My Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Forging Press

Рет қаралды 2,526

Күн бұрын

For those who are curious, here are the 5 biggest pitfalls to look out for.
First off is of course safety. I can never know that this is 100% safe because I can't do force testing on a second one, and I don't know how good my welds truly are under the surface.
Secondly, the time. Admittedly, this went particularly poorly for me. However, I’m certain that even if you knew what you were doing, time would still be an issue. Now I’m not saying that you could make enough money to buy a press in the time that it takes you to make one. But it will take a good long while, no matter how competent (or incompetent, in my case) you are.
Thirdly is rigidity. The reason why this press underperforms for me is because it is not rigid enough. And I used some pretty thick material, so You need to use extremely thick material, and also engineer enough adjustability in the system. not to mention if you can even find what you need in the scrap bin, or for a reasonable price.
Fourthly is precision. I am not a very precise person but this made me realize to exactly what extent. Nothing on this machine is straight despite my best efforts. And even very simple things are not precise enough for a satisfying and rigid fit.
And the final point is cumulative error. You see, all of these add up in a really unpleasant way. The lack of tight fits on many joints means that oftentimes, things will shift under pressure. This then means that because there isn’t a lot of rigidity in the system, it will bend which can lead to awkward stress on the machine and extremely imprecise and weak crunches. I can hand forge most things faster than I can make them with this.
So, moral of the story: making one of these will be a very fun and long challenge that will test everything about your craftsmanship. However, if you're anything like me, it will end up being horrible.
And as always, Have a fantastic day :)

Пікірлер: 45

@o.t112 7 ай бұрын

It's alright The Lord knows I've started a few projects that I frabricobbled that ended up being a pain but I learned a ton from it.

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Hear hear, every “failed” project is many lessons leaned. The burnt hand is the best teacher.

@sdcreates6176 7 ай бұрын

I freaking love how not knowing what you are doing is never an excuse to give up. Keep doing!

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Thank you! I’m nothing if not persistent

@JC-js9we 7 ай бұрын

I went through so many emotions watching this video! So much work! Keep us up to date what happens! Great video as always!

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Thank you! I will make some community posts about it so if you want to hear those you should subscribe

@clone4211 7 ай бұрын

As someone who also feels like a home garage hack somedays, you can really level up your welds by grinding the mill scale off of the steel before welding. Also, more heat and more shielding gas helps a lot until it betrays you. Although my older mig welder might be a Lincoln, it is also a struggle as the wire tends to stick in the stinger and not feed.

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the recommendation. Luckily I don’t actually need to worry about shield gas, because this is a flux core welder. On the other hand, it’s a flux core welder and so it has a butt ton of spatter. As for the heat, everything was at the maxed out voltage and I’m beginning to think that that is far lower than I would like it to be…

@garyyorke1080 7 ай бұрын

Well i gotta say it was very enjoyable watching your thought progress and methodology in this build . I'm not sure if its a design of your making or just real bad luck on the build . Personally i reckon you would have had a better welding result with a stick welder as they are more suitable to heavy section material for diy usage . You tube has some great build videos on presses and a fair few have been done without the need to weld however they do require the use of your newest past time .. drilling holes for bolts ..a rule of thumb i use on builds is more movement equates to less rigidity .. I'm looking forwards to seeing if you remake or modify or launch this build into the scrap bin . Gonna subscribe so i can follow .. good luck

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the good suggestions, I was actually initially intending to use a stick welder, however doing some test pieces, that turned out to have some… Not fantastic results. Entirely on my fault though, as I’m not good with a stick welder and I would need actual instruction to improve. Thank you for the subscription! I’m curious to see what I’ll do too…

@garyyorke1080 7 ай бұрын

@@Anvil_knocker with anything anyone makes for the first time unless you're a skilled fabricator there will alway be some construction issues and self doubt in your own abilities. Hell im still blowing holes with tig welder .. I'm pretty good using a gas mig but its all that hand coordination that gets me with the tig and knowing the way to set it up .like anyting practice does help . See ya in the next video .. plan or not lol

@JewerlyAutomata 7 ай бұрын

Great and honest video, sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches.

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Sometimes life will kick you to the dirt. Luckily enough for me, I was always the kid who ate dirt

@KoJaksKranium 7 ай бұрын

Your video was great. Maybe give yourself a break, because you are showing your mistakes, just like everyone else makes. Trust me when I tell you. There are plenty of people out here thinking about making a similar press. That's why most of us are watching. I learned plenty from your video, as I assume others did. And like the comment prior to mine, your tenacity and overall attitude are awesome. You seem like a sharp young dude. Just be patient and think about how much more you'll know in 20 years. Good project, for sure. Thanks.

