How much pressure to flatten steel?

Bruz

Bruz

Joined
Mar 9, 2003
Messages
773
If you got a billet of steel hot enough to weld, at what pressure does the steel start to flow under compression? I ask this question because I do not understand why presses for like making Damascus are so expensive. Why cant one just get a hand pumped hydrolic jack and mount it in an I-beam frame to press the hot steel together? I know they make some big ones...I helped a friend lift his house with one!
 
believe part of the problem is the speed needed, not jsut the amount of pressure.

Sure someone else who's actuallyd one it knows better though
 
With a hand pump, you would have to be able to sqaush a big portion of the billet at once to make any headway. That requires more force which means LOTS of pumping, which means the steel has cooled off too much before you got it to weld.
 
That just may be the reason, that the steel cools down too fast while waiting to be flattened? Wonder if it works, just not as good or as fast?
 
There's an old blacksmiths saying -strike while the iron is hot.
 
I haven't seen one in action, but I have heard of guys taking a hand pumped hydraulic jack and attaching a motor to the pump handle with a concentric and using the valve to control the motion of the shaft.Poor man's press. I dont see why it wouldn't work.

Mark
 
It doesn't take a great deal of pressure to weld a billet up.If your billet is clean,squared and laying good and tight before bringing up to welding heat. I've experimented with small 1" x 3" x 4" billets and welded them useing a 5 inch bench vise, its the drawing ,cutting and folding that calls for the work. A 20 -25 ton press will weld and draw a billet in a reasonable amount of time so you can work the billet without many, many heats that are required when hand pounding. Also a press will let a person do some pretty amazing manipulating with a billet. One reason why presses are costly, is the pressure they develop needs to be held firmly in place, the frame needs to be pretty exact as far as no canting or twisting or your patterns will not develop as desired. When we built my press the parts cost approx. $1200 but with 2 of us working on it steady, it took almost 40 hrs. not to mention the welder, drill press, bits, band saw, grinder, etc. needed to put it all together.

Bill
 
Bill, $1200. just for the parts! That's the point I'm trying to make, what costs so much? I have a bud at a steel recycling place so I think I can get some I-beams for free. Should be able to pick up like a 30 ton jack (hand pump) for cheap, what am I missing (besides knowledge)?

Mete, was also thinking of using a rosebud on a welder to help me "strike when the iron is hot".

Sweany, plese don't make fun of the size of my billet... :p
 
Motor, cyclinder, pump, hoses, tank, fluid, valve, gauge,steel Beam, plate steel, steel for dies, etc. all this adds up. If your just planning on doing this for a hobby I guess there several ways to get around making damascus, but I do this full time and I want something that I can depend on and that will help me make the best product possible and do it in a reasonable time. I'm not saying you need a press to make great steel, but an electric motor driven hydraulic press sure is nice. I have a power hammer and a press, if I had to give up one I would get rid of the power hammer. But this is just me. I've tried to scrimp by on tools in the past and it will usually end up costing me twice as much if I try to get by cheaply. This is just my experience, it's not written in stone. I would say if your a really good scrounger you can probably get the parts for a little of nothing, but then again if you use junk, sometimes thats all you have when its finished. Good luck and have fun

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top