Overall a great idea and a well done video. However, I do believe there are some safety issues. I've done a lot of high pressure plumbing (up to 120,000 PSI). I recommend pressure relief valves or rupture disks "tee'd" into the flexible hoses. If the valve leaks, you can overpressure the 3,000 PSI line and burst the hose or damage the pump. I agree, the pump valve probably does double duty as a pressure relief valve, but even if that is true, it's not obvious to me it would protect the pump against elevated pressures on the output side. The flexible lines are also a potential hazard. If they separate from the fitting or the fitting blows out, there is a lot of energy to whip the hoses around. They should be secured with a few brackets to constrain their movements. Last, a burst line can direct a jet of high pressure fluid at you, which can absolutely ruin your day. All high pressure components should be behind a shield of some sort. As time passes and the flexible hoses age, they will eventually fail and maybe catastrophically. The press would be a lot safer if the flexible lines were replaced by hard plumbing, still protected by pressure relief valves or rupture disks and also secured with brackets and covered by a shield. I recognize the added expense and tooling for plumbing the hard lines doesn't fit into the "cheap build" theme of the design. That said, it's important for other builders to recognize the risks associated with your design and how to build a safer press. As an aside, with the exception of the return valve, the high pressure components of the bottle jack are surrounded by the outer housing, providing protection against an internal failure.
I can only agree with every one of your points. Thanks for the benefit of your knowledge. I'm happy enough to risk damage to the components, and the cost of the burst disks aren't worth it to me. But I will add hose restraints and steel/tin shielding, to greatly alleviate the risk of injury. Thanks again.
Beautiful. Needed to build a Motorized hydraulic press for a university project and used a electric motor and chain & sprocket assembly to drive the jack. So your video really gave me perspective and direction.
This was excellent dude. It's a bit hard to get airless sprayers around here so I wont be doing my press in a hurry. You made it work though and I'm storing this one in the memory bank for when opportunity arises. I like the calm steady narration since i can lay in bed watching and listening without disturbing anyone who is getting to sleep .
I quite agree with you.....you gotta do what you have to do........I just bought a 10 ton press 2 months back and attached it with brackets to the wall........ now I also have a 12 volt hydro pump intended for trailer tipper use etc, and I'll be fitting it up in much the same way.......I'm glad I saw this vid as it gives me confidence the system will work too........If I get 5 tons with electro pump I'll be happy for general usage
Simply wonderful! Great idea using simple components, thoroughly explained in a very pleasant, friendly manner, and easy to duplicate! Definitely on my to-do list since I already have an old sprayer. I'm also gratified to see that someone can be so productive in a shop even more cluttered than mine!
I started by looking for a bottle jack teardown because I'm doing a similar build with a pneumatic hydraulic pump. Just wanted to check out the insides of the jack but you got me hooked with the whole build. Watched start to finish. Well done for limited space and materials. I do the same style "design on the fly" builds. Enjoyed it
I just found your channel today and watched a few videos. I just finished this series and I just wanted to say that it is impressive what you can accomplish with so little investment. What is so impressive is how well everything is thought out.
Wow! What can I say to that? Thanks! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. That's the whole reason I do it. (well it's the whole reason I film it. I do it because I like doing it but I film it in case anybody else might like it too.:)
Rounds off the corners of the jack “base” so he doesn’t catch his knuckles on them. Then installs the jack backwards with the sharp corners out. Yupp. Sounds like something I’d do too. 🤣😂🤣😂
Hey dude, you have made good use of your available space! I can’t even take four steps inside of my garage because of my tools, stock, etc. Wanna come over and help me out??????
Nice video. Best tutorial on how a bottle jack works. Now for a question. If the airless sprayer had not been available could you have used shop air to push the piston out and the the hand pump to press the work?
Hmm... Yes and no. Yes it would work as you describe. I saw a video where a guy just pokes a hole in the rubber vent plug on his jack, and then just sticks a blowgun tip into it, and it pushes the piston rapidly out to position. I tried it a couple times, and it does work. Ultimately I didn't find it very useful though, since I use my press a lot for bending steel. So I need medium-high force over long travels. (Often 2 to 3 inches) and doing that with the hand pump would be a deal-breaker for me. But for pressing a bearing in or out or other things where you don't need a lot of ram travel, it is actually a handy trick. Thanks for your input!
