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dieselfume1

Posted 12/9/2023 08:34 (#10516523)
Subject: Home made hyd press ideas

SE MT

Looking for some homemade hyd press ideas. I need to break down and buy a press, but was hoping for a powered one instead of a hyd jack type.

An old tech told me you can build one with a Chevy power steering pump, log splitter valve and a hyd cyl. With hydraulic pump pressure being around 1200, it would take a cylinder up near 4 inches to be able to get 7 tons of power, which isn’t enough.

What are some homebrew setups you guys have made?

Schuerman Farms

Posted 12/9/2023 08:52 (#10516557 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

WC MN & Valley of the Sun, AZ

How about one of these?

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-hp-electric-hydraulic-pressure-pump-...

Or air powered?

https://www.harborfreight.com/10000-psi-pneumatic-hydraulic-pressure...

ronm

Posted 12/9/2023 09:11 (#10516592 - in reply to #10516557)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Fruita CO

This.../\/\.
Unless you really love fabricating & have the materials on hand, these will look like a pretty good deal by the time you build one. Whatever you do, don't end up with a bottle jack press...worst POS ever thought of...

IADAVE

Posted 12/9/2023 09:14 (#10516598 - in reply to #10516592)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

I wouldn't say worst idea.
They are cheap and affordable and work reasonably well.
Not as nice as a big screw press or one with big cylinders and electric pump but functional.

ronm

Posted 12/9/2023 09:47 (#10516648 - in reply to #10516598)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Fruita CO

Better than nothing is about as good as I can say...

SwiaKid

Posted 12/9/2023 10:47 (#10516741 - in reply to #10516592)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Southwest Iowa

ronm - 12/9/2023 09:11

This.../\/\.
Unless you really love fabricating & have the materials on hand, these will look like a pretty good deal by the time you build one. Whatever you do, don't end up with a bottle jack press...worst POS ever thought of...

When pressing in bearings I do like to feel the resistance on a manual bottle jack press in case something isn’t quite lined up right.

Paul(WI)

Posted 12/9/2023 13:04 (#10516885 - in reply to #10516741)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Ours is just a manual pump but it is nice to be able to "feel" the bearing or seal pressed in.

ronm

Posted 12/9/2023 09:46 (#10516645 - in reply to #10516557)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Fruita CO

Sorry, I thought this was what Schuerman posted...

https://www.harborfreight.com/50-ton-hydraulic-shop-press-96188.html

jedeka

Posted 12/9/2023 10:21 (#10516704 - in reply to #10516645)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Boone, Iowa

I have the same press under a different name that I bought at Nothern Tool. I wish it had a two-stage jack, because the cylinder doesn’t move very fast. To speed up things, I raise table as close as I can to get my work close to the cylinder and/or block up the object. I also wish the head would slide for offset work.

IADAVE

Posted 12/9/2023 08:53 (#10516560 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Buy a Harbor Freight 20 ton press. Buy an air jack and put in it.

junk fun

Posted 12/9/2023 08:56 (#10516563 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Wisconsin

What kind of stuff are you planning to do with it? The stuff I do, it takes way more time to set up than to hand pump the jack. I'd put a winch or screw system to lift the table before I'd worry about a power pump. The lift could be manual and still be much easier than lifting, especially if you have some of the work on the press. As cheap as good used presses are, I'd buy a used one if you're looking at 50 ton range. 20 ton is easy to find cheap, if you only need 12 ton, buy a HF 20 and use a 12 ton jack. All presses I've seen use 10,000PSI pressure, so porta power or bottle jack type. Any other power source would be for the lift only.

shulerfarm

Posted 12/9/2023 09:09 (#10516589 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Holly Hill, SC

Buy a simple H frame hydraulic press. $250
https://www.northerntool.com/products/ironton-20-ton-hydraulic-shop-...
If you have multiple repetitive jobs replace the jack with an air over hydraulic 20 ton bottle jack. $80 to $170
https://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-airhydraulic-bottle-jack-59426....

This gives you 2 jacks that can be used when needed elsewhere when needed.
Hard to beat even if labor is free building your own.

HuskerJ

Posted 12/9/2023 09:26 (#10516611 - in reply to #10516589)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

East of Broken Bow

This would be my recommendation, as well. Get a Northern, HF, or similar press and add an air over hyd jack to it.
I would even say get an old US made manual press at an auction, and add the air jack. those seem to be overbuilt, but I doubt you'll save much over the new HF or Northern as they bring good $$ here.
Having 2, 20 ton jacks is not a bad thing, either if you need to lift a heavy tractor or combine or the like.

