question on uncle al's press

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vikingGoalie

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Aug 20, 2019
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so i might be purchasing a new to me riverside press. it's less then half what a new one costs but I'm unfamiliar with these.
I have read older posts on here where people seem to like these machines but they are all pretty old. Anyone who is using one of these would you recommend?
Looking at this machine it appears that it only has a foot pedal? If that's true does anyone find that limiting? My press utilization has been really limited, but I did like the hand operated lever on a coal and clark press because it gave me really precise control on the squeeze and i could cycle the squeeze much faster then i could with my foot. But the foot pedal i was trying to use on the clark tbh had far to much slop in it.

The question is there though, would people find it pretty limiting to only have a foot pedal?
 
vikingGoalie said:
so i might be purchasing a new to me riverside press. it's less then half what a new one costs but I'm unfamiliar with these.
I have read older posts on here where people seem to like these machines but they are all pretty old. Anyone who is using one of these would you recommend?
Looking at this machine it appears that it only has a foot pedal? If that's true does anyone find that limiting? My press utilization has been really limited, but I did like the hand operated lever on a coal and clark press because it gave me really precise control on the squeeze and i could cycle the squeeze much faster then i could with my foot. But the foot pedal i was trying to use on the clark tbh had far to much slop in it.

The question is there though, would people find it pretty limiting to only have a foot pedal?
Click to expand...
Boy that’s a tough question…. I guess if the price was right I would learn to live with the limitation. That said, I’m glad that I have both controls on my Coal 12 ton, and for the exact reasons you mentioned.
 
For about $300 you can convert any press with a 15GPM electric solenoid hydraulic valve to foot or other control ... giving two stage (fast down then max pressure) with down-hold-up control. If I was to build one from scratch I would use this control method. It can also be automated for maybe $50 more to go Down, Press for a set time, up , down, repeat until you take your foot off the switch. This makes it like a slow power hammer and allows two hand control of the workpiece. They have them for 21GPM, too.
 
just wanted to chime in that I got the press.
very happy with the purchase so far. for my budget getting a 24t press at just over 2K made a lot of sense. i was pinning over the clark 25t but that woulda ran me 5K after I bought/fabricated the table for it to be on and got the extra die. still a great press (the clark), the riverside press is 5.1K (24t) for reference. though really i think all of these are pretty close rating wise,.

initial thoughts, my worries about responsiveness/control with the foot pedal were unfounded. yes of course you can be a little more precise with hand control but the foot control on this is incredibly responsive and it's more about being coordinated with your foot then the machine. also putting a hand control on it if I wanted to is dead easy.

one thing that is awesome, is that the dies for this are incredibly easy to make (even with my bad welding skills) a simple 3/8" plate, weld on to it the die you want and a 3/8 small square piece on the bottom to act as the stop. easy peasy.

the materials are great it has a baldor 23amp motor on it (220v single phase) I don't know the gpm for the pump I'm sure it's a 2 stage but it moves fast and the switch on the squish is negligable/works for my purposes at this price point.

for my shop this machine worked out great because it's all one unit, which if you shop for presses new once you get to stand alone machines you are coming up on 7K and beyond. having this be it's own thing means once I put casters on it it's really helps with moving it around as I said I could fab that for a tabletop press but rather spend my time constructing a new forge then working on a stand. (my time is pretty limited right now in the shop, working on changing that)

once i get some dies fab'd up ( i only got a flatter die with this and it's seen better days, useable but i'm gonna re-dress the surface)
 
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