building a press - suggestions appreciated

BossDog

KnifeDogs.com & USAknifemaker.com Owner
Staff member
8 or 9 years ago I started building a Batson style press. I never finished. Now I am back to it and have to get it done for the Hammer In.

I have all the parts I need except hoses. Peter Martin told me to go to a local NAPA store and they can make them for me.

I'll take any and all suggestions on this.

I'm going to mount the switch on the right side about belly button high.
The motor and pump will be mounted on a frame I'll build above the 20 gallon oil tank -- which will be on wheels. The press is also on wheels.
I plan to use quick connects on the hoses so the two big pieces (the press and the tank/pump/motor) can be wheeled around independently.

Here are some terrible pictures. I'll take new ones when I get further along.


This is a 20 gallon tank. The large outlet and smaller inlets are visible on the lower right side. There are two flange tabs on the bottom of the tank. I will build a frame of 2x2" tube for the tank to sit on and weld some heavy duty wheels on the bottom of the frame. Then I'll build a cage (kinda) to mount the motor and pump on top of the oil tank along with the oil filter plumbed in there somewhere. I'll make this cage so we can remove the tank if we need to but we never should have to.
tank.jpg


Here is a5hp motor, 2 stage pump, lovejoy coupler, valve, oil filter and wheels. A lovejoy coupler is used to join two shafts (like a motor and pump) that might not be exactly in line with each other. These are basically 3 parts. One coupler goes to one shaft and the other to the other shaft. You can order each side to match the shaft sizes. In this case, the motor shaft is different than the pump shaft so they each have a different size arbor hole. Then there is a rubber thing (technical talk) that mates the two parts together. I'll show that better later.
pump motor valve.jpg


The Batson press design (plans are on ABS, we'll see if we can pick up some copies to have available) is pretty clever. The cylinder is on the bottom and pushes the ram up. This keeps the center of gravity lower which is what I wanted since I knew this would be wheeled around. I will mount the valve switch on the right side. Pressure hoses will come out on the back side and have a sheet metal roof over them to minimize contact from hot slag falling off a billet being pressed.
press.jpg

Once I get it all plumbed and working, I'll have to fab up some dies. Basically a flat die and then a box die (angles to squeeze a square billet) and maybe a fuller die I suppose.

Post pictures of your press here if you can. More later as we move this along.
 
Boss, when I built my press (which too way too many years I might add) I picked up parts from Northern Tool, Fleet Farm, or where ever I could find the piece I needed. When I was almost done, I was still a few pieces short and could not find them anywhere. I found a store in LaCrosse, WI that specialized in hydraulics. They had everything I needed, and I mean everything. They custom cut the hydraulic hoses, had to odd fittings, they had it all. I wish I had know about them when I started, it would have been a lot easier. I'll look my receipts tomorrow and get you their name and phone number.
 
This is a big subject. There are many combinations of presses out there and it seems most makers build theirs to suit their shop and needs for the knives they make, me included.
Mine is made from an 8 x9" heavy duty "I" beam. It has a 11 gpm 2 stage pump, a 4way log splitter valve, 3 hp compressor motor 220v, 3 gal oil tank, spin-on oil filter on the return hose, 5" x 24" ram, custom made 5000psi hoses, 3000 psi pop off on the valve. It travels at 1.5" per second.

Here are some shots of mine, it works for me.

IMG_2907_zps2ba98ed2.jpg


IMG_2896_zpscf38f69a.jpg
 
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Tracy, here is the info for the hydraulic shop that helped me finish mine.

La Crosse Fluid Power
1627 Caledonia St
La Crosse, WI
608-785-7550

They really know their stuff there, and if I ever built another one, I'd go there for all the hydraulic parts.
 
Suggestion!!!! Finish that puppy before me and peter get there for the hammer inn!!!!!!!!! Peter is still grinning from the last one :p
 
I am in the shop this morning to rewire the switch. The last switch box was too tight for the 10ga wire and grounded out. I now have a bigger handy box to rewire it. I should have some pictures of it later today.
 
Good thing there is circuit breakers here.....

after a short to ground the first time in the switch box, I rewired it all into a new larger box and it still popped the breaker but for a different reason. I read the back of the double pole switch and found I had wired the load and line incorrectly -- even though I matched the terminal colors.... flip the switch and it has life this time.