Great job with your electrically operated hydraulic press. All I need now is to get mine modify. I was planning on using the hydraulic pump and motor from one of those cheap log splitters you can get at Home Depot. The release lever for your hydraulic press being located at the rear looks some what awkward to use. Here's a suggestion: Weld a length of small tubing horizontally across the two flange edges of either the right or left vertical channel of the press frame. Get a length of shaft that has a nice rotating fit inside the tube. Weld a lever onto the rear of this shaft the same length as the release lever on your hydraulic jack. Make up a tie rod to connect the rear shaft lever to the hydraulic jacks release lever. You could use small ball joints or just put ninety degree bends on each end and retain with washers and cotter pins. Install another lever on the front of the shaft positioned for comfortable operation. The lever on the jack may require repositioning for this to work correctly. You also may need to play with the lengths of the different levers to get the best operation. Anyway just an idea that I thought might make it easier to use your hydraulic press. Really enjoying your videos. You have a knack for explaining things very clearly. Your not a teacher are you? I was looking for front end loader builds for small tractors and came across your channel. Glad I found it. Good job. Take care. Willy
Thanks Willy for your thoughtful and helpful input. That's a great idea to move the release lever around the front. I have a million irons in the fire right now, not least of which is trying to finish up the actual loader build, but I think I may do that sometime. If I do, I'll cover it on video and give you credit! And I'm not a teacher by profession but I really enjoy doing it! Thanks again.
I have read that those black cast iron plates under the coke can, that come with the press, will explode with enough force. It is recommended (probably by the people selling them), that you get the cut steel ones on fleabay unless you like living on the edge.
Yes, I've read that as well. And I do know that cast iron can be pretty brittle and chances are that this cast iron is not exactly top quality. So I'm keeping my eye out for a suitable replacement. but paying as much as the guys on eBay want for them just doesn't work for me.
Can the high pressure inlet be drilled into the casting straight through the bottom? For those with a benchtop drill press/hand drill only, would be easier than two holes lined up. Guess it's a question of whether there's enough meat on the base?
I think it would be risky. The base isn't super thick, but that's mitigated by the fact that the jack force presses against the flat base. If you drill into it you're causing two problems: first that this large flat area now has a weak spot in the middle of it, secondly that with this fitting screwed in, the jack can no longer sit flat on the base. So I wouldn't say it CAN'T be done, but you'd have to take extra measures to reinforce the weak area. I think it's probably easier overall to drill the two holes.
I am planning something similar except I am using an elevator pump that I want to be able to use for my tube bender as well so will need hydraulic quick connects so I can move the pump from one tool to another. I know nothing about the pump but assume it will be high flow low presssure…….thoughts?
It seems doable, but you may have a couple challenges: 1. The quick disconnects will allow a little air to enter into the hose when you swap them. That may lead to pump priming difficulties. The hoses on this one are fixed and airtight, so priming hasn't been a problem. If you do encounter priming problems, you'll have to devise a way to effectively prime the pump and/or bleed the lines. 2. I have no idea what the specs are on an elevator pump. But you need to be 100% sure that your hoses/fittings/quick disconnects are all rated for the pump's max output pressure, because high pressure failure of any of them could be pretty dangerous. If you can't find any info on the pump, you may have to hook it to a gauge and test it to find out. Best of luck with it, and let us know how it goes!
@@TheBuildist thanks for the feedback, I don’t think priming will be an issue, lots of things use quick connects like my tractor. I hope I can get some info about the pump, honestly I have not even looked for a data plate! I will for sure proceed with caution because you are 100% right regarding high pressure failures would be VERY dangerous!
Hypothetically could you use an air motor (like what comes on air-driver hydraulic jacks) in place of the airless sprayer? Wouldn't be as cheap but might require less adaptors for those is us without lathes?
Great video, thank you! If I do not want to keep the manual pump/piston, can I successfully supply the new hydraulic power through the old piston port? Thank you again!
I have a question for you, why did you invert the jack instead of locating the reservoir tube on the bottom of the jack? Great video by the way! I only ask because I am doing a Hydraulic project myself and trying to do some research, thanks in advance, Steve.
From the factory, this press had that extra sliding rail that the jack was sitting on, which has a 6" long rod hanging down under it. As the jack ram comes out, that rail and the "pushing" rod are pushed downward. The rail isn't well fastened in place, it can sloppily move around, and the "column of force" is now 6" longer than necessary. So you have to play with your workpiece to kind of find the "balance point" where that pushing rod doesn't want to slide off to the side. I think that's less safe than having the jack ram directly pushing. In addition, the jack still has its factory acme-screw height adjuster screwed into the tip of the ram, which can be screwed in and out about 4 or 5 inches. So with the jack inverted and the tip of the ram now accessible, I can use that height adjuster to more easily match the ram length to the workpiece, so I don't have to adjust the table height as often. So it's just a better overall end result. And since I had to tear down and modify the jack anyway, there was no reason not to do that upgrade while I was at it. Great question!