Iowajim

Posted 12/9/2023 09:27 (#10516612 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

NW Iowa

Here is one i cobbled up years ago whenI didn’t have any money and made things out of anything i could get for free. Pump is off an 80’s Malibu power steering. Valve is off a105 Deere combine. The valve has one double acting spool the other three are single acting. The large tank was added for extra oil capacity to raise barge wagons back in the day when I burned firewood in the shop. I used one of the single acting spools to raise the wagons.

The old press doesn’t have as much power as I would like and is not real fast but it still works OK for me. I could easily add a larger cylinder for more power but I am unsure if the framework will hold up. The motor is a 2 HP of an old printing press running on 220v and is barely ample. The motor will not stall when the relief valve opens but is close to stalling.

Edited by Iowajim 12/9/2023 09:35

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jd7520

Posted 12/9/2023 09:41 (#10516633 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

West Central IA

I built one years ago with F-20 frame rails for the ends and 4" channel Iron for the bed. I laid a 1/2" plate in the channel and welded it in for extra strength. The top was a 3/8" x 4 with flat Iron welded on each side for more strength. I drilled 3/4" holes for pins to set different deck heights on each end. I use a porta power for the cylinder and the pump. Pump mounts on the side and it has served me well for a lot of years. I used to do a lot of water pump kits and press bearings out of housings. The frame is much heavier than needed but always thought I should use a bigger cylinder in there. If you want to automate it get an air powered pump and go to town on it. I then have a ports power to use for other stuff when I need it.

730diesel

Posted 12/9/2023 09:48 (#10516649 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

NE ND

I'm in the market myself.

One thing I'd throw out is I have a cousin who has had a machine shop for 40 years. He is a one man band. He probably has a 80-100 ton press. His advice on a farm is if you have employees don't go over the 20 ton press. He says things can fly out with such power if it hit a guy in the guts it'd kill him pretty quick. He says if he had employees his monster press would be off limits to any employee. He says after 40 years I have pretty darn good idea where things could go south.

They aren't cheap for a 20 ton but that Sunex brand 20 ton doesn't look to bad. With an air jack it wouldn't be terrible.

c_mayer

Posted 12/9/2023 09:48 (#10516651 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Jeffersonville, OH

dieselfume1 - 12/9/2023 09:34

Looking for some homemade hyd press ideas. I need to break down and buy a press, but was hoping for a powered one instead of a hyd jack type.

An old tech told me you can build one with a Chevy power steering pump, log splitter valve and a hyd cyl. With hydraulic pump pressure being around 1200, it would take a cylinder up near 4 inches to be able to get 7 tons of power, which isn’t enough.

What are some homebrew setups you guys have made?

I know you asked for Homebrew, but we've had those, and they are trash if you actually need a press to work.

https://www.harborfreight.com/50-ton-hydraulic-shop-press-96188.html

We had something similar in the shop for 10 years, and it held up fine, but I wanted a nicer one. We got 2/3rds of our money back, and got a 75 ton unit that is REALLY nice. For a farm shop, I wouldn't hesitate to tell you the cheap Chinese 50 ton units like that will last a LONG TIME on farm duty. We use our press daily around here most of the year, but at least a few times a week even when we aren't busy. I pushed 50 tons on it quite a few times, and never broke the press or anything on it. Broke some parts we were pushing on that's for sure.

If $1500 is too much to spend for a 20 year purchase, I understand, but I see folks spend more on something that won't pay back on jobs. If you have to take something to get pressed apart, most shops other than mine don't just do it for free for you. Some press jobs take an hour to get apart or break, at $150 shop rate, that's not a lot of trips to town over 20 years.

We replaced ours with this one... https://www.redlinestands.com/catalog/shop-equipment-c-327/hydraulic... Price has changed a lot, I paid $3800

Chris

Edited by c_mayer 12/9/2023 09:49

kpaul

Posted 12/9/2023 09:49 (#10516652 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

north central Iowa, Hampton

I've used a powered one and a hydraulic jack type. I like the hand pumped jack. You don't have the extra sound of the pump running so sometimes you can hear that near-death creak just before something lets go. I think it's also easier to regulate your pressure with a hand pump.

E718

Posted 12/9/2023 10:19 (#10516700 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Sac & Story county IA

I used a 6 inch diameter cylinder. 12 inch stroke. Bigger diameter, the better. Bigger is slower, not a bad thing. I have 7.5 hp motor. A gallon per minute is 1750 psi. So, 7.5 hp motor needs a smaller pump than 7.5 gpm. Mine is maybe 4 gpm. Slow is good doing pushing. Not good when you need to transport a long way to set up a push. Some guys use log splitter pump. Double section, bigger capacity section reliefs out about 300 psi. Smaller section goes to 2000 or more. Get by with less input power.

KFLAgri

Posted 12/9/2023 10:27 (#10516715 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

I'd look on Facebook market place, can usually get presses pretty cheap there. I'm all for building what you need but sometimes it's a whole lot simpler not to mention cheaper just to buy something.

