[TheForge] Upside down press - followup

[Steve Smith]

Steve,

Steve Rollert made an upside down press. It is about 5' of 12" H beam, 
really sturdy. The bottom die moves up against a fixed top die. He 
mostly uses it for making pattern welded billets in knifemaking. He says 
it works great. He likes the working area being higher where he can see 
what's going on. He's made a couple with students of his.

Be careful about seeing what's going on when welding a billet. I've had 
a nice spurt of orange hot flux come out with no warning.

Steve


smith at blacksmithing.org wrote:

> I appreciate the comments -- the major points were the essential nature 
> of the beast, i.e., upside down, and the narrownest of the system.  
> There were also comments about Jim Batson's book (which I own).  --and I 
> did mess up the directions of the slashes in the URL 
> (http://www.ironflower.com/plans/press.htm).  That had nothing to do 
> with the direction of the horn on my anvil, since I have one of Chuck's 
> knife-makers units which is hornless <grin>.
> Part of the story which I neglected to post, was I already own the 
> hydraulics (a 5" cylinder of the dimensions in the plan), a 5HP motor, a 
> control value set, filter, pressure guage, reservoir, and hoses I 
> wouldn't trust (when the rubber flakes off in your hands...) - all of 
> which set me $200.  I figure if I can weld up a frame from what I have 
> lying around (the I-beams,etc), then have new hoses made, I'll have a 
> "learner" press for relatively few bucks.  I intend to use it for 
> Damascus production and give my 50lb Little Giant a break (before it 
> breaks!).  I like the idea of the upside-down nature since it drops the 
> center of gravity, shortens hose lengths, and makes an overall unit more 
> compact and more "portable". However, since I've never used a press, I 
> have no real idea if the lift-to-crush aspect is a problem (it does seem 
> wierd given the years I've spent in front of the power hammer, but maybe 
> someone can address this issue if they have actually used an upside-down 
> press).  Eventually, I'll move to a two-speed press, made by someone who 
> knows what they're doing, but in the meantime, I may be able to defray 
> the costs of that press with this one.
> In any event, I do appreciate the feedback and will post whatever 
> happens down the road.
> Steve Bloom
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