Hydraulic press

[Mick4404]

The next step I took was to buy the pins for the height adjustment of the press bed. I decided on some 30mm 4140 ground bar because it was accessible and far exceeded the shear strength required. I also picked up the 7/8UNF bolts to hold the two halves of the bed together.




I placed the two halves of the bed back to back to ensure the through holes would be as accurate as possible. One by one I drilled and installed the 7/8th bolts to again ensure the holes were as parallel as possible.



Then I marked out and drilled the 30mm holes for the pins.



Drilling the uprights accurately was the next issue. I wanted the bed to be as square as possible. Starting at the bottom I assembled the bed around the uprights and measured everything to ensure it was sitting square before drilling the first set of holes through the uprights. Drilling the 30mm holes was a very time consuming task. Because I reinforced the box section with channel I had to drill through one layer, remove the plug and swarf and drill through the second before resetting the drill over the opposite hole and starting again. I installed the pins in the holes after drilling to ensure nothing was moving as I worked. Once the first set of holes were drilled I lifted up the bed, re-installed the pins in the holes and lowered the bed onto the pins, ready for the next set of holes. As you can see in the picture I drilled one set of holes first so I had the possibility of repairing any accidental mistakes.





The adjustable bed stays within 2mm of tolerance throughout the entire range of movement, more than accurate enough in my opinion. I lowered the bed and drilled the rest of the holes on the way back down.




Next step was to build the carriage to support the hydraulic cylinder.