn in the corner waiting for me to build it a bench.



I do have some bigger stuff to bend coming up, so I'll probably wish I had a bigger jack. Anybody love math so much that they want to figure out the max capacity for me?

[everlastsupport]

Nice little mill for $600.

Here is a link and has a little calculator on the page too.

http://www.accurpress.com/toolingref....html#location

[redbeard]

Thanks Mike, that is a handy chart, looks like I might need a bigger jack!

The math I was thinking of was actually "how big of a jack can I stuff in there before the press fails?" If I get the final bolts installed, they shouldn't shear til 71tons, I remember looking up the table supports and they were plenty beefy too, but I never bothered to look up material strengths and do all the calculations to figure out when things would start to bend, just kinda guessed that it could handle 20-25 without a problem.

BTW, I forgot to ask did you build yours too?

[everlastsupport]

Well, being mild steel, it'll more than likely bent rather than fly apart if you push it to far, just keep an eye on it the first couple 100% bents on thick material (say 1/2" over 4" wide bends; that was our test). If it's welded and good welds, yours looks like a 20 ton jack will not be a problem.

I looked at the HF press unit (the on-sale for $169 price; normally $250) and it is bolted (low grade bolts) and thinner metal. The HF one would have been fine with some welds on it. A member (Scooter) modded one up and it came out nice. In fact, his brake (and swag offroad) got us going on making ours. Swags brake is nice if you have the spare cash.

We used the press and brake two days ago to make spotlight brackets for a golf cart we lifted. So we use it, thought it can be in the way at times. We have hammered and bend a lot of things on it as well . Come is handy, like a tall vise or anvil at times.

My son and I made ours. 3x3x3/16 sq tube I think it was. We cut most in 1/2 with the plasma. Mine is shorter in height due to "free materials ran-out", but allows me to lift it with the brake off of it and move it. It is about 4' 6" tall, but stout.

One think I wish we did was make it wider, 32"-36" would have been nice. We ended up I think at 22" or 24".

[Trip59]

The HF 12 ton is bolted, the 20 is all welded, I brought my 12 back for a 20 before it was even assembled, dang coupon came out that made the 20 cost like $10 more than I paid for the 12.

Was wondering if you might toss up a pic of the setup you used for bending that 1/4"?

Lemme know if you find someone that has those round tuits in stock, I gotta get about three dozen of them...

[everlastsupport]

You are talking to Redbeard I am sure and not to hi-jack his nice press thread. I have mine with a 20 lbs HF bottle jack in an angle iron tray and locked with a top welded ring. So it will not come out once pressure if applied, but will come out when it's not in use to help move the thing. Basically an angle iron bottom frame like a trailer battery frame box, top in a retaining ring.

I found on round tuits. I bought mine on a long-term payment plan. Funny thing, the 16 year old one does more than the 21 years old and they cost about the same. The 18 year old one does cost less, but does less unless computers or plants are involved

[Trip59]

Yup Mike, I was. I was actually interested in the brake portion he used inside the jack, I was wondering if it was just a couple pieces of steel held in place, or if it was built to fit/attach to the press itself. I bought my press to handle some random press things (actually made one out of a piece of angle iron to do some driveshafts, what a pain) but mainly to fit as a press-brake since the brake I have is a single length rather than a box/pan brake.

[everlastsupport]

Trip,

Ahh. Sorry, saw press and not brake and responded. Bending 1/4" I should have caught it. We do (not real wide) 1/2" for fun on ours just for the wow factor. I though you were worried about the jack just sitting in there.

Mine is straight, 3 piece angle. Did not see Red's brake. Wish I had all the whole drilled on mine. They are quite handy with you can adjust them

If you search for posts here on our forum by scooter and chadrock you will see a couple recent press and brake projects as well.

[Trip59]

Thanks Mike. I have http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-...ess-32879.html and it's pretty darn stable, a bit of a pain to adjust, but plenty of holes in it...

I'd seen some other brakes, just always on the lookout for other designs. You can find them on google, but it's rare you can see them and then ask questions about 'why did this go this way'

[everlastsupport]

Thanks Mike. I have http://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-...ess-32879.html and it's pretty darn stable, a bit of a pain to adjust, but plenty of holes in it...

I'd seen some other brakes, just always on the lookout for other designs. You can find them on google, but it's rare you can see them and then ask questions about 'why did this go this way'

Scooter bought that one I think and welded it up just to make it stronger. I almost went that way, but the cheap in me and free metal. Took a couple months but we did it.

If you have cash, there is a swagoffroad.com something like that, they have it all CNC made brake, and you weld it together. It is nice, but some fair size angle iron, piece of plate and you can get by.

Scooter and Chadrock gave all the metal sizes, or close enough Chad could copy Frank's version. I can take pic and measure when he used if you need and PM or email to you.

[redbeard]

Sorry I just came back to this thread to look up that handy chart and noticed that I was remiss in responding, I hadn't yet discovered the subscription function when I first posted I guess.

Anyway, I wound up doing a couple different setups for the different sizes I've done so far. The latest one for longer stock looks like this:




I just used a couple pieces of stout angle clamped to the channel with spacers for the bottom, and a piece of T-post with the center nubbin ground off as the top die. It held up well for the 4" bends, but it did bend a bit when I went for 8".
Although I didn't notice any signs of bending, if I was going for anything bigger, I would probably take the precaution of running a piece of allthread through the table to keep the channel from splaying.



This is a recreation of the original setup I used for the shorter brackets, a bit simpler just using the plates with spacers on the sides (not the one in the picture obviously) to fill in the space to the legs. If I remember correctly, I used pipe clamps to hold the legs together just for safety's sake.