Will flywheel press work for forging Damascus with pictures

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Dan Graves

Well-Known Member
I can get this flywheel press. Am trying to find out if it will work for making Damascus. They told me it is used as a punch. That you set the hieght and it goes to that height hell or high water. Here are the spec's on it and some pictures. Can it be modified or is there a way to work with it? The foot control just makes it do its punch or press at one height and 30 tons of pressure. Can it be modified to have control on the amount of pressure?
30 TON PRESS-RITE O.B.I. PUNCH PRESSModel No. 30; Air clutch & brake; Flywheel type
Stroke: 2-1/2"
Slide adjustment: 1-3/4"
Shut height S.D.A.U.: 10" to top of bed
Area of bed: 24" L-R x 14" F-B
Bolster thickness: 2"
Area of slide: 10" L-R x 8" F-B
Shank hole diameter: 2"
Throat depth: 7-1/2"
Opening through back: 11"
Floor to top of bed: 31"
S.P.M. approx.: 120
EQUIPPED WITH: Dual palm buttons for run with
emergency stop button
Electric foot switch
Pushbuttons for start-stop &
top stop button
Selector switches for inch-single-
continuous-hand & foot
Inclining mechanism
Knockout slot in slide
Production counter
3 HP 1145 RPM 220/440/3/60 Motor
Weight approx. 3500#
Overall dimensions approx. 55" L-R x 48" F-B x 80" H
Serial No. 2497
Stock No. 23633

 
I'm no expert in any way. But it would seem to me that in making damascus you would want something that runs fairly fast right? I used some punch machines in my life time and I remember that they ran fairly slow. Wouldnt you want the machine to run faster so as not to have the steel cool while "hammering"? Like I said I'm no expert. Just my two cents worth.
 
I was told it is very unsafe to use a flywheelpress as a hammer, too much pressure on the machine and it might break, crack or explode.

Be very careful and ask someone who knows.
 
That is a punch press, you put dies in it to trim flashing off castings or blank out shapes from thin stock. That big old flywheel is spinning all the time. You trip the clutch and BANG it spins the crankshaft one time. there is no give like a power hammer, it is set up for a single distance.

They are dangerous and fast. I lost a lot of hearing running them for summer work 40 yrs ago.
 
We have those types of presses here at work. Clancy is correct. The flywheel spins all the time, until an operator presses the two cycle buttons simultaneously and the press cycles. I don't know enough about forging damascus to tell you if it would work or not, but I do know a little about the press. It should have a tonage rating. That may be enough alone right there to tell you if it will even work. I don't know how much give the air hammers have.

I know too that the ram bottoms out (BDC) at a preset height. It will have to travel to this and past BDC before it comes back up. Say you are lightly forging a piece of metal (if you could get it to work). Once you press the metal as far as it will go, you would have to stop the operation and lower the ram. you would have to do this every time your piece got smashed at BDC.
 
Damascus smears so you need your dies to be rock solid and press in a steady straight down motion. I am thinking the press "smashing" into the Damascus bar will move it around and compromise getting a nice crisp pattern. I'd hate to have molten hot borax come shooting out when the ram smacked into the billet.
 
Over my knifemaking career I have seen several folks try to use one of those for damascus....it's pretty much a train wreck. Precisely what Tracy said is what always happens. There's no controlling the pressure or the depth of a stroke...it's always a "full out", "bottom out" thing....nothing in between.

Several Blacksmith friends of mine have them in their shops for punching uses, and for that they can't be beat.....but they simply cannot do the job of a hammer or a press.
 
Oh well. If anybody needs one I can get a good deal on them there are 4. They are asking 500.00 for one or best offer. Think I will pass and just keep using my air hammer. it works great. Thanks for the heads up guys.:unsure:
 
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