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20 ton jewelry press
- Thread starter Janger
- Start date
I'm working on a 20 ton press for my spouse. She makes jewelry and needs a press to do shape forming. In this book there is a published plan to make one from a bottle jack, some ready rod, and some 1" plate. I traded another forum member for some 1" plate scrap. Then John N. and John C. helped me cut it up. John N. has the coolest little mechanical torch trolley. Makes a very smooth cut much better than by hand even with a guide. More to come...
Tom Kitta
Ultra Member
I made 50t press some time ago by looking at PA one and scaling it up a bit. I should have scaled it a LOT up. If you make 20t press just copy the idea from the 50t at PA. On the other hand I discovered that all I need is around 20t for all the pressing needs I have. Press is such a useful tool - never imagined it will be one. Once you have it you find use for it.
There are rubber mats and something about cutting out shapes in plexi. ... not sure exactly.
Drilling plate. That’s a 1” drill bit. Still mucking with feeds speeds and pecking amount. This was 0.15” per peck. The chips were too big. I’d have to pause the machine and pull the chips off. Trying again next time with 0.075 pecking depth.
This was fun.
This was fun.
Attachments
Some big boy slabs you have there!
I'm no big drill expert but unless the drill is having trouble re-starting with each peck, I think you can peck at whatever frequency works for you. Even a momentary pause is enough to stop the chip. I don't like screwing around pecking on the first part of the hole until the axis is established, but after that my experience has been pecking actually improves straightness, especially in gummy materials. Shorter chips & an opportunity for cutting fluid to migrate down is bonus points.
Just curious if you have tried annulur cutters (aka rotabroach)? I've mostly drilled aluminum in that thickness & they performed quite well vs drills. Faster & seemed like less down feed pressure. Kind of makes sense, they are removing much less material & have tooth clearance. They have their happy rpm too but I kind of like using them.
I'm no big drill expert but unless the drill is having trouble re-starting with each peck, I think you can peck at whatever frequency works for you. Even a momentary pause is enough to stop the chip. I don't like screwing around pecking on the first part of the hole until the axis is established, but after that my experience has been pecking actually improves straightness, especially in gummy materials. Shorter chips & an opportunity for cutting fluid to migrate down is bonus points.
Just curious if you have tried annulur cutters (aka rotabroach)? I've mostly drilled aluminum in that thickness & they performed quite well vs drills. Faster & seemed like less down feed pressure. Kind of makes sense, they are removing much less material & have tooth clearance. They have their happy rpm too but I kind of like using them.
Just happened to be on this website looking at goodies & noticed this press. Not sure if its similar to what you are building but they are cool.
https://www.riogrande.com/product/bonny-doon-classic-20-ton-manual-press-and-ram/110501
https://www.riogrande.com/product/bonny-doon-classic-20-ton-manual-press-and-ram/110501
historicalarms
Ultra Member
Ohh wow $999 for a $40 bottle jack & $25 dollars worth of iron !!!
historicalarms
Ultra Member
I have a 20 T hyd press purchased at KMS tools ( the "floor model", under $400 on sale at the time) that I also use a LOT, more than I thought I would. Metal bending /shaping mainly with a bit of broaching thrown in. the only complaint I have over it is that the return spring (internal, inside the ram) became very weak in a short time so retraction of the ram is painfully slow without the help of a pry bar. I have purchased new "outside springs, just haven't built a "mount" for them yet.
A buddy of mine built a "homebuilt" 150 tonner for his industrial machine shop. He had to attach a 20 ft cord so he could stand a bit aways from "squirting" chuncks , ended up building a movable shield from 1/4 " steel plate along with a big mirror to see the work in progress... "so I could see the eruption when it happened" he said.
Interesting I didn’t know there was a spring inside bottle jacks? Are they all like that? I thought the weight of the ram and thing you were lifting pushed the fluid back down. I was going to skip the external return springs as the jack will have a big heavy plate resting on top. I wondered why the springs were needed.
Do you mean parts that are being squeezed suddenly shoot out because of distortion or misalignment? Scary if so. I don't get the cord, what does that do?
I can see the value in a press. Do you bend with attachments like this?
https://www.kmstools.com/magnum-press-brake-attachment-172060
Tom Kitta
Ultra Member
You can get a very large presses used in need of renovation quite cheap - like a 100t for few hundred bucks - just touch above scrap price. They are build ... heavy... and take lots of space. Problem is ... why would you need so much in home shop setting unless you use it also as a punch.
Air jacks have external springs. Without a spring somewhere why would the press ram go against gravity? Heck, even air jack (which moves upwards) would not easily move back down without help of springs. Regular jacks don't usually have springs and to fully retract them you have to stand on them.
Large presses should have shields - or at least operator should hide somewhere behind a plexi glass. There is utube channel where they use large press to destroy stuff. It shatters - imagine all the energy released from all that pressure - with 100t it is a LOT of energy. That energy is transferred into motion of shattered pieces (and heat).
Air jacks have external springs. Without a spring somewhere why would the press ram go against gravity? Heck, even air jack (which moves upwards) would not easily move back down without help of springs. Regular jacks don't usually have springs and to fully retract them you have to stand on them.
Large presses should have shields - or at least operator should hide somewhere behind a plexi glass. There is utube channel where they use large press to destroy stuff. It shatters - imagine all the energy released from all that pressure - with 100t it is a LOT of energy. That energy is transferred into motion of shattered pieces (and heat).
I see most presses have the jack mounted above the work so there is a need for springs. That makes sense to me.
What about this kind? What makes the ram retract? would this have an internal spring? 
The one I'm working on looks similar to this one and the jack is mounted below.
https://wildprairiesilver.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/press-122.jpg
So I guess the springs are still necessary? it will have something like 20 lbs pressing down on the ram. I'll have to test this.
What about this kind? What makes the ram retract? would this have an internal spring? The one I'm working on looks similar to this one and the jack is mounted below.
https://wildprairiesilver.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/press-122.jpg
So I guess the springs are still necessary? it will have something like 20 lbs pressing down on the ram. I'll have to test this.