Do you know what brand, (or type of pump), the airless sprayer is? The reason I ask is I have an airless I bought in the early '90's when I was still a building contractor. It has a diaphram type pump. Jump forward to 4-5 years ago, and across the country, and my sister-n-law buys a place and it needs painting. As the painting party is being organized, I volunteer to spray it in a fraction of the time, and a masking team, and trim painting team can do the rest. I Craigs Listed a $50 airless, (I had scoped it before the planning meeting.), and thougt I was in tall cotton only to find out the 'great working' airless for $50, needs work. Then I learn diaphram type airless sprayers are "old tech", replaced by a piston/vane/or something else because they can "deliver much more volume than a diaphram pump ever can", or so I was told buy everyone I spoke with. THEN I find the (real?) reason all airless sprayers now use the 'new tech', there are two, count them TWO kits needed to rebuild the 'new tech' pump, at ~70.00 a pop. PLUS, the 'new tech' pumps need a kit if they are not used for more than 6 months and they are not perfectly cleaned before disuse. The $50.00 airless is suddenly a 190.00 sprayer, and I'm 3,000 miles from my shop, and without the capability to do the rebuild myself, it would be another 75-100.00 to have it done. That much outlay is nearly as much as hiring College Painters, Inc to just paint the friggin' place. I threw away the new tech, rented an airless, and halfway killed myself painting it in short enough time to not spend a fortune on the rental. Oh, there is a point to this tale. My diaphragm 'old tech' sprayer was capable of spraying enough volume it never let me down, interior, or exterior painting, and it's about 20.00 for a rebuild kit,. On top of that, I haven't used it in nearly 20 years, and I guarantee you it wil, fire right up, and pump if I drag it out. The other part of the story is virtually all aprayers, as far as I can determine use the same brand/type of 'new tech' pump. The one will costs way too much to rebuild, and dies if you don't treat it with kid gloves. If anyone decides to do this upgrade watch out for what kind of old airless you pick up off Craigs List. It might get REAL expensive, REAL fast, especially since
Wow what an epic comment! Thank you for your kind words. I can confirm that this is not a diaphragm pump. To be fair this one clearly had been abused. The check valves were all completely full of dried latex paint. And one of the check valves was actually missing the spring that makes it function. So I really should not have been able to fix this one without some kind of kit. But some careful fidgeting, some scraping, a bit of gentle sanding, and jury rigging my own weak spring from some small gauge music wire resurrected this one. Much to my own surprise. But full disclosure, if it does only last two or three years, I won't be surprised. But for now it's working great. and I think sitting in a bath of mineral oil is actually a pretty stable environment for the pump and its parts.
Why did you go through all the trouble inverting the original jack. I did about the same thing and left the jack in it's original position and kept me from doing all the cutting and welding. Just asking. Great video!
With the jack inverted you can get rid of the add-on sliding push shaft that came with the original press. It takes up some of your headroom for the press and it adds a degree of wobbliness. and with a jack inverted you can make adapters that will attach directly to the end of the jack ram, bending dies and things along that line. So I just felt like as long as I was going to all the trouble to mess with the jack itself, which I had to because I had to completely disassemble it, that I might as well optimize the jack completely while I'm at it. Thanks for your nice words and for your input!
How many horse power is the electric motor that you use? If you use the bigger electric motor, will it increase the pressure? let say from 3000lbs to 6000lb
I'm using a commercially made paint sprayer. By experimentation I found that it cuts off at about 3,000 psi. I think to increase that pressure I would have to have both a larger motor and quite possibly a more heavy-duty pump housing. So I'm not going to try to mess with that. 3000 is plenty for almost everything I do. And if I need more pressure then I just use the hand pump to finish the job off.
Just found your channel. I like your press modification to electric using the paint sprayer and the way it folds away to save space. I'm thinking of doing something like this to my press. Will the spray pump work with mine? I know nothing about hydraulic cylinder types. I would be grateful for your advise. Thanks Tony.
As far as I can tell, pretty most commonly found bottle jacks made in the last 40 years are all constructed pretty much like the one I worked on in the video. So assuming the jack in your press is similar, then yes, it ought to work for you. One meaningful note, I covered it at the end of the second video: A simple check valve would have been better than a manually operated valve between the jack and the paint sprayer. It allows flow from the sprayer into the jack and automatically prevents flow back into sprayer. It saves having to mess with the manual valve, ;and prevents from ever forgetting to close it. But if you do the same to yours that I did to mine, it seems like it should work.
You would do the same drilling and tapping into the base casting that I did, (1/8" hole, tapped for 1/4" NPT) and screw the gauge into that threaded hole. That way the pressure from the central cylinder can reach the gauge. Be SURE to drill in an area that is deep into the center of the "thick" of the base of the casting, and be sure to use a gauge that reaches the max pressure of your jack. For my jack, that's 12,000 psi. If you drill too close to the surface of the casting, the pressure could crack the cast iron. And if your gauge isn't rated for the pressure, it will burst. In either case, hopefully nobody would get hurt, but I wouldn't want to chance it.
Great video I am just starting to play around with hydraulics I'm making a plow for my garden tractor and would like to use a couple of old floor jacks to lift an angle the blade do you know if it's possible to make these floor jacks or bottle jacks two-way cylinders I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible and I have floor jacks already and they're about the perfect size I'm using power steering pump that I had laying around and running it off of the PTO pulley from the motor any insight or help you could give me would be greatly appreciated thanks ps have welder a small drill press, Taps and dies but I do not have a metal lathe
Some guys liberate the electric encline actuators from roadside tread mills to serve the same purpose. I think they will run off the tractor battery and there are no fluids envolved.
