David Morrow
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 227
- Reaction score
- 60
I know this is an engine forum but we all need other tools occaisonally and this time it was a hydraulic press. My girlfriend is also very active in our workshop and we have a small arbor press which is turning out to be too much of a lightweight for some projects. She asked me about a hydraulic press - something in the 12 ton range. That was all I needed for the challenge. I Googled for some photos to get some ideas. My first idea was going to be a bit expensive to build. I started again from a blank sheet on my Cad program and came up with this design. It's made from 3/8" steel. My little CNC mill was no match for that and ... lucky me, my brother has a nice big plasma CNC cutter. He picked up the steel and I emailed him my DXF file. Two days later it was cut. It took a bit of time to do some finishing and drilling out the holes because the plasma cutter tend to cut on a slight angle but this was all pretty easy. Did I also mention that he has a big powder coating booth ? And two cold beer while we waiting for it to bake.