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Princess auto hydraulic press

I have a blue 20 ton that I got for $60 in the clearance/returns section in whitby with a stuck cylinder. I just happened to walk by as one of the employees was walking into the back room, and caught his hip on it. I said, "i can get that out of your way if ya want to knock that price down :D." It was $120, and he came back out with a sharpie, and wrote 50%, initialled it, and walked me to the front of the store :D. It's a nice press, and was an easy fix cleaning out the cylinder to work again. :D. Right place, right time.
 
I also have the KMS version of the 20T twice the cost of the PA one in the link but I have never regretted that purchase other than a time or two wishing I had burst for the $1500 electric hyd pump model.

If you purchase one of these, plan on buying a couple strong return springs to mount outboard of the ram, on mine the inboard return spring lost most of its return strength very soon after only a couple of stretch's. It will only retract the ram about 1/2 way to "0"...requires a bar of some sort to pry the ram up and force the oil back into the pump reservoir.
 
I've been thinking of a press. Is there any downside with going 20 ton instead of 10 ton? Forging applications need much larger/faster, but I don't have much experience with using these to press bearings. I've done a few of small pressings with a bottlejack in a crappy frame, but never pushed it.
 
PaulL said:
I've been thinking of a press. Is there any downside with going 20 ton instead of 10 ton? Forging applications need much larger/faster, but I don't have much experience with using these to press bearings. I've done a few of small pressings with a bottlejack in a crappy frame, but never pushed it.
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It depends what you are pressing, but in my experience, more is better, there is always a stuck bearing or a press fit pin that needs all the beans

But with bigger presses you need to be more careful, they break things much easier
 
No important downside other than with 20T of pressure applied, the "water-mellon seen effect is much amplified when pieces squirt out from under the ram....they go further LOL
Buddy of mine had a machine shop in Calgary and he had a 150 T hyd press in the shop. He had double thickness of welding tarps between him and the press and also used a 30 ft remote control with a big mirror to watch from.
 
PA had 12ton ones on sale a while back. These are real presses, not just a bottle jack on a frame . Limited availability, which meant one per store. chuckle . We just missed the Langley one, she was paying for just as I asked about them. I got Langley store to phone over to Coquitlam and hold their one. The doing of the first two of the six bearings paid for the press.

At work we had OTC 20 ton manual . They then upgraded to an electric hydraulic 50 ton Energac (sp), one of those very common yellow hydraulic stuff. . WCB had us put guards on that one., which we made removable . Besides bearings and gears, you can make jigs to bend curves in flat bar . PA had a brake accessory on sale in the last flyer. They are pretty handy.
 
I've had a 20t bottle jack Princess Auto for about 20 years. never been indoors, but it has worked flawlessly for me every time. I think I paid some very small sum for it on sale.

90% of the use has been pressing out front wheel bearings. And I don't even like doing car stuff!
 
I made a press with scrap from work (old safety railings, 1.5” square tube) and a 12 or 16t bottle jack on sale from princess auto. I have the jack mounted in the normal orientation with mattress springs to retract it. Works great for bearings and stuff. Pressed out wheel studs for a buddy once too.
 

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PaulL said:
I've been thinking of a press. Is there any downside with going 20 ton instead of 10 ton? Forging applications need much larger/faster, but I don't have much experience with using these to press bearings. I've done a few of small pressings with a bottlejack in a crappy frame, but never pushed it.
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You will be getting essentially the same press, maybe a bit lighter built, but with a different bottle jack on it.

I have a 20 ton, and am really looking at putting a 10 ton bottle on it, to speed things along. The 20 is nice for straightening out bent parts, but for anything that isn't at the far end of capacity, I'd like it to move faster.

Bottle jacks are cheap too!
 
Dabbler said:
I've had a 20t bottle jack Princess Auto for about 20 years. never been indoors, but it has worked flawlessly for me every time. I think I paid some very small sum for it on sale.

90% of the use has been pressing out front wheel bearings. And I don't even like doing car stuff!
Click to expand...

I build my own press and most of its work (real one at least) has been pressing in and out front wheel bearings for my Tacoma. And I also do not like working on cars. I may place it outside on of these days - there is indeed little reason why it needs to be indoors.
 
I have a 20 ton and a 6 ton. They both get used a lot for pressing out bearings, piston liners etc. I find the 20ton confining when your work piece is bulky, say a tire from a dirt bike.

I’m going to be building a cage for all my presses, too many holy _hit moments
 
Picked up a generic, like new, used 20 ton a couple years back. Swapped the 20 ton bottle jack with a 12 ton pneumatic I had gathering dust. Makes it a little faster. 'Course, that means it breaks things quicker, too. Picked up some 1/16" thick teflon sheet & epoxied it on a few surfaces to tighten up the clearances some. Seems to work.
 
JustaDB said:
Picked up a generic, like new, used 20 ton a couple years back. Swapped the 20 ton bottle jack with a 12 ton pneumatic I had gathering dust. Makes it a little faster. 'Course, that means it breaks things quicker, too. Picked up some 1/16" thick teflon sheet & epoxied it on a few surfaces to tighten up the clearances some. Seems to work.
Click to expand...

Originally I didn't like it loose either. But I got over that very quickly. I reasoned that it was better to have the frame joints flex than break. I have never needed it to be solid. Once the jack takes up the frame play, nothing moves.

PaulL said:
Is there any downside with going 20 ton instead of 10 ton?
Click to expand...

I have a 20 ton. It will change a piece of 1/4 inch mild steel into sheet metal if you are not careful. I hate how long it takes to take up the play. One pump per micron movement is slooooowwww going.

Nonetheless, I would ALWAYS get the bigger one if I had the choice and the room. I store my smaller 8 ton, 4 ton, and 2 ton jacks beside the press. They are easy to swap in and out with the 20 ton for those times when you want a more delicate touch or a faster response. You cannot use a bigger jack if you get the smaller press.

To my way of thinking, the bigger press is a no brainer.
 
I am looking at these now and see pnumatic. I question it because it still says you have to crank it. These have both a lever and a foot control. They require 110-120 PSI.

Are these one I just mentioned auto? I would want a motor or other power source to do the work....no cranking.
 
Air over (pneumatic) gives you the option of cranking or using the pneumatics to pump for you

No hand pumping if you don't want to.....but it is loud, earplug loud
 
And you need LLLOOOTTTSSS of air. A wimpy compressor or small diameter hose will not work except at low loads.

Also, a farm buddy down the road has one just like mine. He forgot to add an oiler. BAD IDEA. They need oil in the air.

I don't use the pneumatic jack on my press. I use it to lift my tractors to change wheel width etc. Yet another reason to keep some small jack's handy.
 
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