I have several of the treadmill linear actuators laying around, which clockguy2 mentions. (I am smitten with treadmill motors for shop equipment.) I don't think any of the ones I have are 12v. They would certain work for your app. I have little to no use for them, maybe you got some junk we could trade? If you're too far from Oregon to make it practical, the Post-Apocalyptic Inventor channel made some a few years back using scissor jacks and 12v (windshield wiper?) motors, if you want to go the non-petroleum products route. If you hung an alternator on the garden tractor, it'd make it a nice, self-charging setup. Where do you live, Jay Buck?
I have a virtually brand new gas powered one, the only thing wrong with it was the plastic, threaded fill and oil level plug which are obsolete, but I managed to track one down. Can't recall where, been too long. It is a 3500 # pump. I don't use it as pressure washer, as I have a better one for those purposes. I thought I'd try my hand at some hydro-forming come hot weather. Seemed like the best time to be playing with water, instead of a wet, 34° Oregon winter day. I also have a smaller electric one someone gave me, but I can't figure out the pressure control manifold part of the pump. According to what I read, it should be working. The main part of the pump makes pressure, but the control valving is causing it to not build up and spit out water. It's been cycled back to the 'another day' shelf, er, shed, er, building, if I'm honest about it, (too damn many things to do). All in time. I've been trying to remember what brand that new tech pump was. Since the East Coast fiasco, my next door here has given me another, of the same brand. But I've been outside yet, today. I wanna say Graco, but I'm not certain. .I had a brain injury 17 years ago which has effed with me in numerous ways. A certain type of short term memory is one. Re: epic comment I rarely hesr any feedback about some of the long ass comments I write. Since the brain injury, verbal communication is a challenge, (word search is common in TBI), so my main communication form is writing, and I am definitely not of the Twitter/text gen. Hell, I'm old enough to not even be of the eMail gen. I wrote & edited for 30+ years mostly non-fiction, research (Exercise Physiology & Sports Medicine fields), and a fair share of technical & how to articles. So, writing is not a chore as it is for many. It's good to hear you were able to get the pump working with a bit of cleaning, and TLC. I may give the pump my neighbor gave me a try it's been sitting, half assmebled, not far from why neighbor set it down. It hasn't found a new home, so it must be patiently waiting for my attention. LOL Your knowledge of pumps has expanded mine considerably. I did find out after watching your vid that air motors are what make air over hydraulic work. It seems the air is simply a method for pumping without using the crank. I had assumed it more on the direct method of 'fluid hydraulics', in the order of what you did, than a spinny thing which operates the integral pump. That led me to discovering industrial air motors, which are intriguing, to say the least. A 0.5 hp, reversible, 6k rpm motor running on air, and that was the smallest one I looked at. I have a hydraulic tank and pump I got as a consolation/apology gift after someone sold me an ironworker and a needs rebuilding big azz Harrington hor bandsaw. I eff'd up, and my check didn't clear, (5.00 short), but they still had both machines. So, what did they do? Sent the ironworker to the scrapper in a piqué. Then felt sorry, and apologetic when they found out what happened, and were reminded I'm brain-damaged and had told them I effed up ALL the time. They then gave me the hydraulic system, an oil recovery system for a mill, and a hot water pressure washer! Once I get some 3 phase wrangled and my shop reorganized, I'll be able to uitlize the hydraulics. Well, gotta get something done, even if it's wrong. Later, GeoD
@@georgedennison3338 George, it sounds like you and I could be best of friends if we live near each other. Sorry about your brain injury but clearly you are coping and compensating to a level higher than most people function with or without an injury! Keep on doing your thing!
The use of the old drill bit as a thread cutting tool was genius.
Overall a great idea and a well done video. However, I do believe there are some safety issues. I've done a lot of high pressure plumbing (up to 120,000 PSI). I recommend pressure relief valves or rupture disks "tee'd" into the flexible hoses. If the valve leaks, you can overpressure the 3,000 PSI line and burst the hose or damage the pump. I agree, the pump valve probably does double duty as a pressure relief valve, but even if that is true, it's not obvious to me it would protect the pump against elevated pressures on the output side. The flexible lines are also a potential hazard. If they separate from the fitting or the fitting blows out, there is a lot of energy to whip the hoses around. They should be secured with a few brackets to constrain their movements. Last, a burst line can direct a jet of high pressure fluid at you, which can absolutely ruin your day. All high pressure components should be behind a shield of some sort. As time passes and the flexible hoses age, they will eventually fail and maybe catastrophically. The press would be a lot safer if the flexible lines were replaced by hard plumbing, still protected by pressure relief valves or rupture disks and also secured with brackets and covered by a shield. I recognize the added expense and tooling for plumbing the hard lines doesn't fit into the "cheap build" theme of the design. That said, it's important for other builders to recognize the risks associated with your design and how to build a safer press.
