Gauge for 50 ton shop press

Oregon Tractor Jack · Feb 22, 2017

Okay, I'm stumped. I bought a 50 ton air over oil shop press and the pressure/force gauge is kaput. I called the manufacturer to price a replacement and they wanted a CRAZY price for one. Like $400 crazy. I figured I don't really need a gauge the reads in tons and that psi is quite workable. I measured the bore of the cylinder, figured out the area, divided the area into the tons/pounds of force and figured I needed an 8000psi gauge. I found 10k psi one at the local hydraulic fitting shop for $12.50. Great! I put it on the press and it doesn't move off zero. The gauge is plumbed directly above the cylinder. I even went back to the shop and exchanged it thinking the first one was defective. The second one doesn't budge either. What am I over looking?

OTJ

Deere Mark · Feb 22, 2017

So were you actually pressing something when you read the gauge? The pressure will be nearly zero until the cylinder is applying a lot of force. For example; for a 4 inch diameter cylinder (about 12 square inches area), 1,000 PSI would be needed to apply 12,000 pounds (6 tons). 5,000 PSI would be needed to apply 60,000 pounds (30 tons).

DENNIS MIN · Feb 22, 2017

Oregon,

Is that gage on the air side or the hydraulic? Using your measurements, the calculations may be rather straight forward.

D.

pete 23 · Feb 22, 2017

I don't know the psi gauge we had on the dealers 50 ton hand pumped press, but I do know it was not dampened nearly enough. If you had something difficult in press and it finally let loose, so did the gauge. We always put an old shot gauge in for normal press work. You could feel on the handle if you were getting close to the amount of force you dared to apply. Only used the gauge when cold riveting differential ring gears.

jeffcat · Feb 22, 2017

Way tooo high. Bet you don't get over a couple thousand if that. Let us see what the rest of the gang says.

Jeff NWOH · