What's new
What's new

OT - Bending with a 400 Ton Bertram press

Chris999

Hot Rolled
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Vancouver B.C.
So user Collector is about to scrap his 400 ton Bertram press and we ran her for the last time. I wanted to show one of the guys how quickly the tonnage gauge climbs up and we found a 2x4 piece of steel.

It bent it at 160 tons without the pump seeming like it was being loaded... What a thing to see.

This probably could have been a good forging press, there is two small 4" cylinders that move the ram very quickly in advance and retract and then another button on the pendant engages the main 16" cylinder for high pressure.

It's awe inspiring how quickly the tonnage gauge goes from zero to over 100 tons. There is a ten second or so delay after pushing the high pressure button until pressure builds. Then in under two seconds the needle is over 100 tons...

I'll try to put some video up later.bent bar1.jpgBertram 1.jpgbertram 4.jpgbertram 5.jpgbertram 3.jpg
 
So user Collector is about to scrap his 400 ton Bertram press and we ran her for the last time. I wanted to show one of the guys how quickly the tonnage gauge climbs up and we found a 2x4 piece of steel.

It bent it at 160 tons without the pump seeming like it was being loaded... What a thing to see.


This probably could have been a good forging press, there is two small 4" cylinders that move the ram very quickly in advance and retract and then another button on the pendant engages the main 16" cylinder for high pressure.

It's awe inspiring how quickly the tonnage gauge goes from zero to over 100 tons. There is a ten second or so delay after pushing the high pressure button until pressure builds. Then in under two seconds the needle is over 100 tons...

I'll try to put some video up later.View attachment 279358View attachment 279359View attachment 279360View attachment 279361View attachment 279362

Oh crap, I really want that!! Too far too heavy, but man, I REALLY want that..
 
Hard way, even. That is impressive. Somebody was looking for a small, high tonnage press brake. That looks like a good starter kit to me.
 
It looks like it should knock down by removing the strain bars, and unhooking the hydraulics
from the main ram.

Everything could go on strapped to a couple of oversized pallets (maybe 4' wide but much longer)
 
Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is(or was...) a press like that used for?
Most of the presses I've seen or been around were vertical and apart from a log splitter, horizontal squishing power seems odd to me. I am just a welder though...

All that being said I wish I could give that thing a home. It's a shame to see something like that go to the scrap yard... :cryin:
 
Cool to see large presses. Thanks. I participated in building a 3000 ton press. It was horizontal and was for bending Large pipe. The test piece they bent was over one meter in diameter and the wall was over an inch thick. Then it was shipped to Britain with an operator to teach. It has something like 25 implement cylinders ganged to push a wall about six feet by six feet. The hydraulic power pack was on a separate skid with a 25 hp motor. I don't remember how many barrels of hydraulic fluid we used to fill the reservoir. It was meant to make seismic bends that would go out to a pipeline. The gradual S bend would allow for shifts in the ground.
I worked in one shop where we had a horizontal rated at 80 tons to bend beams to give them a camber. We called it the bulldozer. Lots of applications besides pushing collars on and off shafts.
 
Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is(or was...) a press like that used for?
Most of the presses I've seen or been around were vertical and apart from a log splitter, horizontal squishing power seems odd to me. I am just a welder though...

All that being said I wish I could give that thing a home. It's a shame to see something like that go to the scrap yard... :cryin:

The wheels on the train go round and round....and have a large press fit, to keep them
doing that.
YouTube

Also, larger motor shops have these for all manner of pully's on shafts, etc.
 
These horizontal presses were used in boat engine repair shops around the NW. I was in an old shop once that had one much like this, but a hundred years older- it ran on plain old water, but functionally was almost identical. It was in a shop that spent 50 years rebuilding logging tugs and small utility boats on Puget Sound, and they pressed collars, bearings, prop shafts, props- all kinds of long shafts and the things that went on them, that would be impractical to press in a vertical position. Even a small tug could have 30 feet of shaft attached, much easier to sling it horizontal. The shops I have seen didnt do automotive or construction machinery, but this configuration would be hand for some of that stuff, too.
 
Cheaper just to buy the whole shop and move in next door.

Tom
I think that press will break down pretty easily, to something shippable on a couple of oversized pallets.

The strain bars bolt on (or simply pin) and the press head and other end simply slide along them.

I have seen very similar presses mounted vertically, with the piston in the floor,
working up.
 
Last year we replaced a 1950 era Chicago D&K 500 ton hydraulic press brake with 7' bed with 6'of day light.
Pretty nice machine overall, it used a tape wire to control travel of stroke between the rams that needed a little TLC now and then, other then that it worked good with no significant oil leaks.
I offered it for free to several local fab shops, without the dies. We could lift and load but they had to haul and unload on there end.
This things very heavy, the moving cost and size scared off everyone even at free. We moved it into our bone yard, drained the hydraulic oil and it went to scrap this spring.
 








 
Back
Top