As an aside, with the exception of the return valve, the high pressure components of the bottle jack are surrounded by the outer housing, providing protection against an internal failure.
I can only agree with every one of your points. Thanks for the benefit of your knowledge. I'm happy enough to risk damage to the components, and the cost of the burst disks aren't worth it to me. But I will add hose restraints and steel/tin shielding, to greatly alleviate the risk of injury.
Thanks again.
Beautiful. Needed to build a Motorized hydraulic press for a university project and used a electric motor and chain & sprocket assembly to drive the jack. So your video really gave me perspective and direction.
Best of luck!
This was excellent dude. It's a bit hard to get airless sprayers around here so I wont be doing my press in a hurry. You made it work though and I'm storing this one in the memory bank for when opportunity arises. I like the calm steady narration since i can lay in bed watching and listening without disturbing anyone who is getting to sleep .
I quite agree with you.....you gotta do what you have to do........I just bought a 10 ton press 2 months back and attached it with brackets to the wall........ now I also have a 12 volt hydro pump intended for trailer tipper use etc, and I'll be fitting it up in much the same way.......I'm glad I saw this vid as it gives me confidence the system will work too........If I get 5 tons with electro pump I'll be happy for general usage
Simply wonderful! Great idea using simple components, thoroughly explained in a very pleasant, friendly manner, and easy to duplicate! Definitely on my to-do list since I already have an old sprayer. I'm also gratified to see that someone can be so productive in a shop even more cluttered than mine!
Translucent tubing serves as your fluid level indicator too, nice.
I started by looking for a bottle jack teardown because I'm doing a similar build with a pneumatic hydraulic pump. Just wanted to check out the insides of the jack but you got me hooked with the whole build. Watched start to finish. Well done for limited space and materials. I do the same style "design on the fly" builds. Enjoyed it
" I don't have a lot of floor space...".. we notice!! Great video, thanks for sharing....
I just found your channel today and watched a few videos. I just finished this series and I just wanted to say that it is impressive what you can accomplish with so little investment. What is so impressive is how well everything is thought out.
Thanks for your kind words. I really enjoy the mental process of working out the solutions to these little challenges.
@@TheBuildist that has always been the best part.
Right arm my fellow builder of oddball contraptions! I commend your skill in gargelling nifty quasi refitting pieces!
Truly you have a way with words!
Nice job. I've been using my 20 ton hydraulic press to broach. Way too slow but I don't do it very often. Now to find some sort of pump.
A+ for creativity! Nice job.
Thanks Mike!
Excellent series, you have a great channel. I’m so glad I found out about you. Thanks a lot !
Wow! What can I say to that? Thanks! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. That's the whole reason I do it. (well it's the whole reason I film it. I do it because I like doing it but I film it in case anybody else might like it too.:)
Pretty cool
Rounds off the corners of the jack “base” so he doesn’t catch his knuckles on them. Then installs the jack backwards with the sharp corners out.
Yupp. Sounds like something I’d do too. 🤣😂🤣😂
Amazing how well it works. Now where did I put that old paint sprayer.....
Neighbors have all sorts of good shtuff. Don't let em catch ya though...they get all upset over nothin.
Hey dude, you have made good use of your available space!
I can’t even take four steps inside of my garage because of my tools, stock, etc.
Wanna come over and help me out??????
Nice video. Best tutorial on how a bottle jack works. Now for a question. If the airless sprayer had not been available could you have used shop air to push the piston out and the the hand pump to press the work?
Hmm... Yes and no. Yes it would work as you describe. I saw a video where a guy just pokes a hole in the rubber vent plug on his jack, and then just sticks a blowgun tip into it, and it pushes the piston rapidly out to position. I tried it a couple times, and it does work. Ultimately I didn't find it very useful though, since I use my press a lot for bending steel. So I need medium-high force over long travels. (Often 2 to 3 inches) and doing that with the hand pump would be a deal-breaker for me.
But for pressing a bearing in or out or other things where you don't need a lot of ram travel, it is actually a handy trick.
Thanks for your input!
Great video!
Pretty cool vid. Well done.
Great job with your electrically operated hydraulic press. All I need now is to get mine modify. I was planning on using the hydraulic pump and motor from one of those cheap log splitters you can get at Home Depot.
The release lever for your hydraulic press being located at the rear looks some what awkward to use. Here's a suggestion: Weld a length of small tubing horizontally across the two flange edges of either the right or left vertical channel of the press frame. Get a length of shaft that has a nice rotating fit inside the tube. Weld a lever onto the rear of this shaft the same length as the release lever on your hydraulic jack. Make up a tie rod to connect the rear shaft lever to the hydraulic jacks release lever. You could use small ball joints or just put ninety degree bends on each end and retain with washers and cotter pins. Install another lever on the front of the shaft positioned for comfortable operation. The lever on the jack may require repositioning for this to work correctly. You also may need to play with the lengths of the different levers to get the best operation. Anyway just an idea that I thought might make it easier to use your hydraulic press. Really enjoying your videos. You have a knack for explaining things very clearly. Your not a teacher are you? I was looking for front end loader builds for small tractors and came across your channel. Glad I found it.
