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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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Casters on an H press?
Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels,
the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne |
#2
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Casters on an H press?
wrace wrote: Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Not yet, but mine will be. HF orange Chinese 20 ton. I don't see a downside. Might want to reinforce those angle iron legs (on mine) but probably will not. |
#3
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Casters on an H press?
I think it is a great idea.
I also think I would extend the legs...H presses can be top heavy and one needs to anticipate what happens when you are rolling the press and a caster catches on a floor crack. TMT |
#4
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Casters on an H press?
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
I think it is a great idea. I also think I would extend the legs...H presses can be top heavy and one needs to anticipate what happens when you are rolling the press and a caster catches on a floor crack. TMT Yar gonna put screw jack bolts on each corner ain't chu ? so's you kin take the wait offen them casters & keep the press from squirmin 'round... |
#5
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Casters on an H press?
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
I think it is a great idea. I also think I would extend the legs...H presses can be top heavy and one needs to anticipate what happens when you are rolling the press and a caster catches on a floor crack. big casters, not bigger legs .. GWE |
#6
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Casters on an H press?
Grant Erwin wrote:
Too_Many_Tools wrote: I think it is a great idea. I also think I would extend the legs...H presses can be top heavy and one needs to anticipate what happens when you are rolling the press and a caster catches on a floor crack. big casters, not bigger legs .. GWE Replace the angle iron with some Unistrut so it has some ability to resist twisting. Use good 4" poly double locking casters such as the ones sold by Wood Craft. They are rigid poly so they maintain stability, they are fairly hard so they resist picking up shop debris and the locking mechanism provides solid locking for both rolling and swiveling. I use the version with the 1/2" center hole mounting on a roughly 4' x 6' power adjustable height work table that can handle around 1,000# and they work very well. Pete C. |
#7
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Casters on an H press?
Use a U-shaped piece of heavy gauge wire or small tubing that just fits
under the wheel blocking its forward and backward roll. Makes a great break, usually only needed on two of four castors. Respectfully, Ron Moore "jerry wass" wrote in message ... Too_Many_Tools wrote: I think it is a great idea. I also think I would extend the legs...H presses can be top heavy and one needs to anticipate what happens when you are rolling the press and a caster catches on a floor crack. TMT Yar gonna put screw jack bolts on each corner ain't chu ? so's you kin take the wait offen them casters & keep the press from squirmin 'round... |
#8
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Casters on an H press?
Grant is right about bigger casters.
I would still extend the legs to provide a wider base. Also when you move, if you can lower the center of gravity of the press by lowering parts of it or removing parts I would. Some people store all their dies, tooling, etc. on the press which adds hundreds of pounds to the unit. TMT |
#9
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Casters on an H press?
Grant is right about bigger casters.
I would still extend the legs to provide a wider base. Also when you move, if you can lower the center of gravity of the press by lowering parts of it or removing parts I would. Some people store all their dies, tooling, etc. on the press which adds hundreds of pounds to the unit. TMT |
#10
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Casters on an H press?
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
Grant is right about bigger casters. I would still extend the legs to provide a wider base. Also when you move, if you can lower the center of gravity of the press by lowering parts of it or removing parts I would. Some people store all their dies, tooling, etc. on the press which adds hundreds of pounds to the unit. TMT There's an idea, when you replace the flimsy angle iron legs with Unistrut or square tube so that will resist the twisting forces from the casters, build a bottom shelf as part of the assembly so you can store press plates, dies, etc at the bottom. This will keep everything together as you move it about the shop, and also help with the CG a bit. Pete C. |
#11
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Casters on an H press?
On 23 Dec 2005 07:31:43 -0800, "Too_Many_Tools"
wrote: Grant is right about bigger casters. I would still extend the legs to provide a wider base. It might be simplest to get a big chunk (3' or 4' square) of heavy plate to mount it on, if you happen to have one handy - that would move the wheels out in all four directions. If you just get longer straight 'foot' channels without putting them at an angle, that still leaves it less stable side to side. A notch in the front of the plate for human operator foot clearance might be called for. Also when you move, if you can lower the center of gravity of the press by lowering parts of it or removing parts I would. I like the rigs with the lowering winch that drops the work arm on two wire ropes. Pull the pins and crank it down to lower the CG. Some people store all their dies, tooling, etc. on the press which adds hundreds of pounds to the unit. Which would be fine if the tooling was sitting down low on the base plate, or a tray on the channel legs - but I usually see it stacked on the sides of the work arm, or even worse on the top. Especially when you live in Earthquake Country, you want to store the really heavy stuff down as low as possible, so it doesn't have far to fall. -- Bruce -- -- Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700 5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545 Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net. |
#12
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Casters on an H press?
