Small Benchtop 20‐Ton Hydraulic Press for the Jeweler and Metalsmith

FULL DETAILS IN THE ATTACHED PDF

This is a design for a small benchtop 20‐Ton hydraulic press designed for the jeweler and metalsmith. It is my attempt at documenting what turned out to be a very good design that took queues mostly from what I saw that worked well, and what could be improved upon. You might also use this a starting point and improve on this design yourself too.

It is one that can be fabricated easily with commercially available steel. It is my hope that this document may help others to build one too.

It is a bit heftier than some of the designs that I found. It weighs in at ~108 lbs. with the bottle jack, so it is moderately heavy, but it is fairly compact, can be mounted in a small workspace on a table and can be moved by 1‐2 people relatively easily. Note: A lot of the success (or failure) of this design revolves around making really solids welds for the crucial rectangular stress/pressure frame. The rest of the design is not rocket science, but the rectangular stress/pressure frame welds are critical to making it hold up to the 20‐ton bottle jack at full pressure.

List of Materials

1. 2” hot‐rolled steel square tube, rounded edges with ¼” wall – for the main stress/pressure frame a. Qty 4: 12” long – horizontal supports of frame b. Qty 2: 23” long – vertical supports of frame

2. Qty 2: 6” x 7” x 1 ½” steel plate – For both the welded top plate and moving/floating pressure plate/platen

3. Qty 2: 2” x 2” angle iron, ¼” thickness – 12” long each – for bench legs

4. Qty 1: approximately 7” x 7” x ½” – steel plate for bottle jack base plate. Size is not very important but needs to be 8” or less wide to fit within the pressure frame and probably 1/2” thick or more.

5. 3” hot‐rolled steel square tube, rounded edges with 3/8” walls – approximately 4”: a. Qty 2: 3” square tube with 3/8” walls, cut in 1 ½” pieces, rounded edges – for floating pressure platen “C” guides b. Qty 1: 3” square tube with 3/8” walls, but to 1/2” to ¾” – for creating guides for the bottle jack on the base plate

6. 20‐Ton Hydraulic Bottle Jack – Note: Any 20‐Ton jack will do, but if you want one with a gauge, the only one I have found is the Japanese Norco jack that has a gauge port, and it retails for around $200. You can find jacks without gauge ports for between $30‐$50.

7. 3/4” Steel Rod x 2 feet – to replace the thin short rods that come with bottle jack to raise the hydraulic cylinder.

8. Qty 4: Springs – To retract bottle jack after extended and pressure released (optional)

9. Qty 8: Rope Hooks – To hold springs to retract bottle jack (optional)

Tools Needed

1. Angle grinder with ~80 grit sanding discs

2. MIG welder for tack welding stress frame in preparation for better MIG/TIG welding. Everything else except the rectangular stress frame can be welded with a regular 120v home MIG with average or minimal welding skills.

3. High‐amperage TIG/MIG welder (or friend, family, school or business that owns one) – for welding the stress/pressure frame 4. Steel cutting bandsaw – The small spring/gravity home shop models will work well

4. Steel cutting bandsaw – The small spring/gravity home shop models will work well

Full instructions in the PDF