Good job.
Take care.
Willy
Thanks Willy for your thoughtful and helpful input. That's a great idea to move the release lever around the front. I have a million irons in the fire right now, not least of which is trying to finish up the actual loader build, but I think I may do that sometime. If I do, I'll cover it on video and give you credit!
And I'm not a teacher by profession but I really enjoy doing it!
Thanks again.
Hi Robert No credit necessary. Looking forward to your next front end loader video. Also enjoying your other videos. Keep up the good work.
Willy
That’s pretty genius!
Makes sense, thank for the answer.
I have read that those black cast iron plates under the coke can, that come with the press, will explode with enough force. It is recommended (probably by the people selling them), that you get the cut steel ones on fleabay unless you like living on the edge.
Yes, I've read that as well. And I do know that cast iron can be pretty brittle and chances are that this cast iron is not exactly top quality. So I'm keeping my eye out for a suitable replacement. but paying as much as the guys on eBay want for them just doesn't work for me.
Can the high pressure inlet be drilled into the casting straight through the bottom? For those with a benchtop drill press/hand drill only, would be easier than two holes lined up. Guess it's a question of whether there's enough meat on the base?
I think it would be risky. The base isn't super thick, but that's mitigated by the fact that the jack force presses against the flat base. If you drill into it you're causing two problems: first that this large flat area now has a weak spot in the middle of it, secondly that with this fitting screwed in, the jack can no longer sit flat on the base. So I wouldn't say it CAN'T be done, but you'd have to take extra measures to reinforce the weak area. I think it's probably easier overall to drill the two holes.
I am planning something similar except I am using an elevator pump that I want to be able to use for my tube bender as well so will need hydraulic quick connects so I can move the pump from one tool to another. I know nothing about the pump but assume it will be high flow low presssure…….thoughts?
It seems doable, but you may have a couple challenges:
1. The quick disconnects will allow a little air to enter into the hose when you swap them. That may lead to pump priming difficulties. The hoses on this one are fixed and airtight, so priming hasn't been a problem. If you do encounter priming problems, you'll have to devise a way to effectively prime the pump and/or bleed the lines.
2. I have no idea what the specs are on an elevator pump. But you need to be 100% sure that your hoses/fittings/quick disconnects are all rated for the pump's max output pressure, because high pressure failure of any of them could be pretty dangerous. If you can't find any info on the pump, you may have to hook it to a gauge and test it to find out.
Best of luck with it, and let us know how it goes!
@@TheBuildist thanks for the feedback, I don’t think priming will be an issue, lots of things use quick connects like my tractor.
I hope I can get some info about the pump, honestly I have not even looked for a data plate!
I will for sure proceed with caution because you are 100% right regarding high pressure failures would be VERY dangerous!
Hypothetically could you use an air motor (like what comes on air-driver hydraulic jacks) in place of the airless sprayer? Wouldn't be as cheap but might require less adaptors for those is us without lathes?
Certainly that would be easier. I think you'd still want to modify the jack in order to invert it, but other than that you'd be good to go.
Great video, thank you! If I do not want to keep the manual pump/piston, can I successfully supply the new hydraulic power through the old piston port? Thank you again!
Yes, the hand pump still works like it did before.
I have a question for you, why did you invert the jack instead of locating the reservoir tube on the bottom of the jack? Great video by the way! I only ask because I am doing a Hydraulic project myself and trying to do some research, thanks in advance, Steve.
From the factory, this press had that extra sliding rail that the jack was sitting on, which has a 6" long rod hanging down under it. As the jack ram comes out, that rail and the "pushing" rod are pushed downward. The rail isn't well fastened in place, it can sloppily move around, and the "column of force" is now 6" longer than necessary. So you have to play with your workpiece to kind of find the "balance point" where that pushing rod doesn't want to slide off to the side. I think that's less safe than having the jack ram directly pushing.
In addition, the jack still has its factory acme-screw height adjuster screwed into the tip of the ram, which can be screwed in and out about 4 or 5 inches. So with the jack inverted and the tip of the ram now accessible, I can use that height adjuster to more easily match the ram length to the workpiece, so I don't have to adjust the table height as often.
So it's just a better overall end result. And since I had to tear down and modify the jack anyway, there was no reason not to do that upgrade while I was at it.
Great question!
What do you call that motor?
Do you know what brand, (or type of pump), the airless sprayer is? The reason I ask is I have an airless I bought in the early '90's when I was still a building contractor. It has a diaphram type pump. Jump forward to 4-5 years ago, and across the country, and my sister-n-law buys a place and it needs painting.