Bruce L. Bergman wrote: It might be simplest to get a big chunk (3' or 4' square) of heavy plate to mount it on, if you happen to have one handy - that would move the wheels out in all four directions. If you just get longer straight 'foot' channels without putting them at an angle, that still leaves it less stable side to side. A notch in the front of the plate for human operator foot clearance might be called for. I can see some merit in attaching plate to the dimensions of the legs. Say, 1/8" or better to form a floor without enlarging the bluepint. This lets you place the dies, plates, bearing splitters on the floor of the assembly, lowering the CG and adding stable storage area, while not increasing the footprint. After all, portability is the original goal. |
#13
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Casters on an H press?
On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:35:49 +0000, wrace wrote:
Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne Along with all of the other answers, I'd add that I'd "recess" the casters, i.e., mount them on sort of an L-bracket, so that you only have to raise the base of the press maybe 1/4" - 1/2", rather than 4 or 5 inches. ________ BASE _________ \_/ | OF | \_/ / . \ | PRESS | / . \ \ _ / ------------------------ \ _ / ------------------------------------------------- floor Cheers! Rich (or coat the floor with something hard, polish it, and put the press on a big air bearing. ;-) ) |
#14
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Casters on an H press?
Along with all of the other answers, I'd add that I'd "recess" the casters, i.e., mount them on sort of an L-bracket, so that you only have to raise the base of the press maybe 1/4" - 1/2", rather than 4 or 5 inches. ________ BASE _________ \_/ | OF | \_/ / . \ | PRESS | / . \ \ _ / ------------------------ \ _ / ------------------------------------------------- floor Rich, you clearly don't have to deal with a space-limited shop. The above design is great for stability but it really burns floor area. I wish my press were smaller, but it's the size it is, and I don't want it *any* bigger. GWE |
#15
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Casters on an H press?
Rich Grise wrote: On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:35:49 +0000, wrace wrote: Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne Along with all of the other answers, I'd add that I'd "recess" the casters, i.e., mount them on sort of an L-bracket, so that you only have to raise the base of the press maybe 1/4" - 1/2", rather than 4 or 5 inches. ________ BASE _________ \_/ | OF | \_/ / . \ | PRESS | / . \ \ _ / ------------------------ \ _ / ------------------------------------------------- floor I dunno, at 6'3" I'd like to raise mine a little. |
#16
Posted to rec.crafts.metalworking
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Casters on an H press?
Rich Grise wrote: On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:35:49 +0000, wrace wrote: Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne Along with all of the other answers, I'd add that I'd "recess" the casters, i.e., mount them on sort of an L-bracket, so that you only have to raise the base of the press maybe 1/4" - 1/2", rather than 4 or 5 inches. ________ BASE _________ \_/ | OF | \_/ / . \ | PRESS | / . \ \ _ / ------------------------ \ _ / ------------------------------------------------- floor I dunno, at 6'3" I'd like to raise mine a little. |
#17
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Casters on an H press?
Rex B wrote:
Rich Grise wrote: On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:35:49 +0000, wrace wrote: Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne Along with all of the other answers, I'd add that I'd "recess" the casters, i.e., mount them on sort of an L-bracket, so that you only have to raise the base of the press maybe 1/4" - 1/2", rather than 4 or 5 inches. ________ BASE _________ \_/ | OF | \_/ / . \ | PRESS | / . \ \ _ / ------------------------ \ _ / ------------------------------------------------- floor I dunno, at 6'3" I'd like to raise mine a little. At 5'9" I have raised mine. Built a 4x4 H base to go under the press & attached casters to the 4x4's - lifts the whole thing up about 6" - easier to use now. |
#18
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Casters on an H press?
"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
... | | | Along with all of the other answers, I'd add that I'd "recess" the | casters, i.e., mount them on sort of an L-bracket, so that you only have | to raise the base of the press maybe 1/4" - 1/2", rather than 4 or 5 | inches. | | ________ BASE _________ | \_/ | OF | \_/ | / . \ | PRESS | / . \ | \ _ / ------------------------ \ _ / | ------------------------------------------------- floor | | Rich, you clearly don't have to deal with a space-limited shop. The above design | is great for stability but it really burns floor area. I wish my press were | smaller, but it's the size it is, and I don't want it *any* bigger. | | GWE I can sympathize with that completely. Why not put two fixed casters on one side mounted so that when it tilts slightly it's supported by the two wheels? Put a pad or lift point on the opposing side and you can then use a floor jack or other means to lift that end to move it about. I have also done a contrivance with casters mounted on a plate attached to hinges, and an external lever, where you lift the whole thing up by stepping on a lever, rocking the plate level and lifting it up onto casters for easy movement. When where you want it to be, lift the levers (sometimes easier said than done!) to let the device drop back down onto its base. Depending on how much you move it and the floor condition, you may want to lock the mechanism in the mobile position, since if I catch something going the wrong direction on the one I did, the plate and casters would sometimes pop back into the stowed position. I had a hard time visualizing this the first time I did it, but take a long plate and mount it on sturdy hinges, long ways. To the plate end, attach a lever perpendicular to the plate such that it extends on the _other_ side of the hinges. Mount swivel casters to each end of the plate. My item had a flat bottom, and when the plate and lever is "up" the casters support the plate which then sit flat on the bottom. The distances and caster size have to be worked out with a bit of simple math so that the casters will just rest on the floor in the stowed position but raise the thing when rolled up. Step on the lever, which causes the plate to flatten out on the bottom and the caster's usable height will lift the item up. Does this make sense? I wound up using this so since the item (actually a bingo machine console which spends most of the time in storage) had a "skirt" to keep stuff out and look immobile, but be easy to move by folks other than me. The levers stuck out arc shaped slots on the backside. |
#19
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Casters on an H press?
