Home-Built Hydraulic Press

Home-Built Hydraulic Press FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 34-3-38 When Don Ramberg needed a way to straighten snowmobile crankshafts, he built a 12-ton press. More than 30 years later, it can still handle any job he throws at it. "It's nothing fancy," he says. "I used 6-in. C-channel for the sides and top and steel plate for the press table and jack platform." Ramberg's press stands about 6 1/2 ft. tall at its top. The side legs stand about 5 ft. tall. Holes drilled in the sides of the channel allow Ramberg to raise and lower the work table as needed. The work table consists of two pieces of channel iron with gussets welded in the middle and a steel plate laid on top of it. Simple pins hold the table in place until it needs to be moved. Two more lengths of C-channel are welded across the top of the legs leaving a gap between them for the press post. Centered on these cross beams are two more C-channels about 18 in. in length with a third C-channel topping them off. The hydraulic jack that provides the pressure is housed inside this upside down U. "The jack rides on a steel plate that fits inside the C-channel sides," explains Ramberg. "The steel plate is suspended on either side from the top of the compartment by two, 1-in. coiled springs that ride against the inside of the side C-channels." The press ram is, in turn, suspended from the bottom of the jack table. When hydraulic pressure is applied, the jack table and the ram are forced down. When pressure is released, the springs pull them and the jack upwards. "I made the ram from a piece of tractor axle, boring out a 1-in. hole to hold different types of punches," says Ramberg. "A hole drilled in the side of the ram holds a spring and a ball bearing. The hole on the inside of the bore isn't quite large enough for the ball bearing to come through, so it catches and holds punches when they are inserted. Punches are made out of 1-in. stock as needed." Ramberg welded a half moon of 5/8-in. steel over the top of the jack compartment to reinforce the top beam that takes half the pressure exerted by the jack. Two pieces of triangular shaped, 1/2-in. flat iron with 18-in. sides are welded to the bottom outsides of the two press legs. These "feet" stabilize the press. "It's pretty heavy," says Ramberg. "I've only moved it twice since it was built. It has worked well, and with the adjustable work table, I can handle large pieces. I do a lot of work on shafts for area farmers." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Ramberg, 33501 155th Ave. S.E., Mentor, Minn. 56736 (ph 218 637-2595).

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