As the painting party is being organized, I volunteer to spray it in a fraction of the time, and a masking team, and trim painting team can do the rest. I Craigs Listed a $50 airless, (I had scoped it before the planning meeting.), and thougt I was in tall cotton only to find out the 'great working' airless for $50, needs work.
Then I learn diaphram type airless sprayers are "old tech", replaced by a piston/vane/or something else because they can "deliver much more volume than a diaphram pump ever can", or so I was told buy everyone I spoke with. THEN I find the (real?) reason all airless sprayers now use the 'new tech', there are two, count them TWO kits needed to rebuild the 'new tech' pump, at ~70.00 a pop. PLUS, the 'new tech' pumps need a kit if they are not used for more than 6 months and they are not perfectly cleaned before disuse. The $50.00 airless is suddenly a 190.00 sprayer, and I'm 3,000 miles from my shop, and without the capability to do the rebuild myself, it would be another 75-100.00 to have it done.
That much outlay is nearly as much as hiring College Painters, Inc to just paint the friggin' place. I threw away the new tech, rented an airless, and halfway killed myself painting it in short enough time to not spend a fortune on the rental.
Oh, there is a point to this tale. My diaphragm 'old tech' sprayer was capable of spraying enough volume it never let me down, interior, or exterior painting, and it's about 20.00 for a rebuild kit,. On top of that, I haven't used it in nearly 20 years, and I guarantee you it wil, fire right up, and pump if I drag it out.
The other part of the story is virtually all aprayers, as far as I can determine use the same brand/type of 'new tech' pump. The one will costs way too much to rebuild, and dies if you don't treat it with kid gloves.
If anyone decides to do this upgrade watch out for what kind of old airless you pick up off Craigs List. It might get REAL expensive, REAL fast, especially since
Wow what an epic comment! Thank you for your kind words. I can confirm that this is not a diaphragm pump. To be fair this one clearly had been abused. The check valves were all completely full of dried latex paint. And one of the check valves was actually missing the spring that makes it function. So I really should not have been able to fix this one without some kind of kit. But some careful fidgeting, some scraping, a bit of gentle sanding, and jury rigging my own weak spring from some small gauge music wire resurrected this one. Much to my own surprise. But full disclosure, if it does only last two or three years, I won't be surprised. But for now it's working great. and I think sitting in a bath of mineral oil is actually a pretty stable environment for the pump and its parts.
A really interesting set of mods. Very nice.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Nice work
Why did you go through all the trouble inverting the original jack. I did about the same thing and left the jack in it's original position and kept me from doing all the cutting and welding. Just asking. Great video!
With the jack inverted you can get rid of the add-on sliding push shaft that came with the original press. It takes up some of your headroom for the press and it adds a degree of wobbliness. and with a jack inverted you can make adapters that will attach directly to the end of the jack ram, bending dies and things along that line. So I just felt like as long as I was going to all the trouble to mess with the jack itself, which I had to because I had to completely disassemble it, that I might as well optimize the jack completely while I'm at it.
Thanks for your nice words and for your input!
What will be The price of this machine if I want buy it?
Nice
How many horse power is the electric motor that you use? If you use the bigger electric motor, will it increase the pressure? let say from 3000lbs to 6000lb
I'm using a commercially made paint sprayer. By experimentation I found that it cuts off at about 3,000 psi. I think to increase that pressure I would have to have both a larger motor and quite possibly a more heavy-duty pump housing. So I'm not going to try to mess with that. 3000 is plenty for almost everything I do. And if I need more pressure then I just use the hand pump to finish the job off.
Would copper crush washers work instead of o-rings on the high pressure lines?
It could be. I don't have any experience with copper washers and high pressure. Sorry.
Just found your channel. I like your press modification to electric using the paint sprayer and the way it folds away to save space.
I'm thinking of doing something like this to my press. Will the spray pump work with mine? I know nothing about hydraulic cylinder types.
I would be grateful for your advise. Thanks Tony.
As far as I can tell, pretty most commonly found bottle jacks made in the last 40 years are all constructed pretty much like the one I worked on in the video. So assuming the jack in your press is similar, then yes, it ought to work for you. One meaningful note, I covered it at the end of the second video: A simple check valve would have been better than a manually operated valve between the jack and the paint sprayer. It allows flow from the sprayer into the jack and automatically prevents flow back into sprayer. It saves having to mess with the manual valve, ;and prevents from ever forgetting to close it. But if you do the same to yours that I did to mine, it seems like it should work.
@@TheBuildist Thank you for reply. Going to have a look at some of your other videos now. Tony.
Great video. If I just wanted to add a gauge to a regular bottle jack how could I connect it.
You would do the same drilling and tapping into the base casting that I did, (1/8" hole, tapped for 1/4" NPT) and screw the gauge into that threaded hole. That way the pressure from the central cylinder can reach the gauge. Be SURE to drill in an area that is deep into the center of the "thick" of the base of the casting, and be sure to use a gauge that reaches the max pressure of your jack. For my jack, that's 12,000 psi. If you drill too close to the surface of the casting, the pressure could crack the cast iron. And if your gauge isn't rated for the pressure, it will burst. In either case, hopefully nobody would get hurt, but I wouldn't want to chance it.
