Thread: A sorta-dodgy micro brake press

Originally Posted by Gerbilsquasher

It is the end of the ram doing the pushing. This half the reason that this setup flings the tooling out if you don't get everything lined up properly. The other reason is that I need to extract the digit and do something to prevent it

Jacks can be made to operate upside down but it involves drilling a new gallery in the base... I'd have to pull it apart to work out how I did it, it was many moons ago now...

Thanks for the reply. I may need to do some thinking on this matter. One of the issues with my press is that the position of the pushing part moves because the jack is up the right way and so has to be guided by a frame that runs up and down the uprights of the press. When I start to operate the jack it moves a bit to the left but then stays in this position as it traverses down. I am used to taking a couple of pumps then aligning things up. Would be better if this did not happen tho.

I notice you have a bit of a bend in your base (platform) material. I am interested in how others make these presses. Mine seems to work well other than the issue mentioned. My uprights are thin (3mm) 45mm angle, maybe bed frame but I don't remember. I built it over many years. The pins at the moment are only 1/2 inch ms rods. I put them thru the platform holes or under the platform as suits the height. I have never noticed any problems here. My platform is made of heavy 75mm angle pieces placed like yours but welded together with 50mm tubing in the gap. I think this adds a lot of strength. The platform is very rigid.

I had a problem finding springs to suit because my jack is a standard shape and not very high. I finally fixed this problem by fitting gas struts off a car tailgate to the sides. My design has a narrow gap between 2 pieces of angle on each side.

Must have a think. Ooww that hurts. Maybe another drink will help.

Dean