Forging press is alive, test video

JTknives

JTknives

Blade Heat Treating www.jarodtodd.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,645
I have been silently working on the press in the background. I have taken loads of pictures and plan on updating the build thread soon. The press is not officially done as I still need to mount the vfd and replace the temp wiring and tie that all up. But last night I got a set of dies made and wanted to test the press out. The night befor I tested it on a 52100 roller bearing to see how well it squashed it.

I had this Damascus billet left over from befor I moved to this new house. It was giving me problems with my mini press because of its size. I had cut some off the end and forged it out but the main billet has sat for over a year in a bucket. I figured why not try to forge it out and see how long it takes. Here is the billet befor heating it up.

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I heated it up and let it soak then I brushed all the old gunk off. I added more flux and reheated and brushed. There where a few areas on the sides that had not closed yet because my mini press just did not have the tonnage. I fired up the press and gave it a squeeze.



I was absolutely blown away by the speed at which it moved the steel. I know I knew that the press is only one speed but untell you experience it your self it’s hard to describe. And I’m running at around 20 tons at 1.5-1.7 in/sec. And I’m convinced now that speed is more important then tons. If you can move the steel fast enough it puts up hardly any resistance. If you let it cool down then you defently need more tons. But my thought is by keeping it at the upper end of temps your working much faster becaus the reheat time is much slower and moving that steel is quite quick.

So learned the foot control needs to be babied. I only have an upper limit switch right now but will be adding a lower limit switch. These can be set to control up and down stroke. If you space out for a fraction of a second you have squished the steel to far. So I do need a lower switch. But all that being said and my just trying to kiss the billet I was able to go from that big billet to this bar in about 20min. I feal like I could have done it much faster with the lower switch and if I was not fighting my propane bottle. It was running out and I was trying to get every last drop out of it. This bar is 2ft long and about 1” wide and close to 1/2” thick.

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I’m super glad I did the research I did and went with the smaller diameter hoses. This press came out so much better then I could have hoped for.
 
Awesome, now you need a big hammer and rolling mill. Lookin’ forward to seein’ what you make with it.

Hoss
 
Congrats JT that looks like a well built press! Very gratifying I'm sure
 
Looks great! Congrats, a real press is such a game changer. I bet you're in there building more billets right now!
 
Looks great. I think you'll really appreciate taking the time to do limit switches and electronic controls.
 
Cool. That press looks like it is pressing harder than 20 tons!!!!
 
Thanks for sharing this, it rather confirms in my mind that I've got the right plan.
I've got a 15hp motor lined up, and I was planning on a gear pump, and 30 tons. The exact speed number is escaping me, but I want to say it was 2ips or better.

Plus a single stage pump means you can drive a nice rolling mill off the same power pack.
 
It’s the speed that makes it look like it’s more then 20 tons. As long as the bar is hot it moves really easy. The math says it’s just under 20 tons and like 19.8. I think there is a practical limit to the speed though And I don’t know if I would personally go much faster then this. The problem you can get is pressure spiking and general shock to the system. I was a little worried about it with my build but that’s one reasion I went with the smaller 3/8” hoses. Small systems like this are very hydraulically rigid so when your moving along and instantly reverse the ram there is a high pressure spike. I had planned on doing a lower limit switch all along. I wanted to test the water with a upper switch first to make sure everything works.
 
That's definitely part of it, at first I thought you were taking big huge bites with those large flat dies but second glance I see you're stepping into them.

The speed of the high HP single stage pump is definitely a better solution than my setup with the 2 stage. Your video clearly shows that by maintaining ram speed while the dies are engaged that there's less heat draw per stroke than with my press, which is similar tonnage, and faster when the dies aren't engaged, but slower when they are.

I would get very few hits out of a flat die set that size on a bar that size before the billet cooled off.
 
As a strictly stock removal guy I've got to say that's impressive! Great build!
 
Great build. I was just going to look for your old WIP thread on this to see if I missed it finished.

Looks fast and fun.
 
Thats what Ill be starting as soon as the ol tax refund comes in. Been waiting to see yours finished
 
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