Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I picked this press up from princess auto a few years ago for a song. I think I paid $60, as it was in the clearance section at the back of the store. I just happened to be walking through the welding section, when one of the employees walked past it and caught his shirt on it, then swore at it, something about "stupid thing, I gotta get this outta here". My Dad immediatly piped up and said I'll take it, but I'm not paying that for it (they had I think $120 on it). Employee got a sharpie out and said what will you pay for it? Dad looked at me, then said $60?, so the guy wrote $60 on it, and dragged it up to the front of the store for us while we finished shopping lol. Memory a bit hazy on the finer details, it might have been $80? but that was the gist of it.
Anyway, the pump would pump up, but not move the cylinder very far. I can't remember exactly what I did at the time, but I took it apart, removed all the teflon tape....and reassembled it. I could get it to work, but it would still sometimes hang up, intermittently again. I used it so rarely (it's always been out in the barn), and it would happen so infrequently that it was rarely an issue. A few weeks ago I dragged it into the shop because I want to make a press brake attachment, and some dimple dies for it for some upcoming projects. Tried to use it, but it wouldn't budge the cylinder now. It would pressurize the hose, and was pumping fluid just fine, but just no movement again no matter what i did.
So I tore it all apart again to try and find the root cause of the problem. I was able to figure out pretty easy it wasn't a problem with the pump. The quick connect is different than my porta pack (same size, just finer threads). I could connect the pump to one of those cylinders, but not the other way around. So I hooked it up to one of those cylinders and it worked just fine. I checked both the fittings, and they were passing fluid no prob, So I tore the cylinder down thinking there was something in there making it bind up. Had to make some special tools to remove the packing nut, and pull the spring back for reassembly. It turned out to be fine, leaving me puzzled. I swapped fittings so I could actuate the press cylinder with the porta pack, no prob.....Hmmmm. Was starting to think I really got power fisted here.......
On some of these rams, there is a screw, but on this one there is just a roll pin that holds the spring. I could insert my tool through the back port, grab the eye of the spring, and pull back enough to drop the roll pin in to secure it. Worked great.
That was last weekend, and it left me head scratching a bit. The pump worked, the cylinder worked, The male quick connect worked, and passed fluid no prob. The Female quick connect passed fluid no problem. Both quick connects connected together unattached from the cylinder worked just fine. Everything seemed to work just fine in isolation......But together as a unit? NOTHING.....It would pump up and pressurize the hose, but no movement on the cylinder..... Honestly It was driving me a bit nuts....
Feeling a bit better today after coming down with something this week, I finally got another chance to go out and play with it just now while puttering around, and decided to just bypass the quick connect altogether and connect the hose to the cylinder itself, and voila, it works. Perfectly.
I still don't really know exactly what the problem is in the fittings. When I inspected the fittings there was a piece of broken off thread in the bottom of one. Maybe it was preventing the flow of fluid intermittently some how? Interfering with the check valve? Maybe there is something else in there I can't see preventing the flow also? Teflon tape stuck inside? Maybe they're just made so shittely that they just suck at doing their job. Who knows. It works now. And I can close this frustrating chapter. I love diagnosing things, and problem solving, but this one was annoying and had me contemplating all the poor life choices I made that led me to this point in time.......lol. Thought I'd share, and maybe somebody would find it entertaining
. Anyone else have tales of perseverance and strange problems?
Now, I can finally get on with making a press brake attachment, and 3d printing some dimple dies and other decorative dies......
Anyway, the pump would pump up, but not move the cylinder very far. I can't remember exactly what I did at the time, but I took it apart, removed all the teflon tape....and reassembled it. I could get it to work, but it would still sometimes hang up, intermittently again. I used it so rarely (it's always been out in the barn), and it would happen so infrequently that it was rarely an issue. A few weeks ago I dragged it into the shop because I want to make a press brake attachment, and some dimple dies for it for some upcoming projects. Tried to use it, but it wouldn't budge the cylinder now. It would pressurize the hose, and was pumping fluid just fine, but just no movement again no matter what i did.
So I tore it all apart again to try and find the root cause of the problem. I was able to figure out pretty easy it wasn't a problem with the pump. The quick connect is different than my porta pack (same size, just finer threads). I could connect the pump to one of those cylinders, but not the other way around. So I hooked it up to one of those cylinders and it worked just fine. I checked both the fittings, and they were passing fluid no prob, So I tore the cylinder down thinking there was something in there making it bind up. Had to make some special tools to remove the packing nut, and pull the spring back for reassembly. It turned out to be fine, leaving me puzzled. I swapped fittings so I could actuate the press cylinder with the porta pack, no prob.....Hmmmm. Was starting to think I really got power fisted here.......
On some of these rams, there is a screw, but on this one there is just a roll pin that holds the spring. I could insert my tool through the back port, grab the eye of the spring, and pull back enough to drop the roll pin in to secure it. Worked great.
That was last weekend, and it left me head scratching a bit. The pump worked, the cylinder worked, The male quick connect worked, and passed fluid no prob. The Female quick connect passed fluid no problem. Both quick connects connected together unattached from the cylinder worked just fine. Everything seemed to work just fine in isolation......But together as a unit? NOTHING.....It would pump up and pressurize the hose, but no movement on the cylinder..... Honestly It was driving me a bit nuts....
Feeling a bit better today after coming down with something this week, I finally got another chance to go out and play with it just now while puttering around, and decided to just bypass the quick connect altogether and connect the hose to the cylinder itself, and voila, it works. Perfectly.
I still don't really know exactly what the problem is in the fittings. When I inspected the fittings there was a piece of broken off thread in the bottom of one. Maybe it was preventing the flow of fluid intermittently some how? Interfering with the check valve? Maybe there is something else in there I can't see preventing the flow also? Teflon tape stuck inside? Maybe they're just made so shittely that they just suck at doing their job. Who knows. It works now. And I can close this frustrating chapter. I love diagnosing things, and problem solving, but this one was annoying and had me contemplating all the poor life choices I made that led me to this point in time.......lol. Thought I'd share, and maybe somebody would find it entertaining
. Anyone else have tales of perseverance and strange problems?Now, I can finally get on with making a press brake attachment, and 3d printing some dimple dies and other decorative dies......
I betcha almost anything that I am last...