I have a 30t air jack in my press and works great.

Herbie56

Posted 12/9/2023 10:28 (#10516717 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Coles County, Illinois

If you don't have a 20 ton air over hydraulic bottle jack, you don't know what you're missing. It's not just the air lift but the spring return is nice as well. I bought a 12Ton model also but I like having a lot of jacks around.

Edited by Herbie56 12/9/2023 10:29

Mark in WCIowa

Posted 12/9/2023 10:36 (#10516727 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Scranton

30 years ago we bult one out of used iron and then used a bottle jack to push. Still use it today.

JohnW

Posted 12/9/2023 12:41 (#10516862 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

NW Washington

Check the web for used hydraulic presses. Here are some used Dake presses. https://machinehub.com/brands/1717-dake

Tim in WI

Posted 12/9/2023 12:45 (#10516866 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Embarrass WI

When I built my shop, I wanted a press. Looked around and found a used US-made Dake on Ebay. Even with shipping I thought it was a fair deal, in 2003. I did have to get it fixed once at the local hydraulic shop, it was not a problem to get repaired.

There's one listed now, not cheap-but still US-made and a lifetime investment.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296049664700?hash=item44edef62bc:g:iTsAAOSw...

ekeller2

Posted 12/9/2023 13:30 (#10516906 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

So. IL

Look for a used 50 ton Dake. They are on facebook from time to time.

dieselfume1

Posted 12/9/2023 14:51 (#10516982 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

SE MT

Thank you for all the replies and ideas, this gives me quite a bit to chew on. I hadn’t thought about using a pneumatic ai Jack in on. that would make things a lot faster. The expense of rigging up a power steering pump between the control valve and other hydraulic needs plus a large electric motor probably makes it an unreasonable deal. I will do some looking used first and see if I find something that looks reasonable I would think 20 tons would do most anything I need.

just paid $150 yesterday to have a water pump pulley pressed off for a 4630, which I thought was outrageous after already paying $500 for the pump. I need to be able to do the odd press job myself.

School Of Hard Knock

Posted 12/9/2023 14:55 (#10516984 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

just a tish NE of central ND

No matter what you build, consider building with outer frame being two peices on each leg or with a hollow space in the frame legs so you can put LONG shafts and beams crosswise parallel to the frame on top of the press beds. That way you can position them evenly/safely over the push beds and they can't fly out if they are long enough to be positioned over top the beds the full span form side beam to side beam. It gives you more options to block the item up safely.

Iowajim

Posted 12/9/2023 17:26 (#10517189 - in reply to #10516984)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

NW Iowa

One thing I might add to my press is an expanded metal screen I can slide down in front of the press to protect me from flying objects. I have had enough close calls to get a bit jumpy some times.

steelcutter101

Posted 12/9/2023 21:03 (#10517503 - in reply to #10516984)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

central nd

Here’s the ones I’ve built. 1x4 flat for the legs, 1x10 flats for the tops, cylinder is made to roll from one side clear through the legs and can be used as a c frame press. Table is made to double pin to stop movement when using the c frame setup. I had a bracket made to slip on the cylinder with 2 chains and hooks to raise or lower the table. The pump has the controls on it with 15 ft of 1/4 hose and quick couplers and a five horse motor so you can distance your self from the Big Bang

Edited by steelcutter101 12/9/2023 21:09

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Canadianfarmboy

Posted 12/9/2023 20:56 (#10517491 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

East Central Saskatchewan

I have built 2 presses, on both of them I used hydraulic pumps off of an old truck hoist, one has a 4 inch cylinder thr other a 5 inch. I have one at the farm and one in my shop in town. The 5 inch one at the farm is made with 4 legs so that you can put larger items through the ends, it is also attached and hinged to the wall, great for most jobs and if you need to you can swing it out for those occasions. I have about an 8 inch wheel opposite of the hinges. The 4 inch one is channel iron on a rolling platform. It takes a lot more floor space than the 5 inch. I also made a rolling carriage for the 5 inch one so it can go side to side and can be locked in place with bolts. I have winches on both of them for lifting the bed to change heights. I also made protective caps out of pipe and plate so that the cylinder end doesn't get mushroomed. Sorry I don't have pictures tonight.

801486

Posted 12/9/2023 21:18 (#10517524 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

west central Iowa

If I get another one it will have open sides like the one in the pic so long pieces can be stuck through the frame to be bent or straightened.

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steve c-il

Posted 12/10/2023 00:52 (#10517662 - in reply to #10516523)
Subject: RE: Home made hyd press ideas

Central Illinois

Another purchased one that does a good job.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-20-ton-double-pump-hydrauli...

I like the sliding ram and the 2-speed pump even more. Almost never use the DAKE Arbor press except for small bushing and bearing work.

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