How to Make a Powerful Hydraulic Press

How to build a hydraulic press at home that can crush everything from metal cans to glass light bulbs. This quick DIY was a super fun project and great for science fairs or class projects on fluid and hydraulics. Check out the full video as well to see a quick assembly of the project

The Parts you will need are:

• 4 large syringes
• 1 small syringe
• 2 one-way valves
• plywood
• glass jar

The tools you will need are:

• Drill
• Gluegun
• hacksaw or reciprocating saw
• 2 part epoxy

To start off i get 4 pieces of plywood that i got from the dollar store. I stack 2 pieces on one another to make 2 thicker pieces of plywood. I then drill 5 holes on each side of the plywood. At this point i have 2 sheets of double thickness plywood with holes on both sides. One of these will be used to hold the syringes, the other will be put at the top of the press. The one used to hold the syringes will need to have slots cut out of it with a hacksaw or reciprocating saw.

Next we need to put 5 dowels through each side side of the plywood. After that we need to also drill 5 holes in a piece of plywood that will be used as the base. we can then mount the piece with the dowels though it in the base. before mounting you should also add the piece that will slide up and down the tracks. this piece should be drilled with larger holes so it slides freely.

Next we can mount the double piece of plywood that belongs on the top. Secure all the pieces that are stationary with 2 part epoxy. After that we can mount the large syringes on the base. For the syringes be sure to use large ones because that gives us a mechanical advantage! Once all the syringes are mounted we can then mount the sliding piece to the syringe (it will probably disconnect when you start using so that’s not too important). I also mount some plywood to the bottom of the moving piece of plywood to strengthen it.

Now we need to create a mechanism to divide water from 1 tube up into 4 different directions. For this i get a little plastic cup and epoxy a piece of wood to the top of it. I then drill 5 holes in that piece of wood for all of the tubes we will be adding. I then put in a 1 way valve in the middle hole and 4 tubes in the other holes. Make sure to put the one way valve in so that water will be able to enter but not exit.

IMPORTANT: there will be alot of pressure in this , not a dangerous amount but enough to cause leaks. I originally had leaks so to fix this i covered this entire water dividing mechanism in epoxy. Its not the best solution but because the wood allows some liquid to travel through it , i found the best solution was to empty a whole tube of dollar store epoxy a piece of cardboard, mix it up and cover the water splitter entirely in epoxy Once that’s done we can attach the tubes to the large syringes

To finish the project up we simply need to add our pump to it. To make our pump i simple mount a syringe on a piece of plywood. I then drill a hole into the syringe and mount another 1-way valve. This will let us draw water from the jar when we pull be when we are pushing the water will only be able to go into the press. The bottom end of the syringe should be connected to the 1 way valve on the press

To test the project fill the jar up with water and start pumping. when crushing things be sure to wear safety goggles just in case anything shatters. to reset the press detach the tubes from the syringe and reset the syringe back to their original positions. To see all the things i crushed with mine check out the video .

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