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Planning a hydraulic press any knowledge and help is much appreciated

GoceKu

Plastic
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Many years ago i made a 25 TON bottle jack press, it served me well but i've outgrown it and after years of abuse even the frame has twisted, so i've started sourcing parts and planning, i have a pretty good idea what i like the frame to be like, and fabrication wouldn't be a problem, i've sourced this hydraulic valve with pressure regulator, it's really big, i've put and lathe handle on top for comparison, and this hydraulic pump, it's rated at 140-160 bar and 56l/min, but i don't know what size motor i need to run it, i know with that pressure if i want decent pressing power i need a big cylinder, so i've been keeping my eye for a wide hydraulic cylinder without any success, any advice with those parts or experience about shop press is much appreciated.DSC_0008.jpgDSC_0006.jpgDSC_0007.jpg
 
A few suggestions:

make the stroke long enough to broach without adding spacers to press a broach through a part...

Double acting to raise and lower platen.
 
Desired capacity in actual numbers would help.

Make it stiff. A stiff press is safer because there's less energy stored in deflected members. I've seen tools laid on the platen hop high in the air when a rusty coupling popped. You don't want a collapsing set-up to fall on your toe.

140 - 160 Bar is quite low for the usual shop press; its cylinder wil have to be quite bulky for the tonnage it exerts. The typical bottle jack press may develop 300 bar and a hand pump model 650 (Hope I'm getting my Metric conversions right.) Hydraulic shop presses usually operate at two or more times common industrial hydraulic pressures. 600+ Bar is usual for professional grade presses.

Your valve may be useful if you can tolerate the cylinder dimensions. 20T (metric) under 150 Bar pressure would require a 128 mm cylinder diameter.

The motor power required is a function of pump pressure and delivery. The ram speed is a function of the pump delivery and the piston area. The deflections are determined by beam formula. load, and the section modulus of the members under bending force,. The pin diameter by the number of pins. The press capacity, the shear strength of the pin material, etc. There's also the ancillary features: platen furniture, ram retraction, platen lift, a cylinder pressure gauge calibrated in tons or a pressure/tons chart, controls, a steady base, and a way to move it should that become necessary. And more.

All these numbers, component choices, and features have to work together if your press is to be successful. It aint rocket science but it is real engineering on a small scale.

If you want to design your own press there is no escaping the preliminary calculations. It's usually simpler to duplicate the press design you'd prefer buy if you could afford it.
 
I'm looking at using some salvaged 6" bore seamless steel tube and copying an existing dual acting cylinder. I found a chart for maximum pressures for seamless carbon steel tube and it looks like I'll be able to have 2000 PSI maximum over a 28 square inch area to get a 28 ton press with at least a 2 foot stroke.
 
A year or two ago there was a thread about building your own shop equipment and I posted this homebuilt press:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...here-oldwrench-slaves-away-276314/index3.html (scroll down to post #102)

The main thing is a double-acting cylinder and a two-way spring-loaded valve. I don't think you need 56 liter/min, that wouldn't give you much sensitivity. It'd probably be like a giant on/off switch. This uses a 3 GPM (abt 12 liters/min) 3/4 HP motor/pump/reservoir unit and it's plenty quick enough. Just make sure you mount the reservoir above the cylinder or you'll have trapped air and jerky operation.
 
I want to thank everyone who wrote, by what i've understood, i can use the valve as long as the pressure regulator can be adjusted for the pressure i'm going to run, the pump is not suitable, my pump is hi flow low pressure and i need low flow hi pressure or i need to find a 200- 250 mm diameter cylinder and i'll mount the oil tank and pump on top of the press, to avoid trapping air in the systems
 
...or i need to find a 200- 250 mm diameter cylinder

The cylinder must mount so it pushes against your upper beam, which means its tube must fit between the crosspieces. If you can keep them reasonably close together, your parallels/bolsters/fixtures will not have to span as far and will be less likely to deflect. Look for a cylinder with a head end in the form of a thick steel plate, like this:

http://lehighfluidpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/eIMG_0663-300x217.jpg
 
I plan to make this press big in size, outside dimensions 1 meter by 0,5 meter, with a 35-40 mm thick split table, i'll make the construction extremely strong, no worries there.
 








 
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