@@TheBuildist Thanks for the reply.
Great video I am just starting to play around with hydraulics I'm making a plow for my garden tractor and would like to use a couple of old floor jacks to lift an angle the blade do you know if it's possible to make these floor jacks or bottle jacks two-way cylinders I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible and I have floor jacks already and they're about the perfect size I'm using power steering pump that I had laying around and running it off of the PTO pulley from the motor any insight or help you could give me would be greatly appreciated thanks ps have welder a small drill press, Taps and dies but I do not have a metal lathe
I am confident that they cannot be used as two-way cylinders. Try looking for a "deck lift cylinder" off of a Deere 316/318 or a Case 442/444/446
Some guys liberate the electric encline actuators from roadside tread mills to serve the same purpose. I think they will run off the tractor battery and there are no fluids envolved.
I have several of the treadmill linear actuators laying around, which clockguy2 mentions. (I am smitten with treadmill motors for shop equipment.) I don't think any of the ones I have are 12v.
They would certain work for your app. I have little to no use for them, maybe you got some junk we could trade? If you're too far from Oregon to make it practical, the Post-Apocalyptic Inventor channel made some a few years back using scissor jacks and 12v (windshield wiper?) motors, if you want to go the non-petroleum products route. If you hung an alternator on the garden tractor, it'd make it a nice, self-charging setup.
Where do you live, Jay Buck?
PS to my epoch length comment.
Suppose a pressure washer pump would push hydraulic oil?
I have no doubt that it absolutely would. of course for practicality reasons, and electric pressure washer would make more sense than a gasoline one.
I have a virtually brand new gas powered one, the only thing wrong with it was the plastic, threaded fill and oil level plug which are obsolete, but I managed to track one down. Can't recall where, been too long. It is a 3500 # pump. I don't use it as pressure washer, as I have a better one for those purposes.
I thought I'd try my hand at some hydro-forming come hot weather. Seemed like the best time to be playing with water, instead of a wet, 34° Oregon winter day.
I also have a smaller electric one someone gave me, but I can't figure out the pressure control manifold part of the pump. According to what I read, it should be working. The main part of the pump makes pressure, but the control valving is causing it to not build up and spit out water. It's been cycled back to the 'another day' shelf, er, shed, er, building, if I'm honest about it, (too damn many things to do).
All in time. I've been trying to remember what brand that new tech pump was. Since the East Coast fiasco, my next door here has given me another, of the same brand. But I've been outside yet, today. I wanna say Graco, but I'm not certain. .I had a brain injury 17 years ago which has effed with me in numerous ways. A certain type of short term memory is one.
Re: epic comment
I rarely hesr any feedback about some of the long ass comments I write. Since the brain injury, verbal communication is a challenge, (word search is common in TBI), so my main communication form is writing, and I am definitely not of the Twitter/text gen. Hell, I'm old enough to not even be of the eMail gen.
I wrote & edited for 30+ years mostly non-fiction, research (Exercise Physiology & Sports Medicine fields), and a fair share of technical & how to articles. So, writing is not a chore as it is for many.
It's good to hear you were able to get the pump working with a bit of cleaning, and TLC. I may give the pump my neighbor gave me a try it's been sitting, half assmebled, not far from why neighbor set it down. It hasn't found a new home, so it must be patiently waiting for my attention. LOL
Your knowledge of pumps has expanded mine considerably. I did find out after watching your vid that air motors are what make air over hydraulic work. It seems the air is simply a method for pumping without using the crank.
I had assumed it more on the direct method of 'fluid hydraulics', in the order of what you did, than a spinny thing which operates the integral pump.
That led me to discovering industrial air motors, which are intriguing, to say the least. A 0.5 hp, reversible, 6k rpm motor running on air, and that was the smallest one I looked at.
I have a hydraulic tank and pump I got as a consolation/apology gift after someone sold me an ironworker and a needs rebuilding big azz Harrington hor bandsaw. I eff'd up, and my check didn't clear, (5.00 short), but they still had both machines.
So, what did they do? Sent the ironworker to the scrapper in a piqué. Then felt sorry, and apologetic when they found out what happened, and were reminded I'm brain-damaged and had told them I effed up ALL the time.
They then gave me the hydraulic system, an oil recovery system for a mill, and a hot water pressure washer! Once I get some 3 phase wrangled and my shop reorganized, I'll be able to uitlize the hydraulics.
Well, gotta get something done, even if it's wrong.
Later,
GeoD
@@georgedennison3338 George, it sounds like you and I could be best of friends if we live near each other. Sorry about your brain injury but clearly you are coping and compensating to a level higher than most people function with or without an injury! Keep on doing your thing!
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Claro.
How come no new videos? Take care
Sampurna..
dhanyavaad!