I put in 5 gallons of oil and hit the switch. Naturally, a geyser erupts at one of the fittings. A quick tighten and lots of oil absorb later I give it another try.

I had read somewhere a long time ago that the first thing you do when you get your press up and running is to run around looking for things to smash. I now know that to be correct.....I ran all over the shop looking for things to crush. Thankfully I found a 2x4"...

[video=youtube;V4VDLHaHEoU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4VDLHaHEoU&list=UUjlCC7zsESzLXh73w73JJAQ[/video]
 
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more pics...

The tank, motor, pump, on/off are set up on a rolling dolly. I currently have this hard plumbed but will add some quick disconnects this next week so we can roll around and store the power unit separately from the press which is also on wheels. The gauge shows almost no pressure to speak of until the press starts to squeeze something. A lot of guys have their gauge mounted on their press. The plumbing didn't work out for me that way.

The 5hp motor running the lovejoy coupling is spooky. I will need to enclose the lovejoy coupling. It's like spinning death.

tank motor pump gauge on wheels.jpg

Log splitter valve and oil filter. I didn't want the oil filter here but it's where it ended up. It would have gotten too banged around if I left it on the tank sticking out. I still have to weld on several panels of sheet metal to protect hoses front and back from hot metal slag and to safely direct any 2,00psi spray if a hose springs a leak. Press the lever down and the press squeezes, release the lever and the ram stops, lift up and the ram moves down and stops when you release it, lift up pass the detent in the valve and ram returns all the way back to home. I'll rig up a foot switch later -- maybe.


valve-and-filter.jpg

trophy kill 2x4" on top. The ram will not go all the way up to the anvil so I will need some thick dies to get to zero room. The 2x4" squeezed down to about an inch before the cylinder topped out. Note the kitty litter to clean up the mess on aisle 3. I have another small leak to chase down this week.
press-and-crushed-2x4.jpg


This is it all from the back. The orange press is air/hydraulic and too slow for Damascus. We use it to bend metal for fabrication.

back-of-press-and-rolling-tank.jpg

The work bench after finally trouble shooting the electric. I'll clean it up tomorrow..

top-of-bench.jpg
 
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hi,
if you still need hose and quick disconnects, check McMaster/Carr, the best prices i could find for hoses and fittings we use at the office. found out the local hydraulic shop we deal with would order what we wanted from mcmaster, tack a 50% surcharge on it, then deliver it to us.
if you post the size you need for dies and punches, i will check the scrap bucket at work and see if we have some H13 pieces that may work. we use H13 for our warm form punches and dies.
 
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I've got the quick disconnects. I just left them out for the initial plumbing to keep things a bit simpler in case I had a pressure issue I needed to solve.
I could use any die pictures, suggestions or scrap if anyone has some.
 
Looks really good Boss. I like the fact it is in 2 parts and has wheels. I would want my on/off switch closer though.
My dies are just mild steel and have held up fine for years. Sometimes I need to dress them on the grinder but I wouldn't spend money on expensive steel for dies.
Just basic dies for now. Drawing die, small flat die and longer flat die. A good combination die would be a drawing die and a 6" flat die right next to it. That way you can draw and flatten without changing dies.

Once you get this thing "dialed in" maybe you could sell a set of plans and parts list?
 
....

Once you get this thing "dialed in" maybe you could sell a set of plans and parts list?

the plans are James Batson's and are really quite good. He sells them through ABS and I have contacted him to see about having them available on our site to sell also.

today we are adding a couple quick disconnects and fixing a couple small drip leaks at two fittings.
We are also going to fab up an enclosure for the lovejoy spinning connector of death and also a few spark/slag shields to protect hoses.

tomorrow we'll tackle making some dies. That should be fairly easy.
 
Looks great! The gage set up is fine, it shouldn't show hardly any preasure until the ram is given some resistance. If its showing preasure in when its running idle, that means there is a restriction somewhere.......that's not good and it won't be long before it shows you where the problem is. Bang......SSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I do not run a cartridge filter, just a screen in the pickup in the tank. But that's just me, I like living dangerously. Actually I had issues with the cartridge housing and eliminated it one day and never went back to it. Being a closed system, there is little need for the cartridge filter, but its better to be safe than sorry.
I use 1018 for dies, like Bruce stated, sometimes they need dressing up but that's the least of the worries when its time to get a squeezen!
I can't wait to see this bad boy in action!


Peter
 
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