I wrote an article that included wheels on a press. I posted some
of the details in the dropbox. http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/Press4-DollyWheelDetail.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressBaseLayout-s.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressFrontSidePainted-s.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressWheelLeverSideClose.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressWheelnewText.txt The text of the above URL is: On the list, a fellow asked about putting wheels under his 20 ton press. I posted this to share what I did. This is the dolly Wheel details that is part of the Home Shop Machinist article I wrote "Build a 50/30 Ton H-Frame Hydraulic Floor Press". The article is in the May/June 2004 issue. These are detachable and I pull them off when not moving the press around. PressWheelLeverSideClose.jpg detail of one wheel PressBaseLayout-s.jpg early picture with the dolly wheels PressFrontSidePainted-s.jpg full picture with wheels Press4-DollyWheelDetail.jpg diagram Each wheel is on a pipe that serves as a lever, so there are 4 wheel units. 2 have casters and 2 are not. To engage the wheels, do one side at a time. Attach the wheel unit, one solid and one caster. The pipes will be about a 45 degree angle. Push down on both pipes and when you have them pushed level, slide the latch that is in one pipe into the other pipe and the press is on wheel for that side. Then do the other side. I have a lot of weight on this press and thus have taken to using a piece of pipe that fits between the press's jack and the floor(vertical) slightly offset to the side that I'm setting the wheels. Then use the press jack to lift that side so one does not need to lever up the press with the wheel pipes. Once you jack it up, simple slide the latch and do the other side. Hope that helps, Reed Streifthau Raleigh, NC On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:35:49 GMT, "wrace" wrote: Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne |
#20
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Casters on an H press?
Fixed the text URL below. I had issues with the dropbox. - Reed
On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 15:33:05 -0500, Reed wrote: I wrote an article that included wheels on a press. I posted some of the details in the dropbox. http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/Press4-DollyWheelDetail.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressBaseLayout-s.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressFrontSidePainted-s.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressWheelLeverSideClose.jpg http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/PressWheelText.txt The text of the above URL is: On the list, a fellow asked about putting wheels under his 20 ton press. I posted this to share what I did. This is the dolly Wheel details that is part of the Home Shop Machinist article I wrote "Build a 50/30 Ton H-Frame Hydraulic Floor Press". The article is in the May/June 2004 issue. These are detachable and I pull them off when not moving the press around. PressWheelLeverSideClose.jpg detail of one wheel PressBaseLayout-s.jpg early picture with the dolly wheels PressFrontSidePainted-s.jpg full picture with wheels Press4-DollyWheelDetail.jpg diagram Each wheel is on a pipe that serves as a lever, so there are 4 wheel units. 2 have casters and 2 are not. To engage the wheels, do one side at a time. Attach the wheel unit, one solid and one caster. The pipes will be about a 45 degree angle. Push down on both pipes and when you have them pushed level, slide the latch that is in one pipe into the other pipe and the press is on wheel for that side. Then do the other side. I have a lot of weight on this press and thus have taken to using a piece of pipe that fits between the press's jack and the floor(vertical) slightly offset to the side that I'm setting the wheels. Then use the press jack to lift that side so one does not need to lever up the press with the wheel pipes. Once you jack it up, simple slide the latch and do the other side. Hope that helps, Reed Streifthau Raleigh, NC On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:35:49 GMT, "wrace" wrote: Speaking of casters. In my ongoing quest to put almost everything on wheels, the 20ton floor standing H press is the next likely target. It is an awkward beast to muscle around when I need to reconfigure the shop. It has angle iron sticking out each side for legs (like most commercial built H presses). Any reason I couldn't put a 4" caster on each corner? It would of course make it easier to move around, but I wonder how the casters would affect it when in actual use? Seems like the usual forces for an H press are pretty much contained within the structure on a pretty much vertical basis, unless you are really reefing on the jack handle I suppose... in which case you are probably not using the right tool for the job? Anybody have their H press on casters? Does it work ok? Wayne |
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