@Anvil_knocker 6 ай бұрын

Thank you! I’m glad that my video could help people, because I feel like knowing what not to do is just as important as what to do. I hope you have more luck than I did , and am still having, but it’ll get done if I have anything to say about it!

@jeronimomod156 6 ай бұрын

Clean up your welding zone. And on welding thicker material with a little MIG welder. Preheat the metal to around 300°. You'll get much better penetration it Will smooth out and blend in.

@Anvil_knocker 6 ай бұрын

I don’t actually have a welding zone, and I do usually preheat my metal, but since this was such a large shape I couldn’t stick it in my forage

@michaelhinman1770 6 ай бұрын

Very cool video, I love the concept! Just because i am a new mechanical engineer grad, i can't help but look and think of ideas to make this work! No guarantees, but... something you might try to keep the ram level is to pre tension the vertical members inwards. Maybe brackets on the outside middle of the vertical members, connected by a pair of allthread rods. Then you can play with nuts to get the tension right. The idea being that as you put more force downward with the cylinder, the verts would need to straighten out before they can stretch. Shim the ram prior to tensioning the cross-rod system, and *in theory* the verts will always be clamping the ram. Keep up the great content, I really enjoy what you are doing!

@Anvil_knocker 6 ай бұрын

Thank you very much! There are a lot of design cues that I was going to adopt from other coal ironworks presses, (some of which were very similar to what I think you’re talking about) however I assumed I could get away without them and… you know how it ended. I’m contemplating doing a video of trying to fix the press, reinforcing it and slightly changing the ram system, but I also don’t know if it’ll really be worth it.

@ahmetXrock 6 ай бұрын

Interesting video, I had heard of some creators making their own hydraulic presses and was quite interested in the process. I see it's not so simple after all. I have some questions about the system. What is the machinery you connected to the hydraulic cylinder, and what's the ballpark for it's cost? A tip regarding your sound quality, which can be all over the place at times. The quality of your recordings can vary depending on the environment, as the sound bounces off the walls. A cheap lav mic may pick your voice up better than your phone or camera several feet away.I've seen Adam Ragusea suggest doing voice overs in a coat closet as the fabrics act as a kind of sound proofing. Keep at it!

@Anvil_knocker 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the audio advice, and as for my hydraulic motors, that is a 2 hp power pack from coalironworks.com I chose that one because I know that it will be useful for me no matter how much other machinery I get, and also it could be plugged into a normal wall outlet

@alisdairherd9501 7 ай бұрын

The guide on the ram is too short, it can jam in the frame easily because of this. Where the guide is short compared to the width of the opening the leverage is too high and it can jam on the guides. Think of a crow bar, you're using the small end on the frame so the leverage is high, you want the opposite.

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

My thoughts exactly, that’s the first thing that I’m modifying, along with adding reinforcement to the frame itself

@hinz1 7 ай бұрын

Dude, get a stick welder with plenty of amps and you can weld those steel plates no problem.

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Unfortunately the only thing in the budget is this sucky fluxcore one, but I’m thinking a worthwhile investment would be a better welder, maybe a stick welder but I don’t really know how to stick weld

@menschlichermensch1089 7 ай бұрын

I would have tried to lubricate the rails to prevent jamming

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

I was planing on lubing it after I ran it up and down a few times for the sole reason that on the coal ironworks website that’s how they say to break in their presses, but mine doesn’t have bronze wear plates or paint, so I should have

@peterlitwinczuk5403 7 ай бұрын

This is what happens when you don't work with a plan and make things up as you go....

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

There was actually a small scene that I ended up cutting out where I talked about my lack of plan, and all of the problems that that created. I’d like to say that next time I’ll have a better plan, but let’s be real, I won’t

@y-notforge8913 7 ай бұрын

..you learn by doing. Where did you get the power unit...?

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

Oh how right you are, and I had the 2 hp power pack from Coal Iron Works

@multyryex1761 7 ай бұрын

bro i have a welder that doesnt even tell me the amps, and do your lights dimm when you put pressure on something?

@Anvil_knocker 7 ай бұрын

I’m glad that I’m not the only one dealing with an annoying welder, and yes because I was running the power pack through a extension cord whenever it would bottom out the lights would dim so much that they were basically off