[TheForge] Hydraulic press questions.

[Shannell Sugrue]

I have thought of a few questions I hope I can remember them all-
1. Guides- are they mandatory? Ive seen a few presses on the net that just
rely on the cylinder to be the guide, if you limit the travel from being
able to go to the bottom of the cyl will this be enough or is 25+ tonnes way
to much force to consider this?
2. Are all hydraulic cylinders rebuildable? Id like to save some money here.
3.Does every pump need a bellhousing to mount to the motor? the ones Ive
priced here did, can you not just mount the two in a way that they mate ok?
4. Is an opening under the bottom die a good idea for pushing tooling etc
all the way through?
5. Anyone using a foot pedal to control the press? Something spring operated
so foot off means press rises? is this a good safety idea or does it make it
less safe?
6. I mentioned this in a previous email
 " someone suggested using 2 pumps one high flow one high pressure and a hi
low valve to shut one out when the pressure rises"
is this a good or bad idea? it was a little cheaper.
7. If I buy a pump that need 5hp and run it from single phase 3 hp would I
get close to 3/5's the flow/pressure?
8. They press photos Ive seen didnt have any sort of guards, seems like a
good idea to me or will they get in the way too much?

Thanks to anyone who has time to answer any of these questions