Homemade 20 ton hydraulic press

[Rickabilly]

(03-19-2012, 04:12 PM)stevec Wrote: Here's a couple of pics of my 10 ton I beam press.

I was having some problems with it going out of alignment sort of like a mouth opening wider and wider.

Hello Steve,
If you wanted to make a similar press but at least twice as strong you simply need to rotate the column by 90 degrees, having an I beam in the correct orientation makes a huge difference to it's bending strength, I really like the design though, simple rugged and thrifty use of floor space, I think I'll build one one day, the best thing is that it will press really awkward shapes.

All,
I just went looking for a photo of my press and can't believe that I haven't got one, the press is not yet finished, I used an old hydraulic cylinder with a 5" bore hooked up to a pneumatic hydraulic porta power pump for an approximate rating of 45 tons and a stroke of about 18 inches(i wanted to use it for a little deep drawing work too), for bearings I would limit the ram to 8 inches travel, the Ram has no return spring so the plan is to hook the bottom chamber up to the compressed air to return, no need to fit any valving as the air will compress under 45 tons of oil It stands about nine feet tall including the ram on top and the side rails are made from 6"x1" plates x 4 of and the top and pressing table beams are fabbed from 10 or 12"x1" plates(10 or 12" not sure it's been a while) and it'll take a full 3 feet between the cloumns, I used the flat plate design rather than channel as I want to be able to press form chassis rails and it's far easier to slide them through the columns than trying to some how do them at an angle.
I'll take a photo next time I get a chance.
Best Regards
Rick