Hydraulic floor press?

[oldcorollas]

hey kids,
looking to get a press for doing bearings and whatnot..
how many ton do i need, or is it get as big as you can afford?

some cheapie options.
Gasweld (easy pickup for me)
12 ton $200 https://www.gasweld.com.au/products/532212
20 ton $250 https://www.gasweld.com.au/products/532213

hare n forbes (shipping??)
20 ton $275 https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/P144
30 ton $430 https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/P146

Egay
12ton $170 (Sydney pickup) http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hydraulic...item4d06b18a94

Radum
20ton $190+shipping http://radum.com.au/catalog/product_...441c4nv6fgq0r5

supershit has a 6ton flimsy bench version for $200... seems pointless

haven't checked out my local china supplier yet.. chances are they have something with similar price

thoughts?
had briefly considered making one, but for 50-70kg of steel, plus a bottle jack (~$100 for 20ton).. same as buying one, without the hassle

[Duk]

My uncle bought 1 very similar to those (they're all pretty much the same if not exactly the same) and the hydraulic jack had more oomf than the structure had strength. Basically, it bent the horizontal frame work above and below the jack .
Quite handy up until that point, though.

Looking at what they've build VS what various load supporting devices are rated at where I work, you'd never call any of them capable of withstanding 20 tonnes of load.

[dnegative]

12t is more than enough for wheel bearings

[oldcorollas]

my theory for going 20T vs 12T is that the shitty frame on the 20T might survive 12T or similar..
but they don't do 12T presses with 20T frames.. at least not in this price range.
if it does bend, can always beef up the bits that fail.. then see what fails next.

also figure i won't actualyl need to load it up that much.. otherwise whatever i'm working on will be stuffed anyway.. but the extra height/stroke of larger press seems more useful..

[2jzhilux]

I went for the 20t hare and forbes and for wheel bearings it sucks because you are pumping forever just to move 10mm.
Would go the 12t instead if i could do it again much easier to work with.

[petergoudie]

Don't buy one of the cheap presses that use a standard hydraulic jack like all those you included links for. Spend the extra on a porta-power type that you can remove the ram and hand pump as this allows you to make other special tools that can be used in situ on the car or wherever you are working.

Also, most of the automotive workshops I've seen have 10 ton presses. I've used these and they are OK. Most bearings only need a ton or two or maybe three. The highest force I've seen specified in a workshop manual was eight tons for pressing out crank pins in a made up crankshaft using roller bearing big ends.

The only advantage of going for a larger capacity is the pump handle force required is lower but as said above, the ram movement is reduced.

However, if you want to go one step further with the separate ram type, some of the hand pumps have two-speeds. They have fast travel up to a low load point then high pressure when heavy contact is made. They do this by having a dual piston in the pump where the small bore high pressure piston is bored into the centre of the large bore low pressure piston.

[oldcorollas]

thanks for the advice.

apart from pipe bender, what else could you use it for?
can't imagine myself doing panel pulling or whatnot...

i suppose only another hundred bucks.. http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/P143
if i could bring the bits to work, i'd just do it there...

hmm, wonder if i could use the ram in my cheapo engine crane for press duties somehow still need frame tho. and is stillone piece "jack" type, just longer

[lexsmaz]

As has been said you get what you pay for, also if you intend on pressing bearing's off axle's the press bed width needs to be wide enough so the axle flange can pass through, a lot of them have very narrow beds width's ..

I would be looking at $500 to $1000 dollar ones personally, as they will hopefully last many years, if you can still get bits for them

[allencr]

wonder if i could use the ram in my cheapo engine crane for press duties somehow

Some farmer in the middle of bumfucknowhere probably has his(or her) crane doing 5 different things.
//
//

ne with open sides so that it doesn't need a hole cut in the frame to straighten a motorcycle fork tube.

[oldcorollas]

would be great to get a EnerpacXLP press.... but I need to be realistic
good point about the axle flange width! I think i'd just grind of the collars and make a jig to sit on the narrow bed for the bearing, rather than spending >$1000
tbh, for $1000, i'd make my own frame and get a cheap replaceable ram.. say $400 for a 130kg frame+bed, $600 for hydraulics?
but $250 for the cheap 20ton.. thats basically just steel price.. or $400 for one with ram instead of jack....

atm i'm mainly thinking pressing bearings in and out of hubs, but will need to do axles at some stage too.


err... thanks Allen... to use the engine crane ram would just need a bit of an extension to the top frame.. it has much longer extension than usually used for small presses, and is probably around the 5-10ton mark (given it's a 2 ton crane, with a bit of leverage)
motorbike fork tubes?? what are you on about?

[petergoudie]

It's a bit the other way. When you have the ram & pump you will find many other things to do with it. Also, as far as I know, all the rams made in the world are probably copies of the original US unit and they all use the same mounting threads (unf & unc) and mounting dimensions (inches). This means all the fittings are interchangeable. You can buy 'toe-lift' ends that allow you to slide the lift ends (which are only about an inch in total) under heavy items on the floor or into thin gaps and either lift them or spread them.

In regard to bed width, you need about 150mm.

In regard to design, the uprights need to be at least 1/2" thick otherwise the pin holes elongate and this is what you see in those cheap bottle jack presses.

Allencr is talking about putting the motor cycle fork tubes across the press frame and straightening them after he has run into something or down a very deep hole in off-road riding.

[Supra967]

We had one either one of those gas weld ones you posted first. pretty sure it was 20T. Jack worked fine, yes a bit slow, but can't really go wrong there.
Adjustment frame was rubbish, after taking the pins out we still needed a sledge hammer to lower position, it would usually over shoot and we'd need to lift it back up. Can't remember how many times i'd pinched my hands trying to get that small amount of movement to meet the pin hole. It was nothing, nothing, nothing...........big move very quickly.
Base frame also rubbish. Didn't effect press but was quite dangerous trying to move the thing around our workshop, the angles would flex heaps and nearly tip over.
if you need the height that a bench mount can't provide, i'd be looking at cutting it in half or so, make it much more portable and usable.

Options for the junk yard warrior...graysonline.com.au for porta power - ex workshop usually about $20, just got to find the right auction at the right time. Local fab shop for some offcuts, don't buy new steel, waste of money. Pull out engineers degree and get to building.

[oldcorollas]

Allen might be thinking of someone else perhaps

the chinese porta-powers are not that cheap.. still $200 for a 10ton, with short stroke...
this would be ideal http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ENERPAC-R...item4844cdce2d
and maybe this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Enerpac-H...item2ec3af8118

or dodgy version https://www.gasweld.com.au/products/532103
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10TON-HYD...item2c6992cf43

hmm, engine crane is 8ton long ram type... just need to make frame a little longer

thansk for the feedback Supra..so the uprights were too wide for the bed? the pics of gasweld ones above appear to have the pins under the bed, not going through the bed??
i suppose they are not really designed to be portable and dragged around a shop but the bases do look flimsy

never had much luck with Grays. and too many stories of doing the switcheroo
, ie, they advertise one thing, then send you another... apparently their disclaimer says that any photo on their site is a "representative image only" LOL

fab shops I know of definitely do not sell steel cheaper than they buy it, esp for 1.5m lengths of solid stuff...

[oldcorollas]

i'm open to suggestions for places to get cheap but not shitty rams and pumps

http://www.allsteelbrokers.com.au/pr...el-200-x-75mm/

[SRacin]

may use the frame for DIY shock dyno.....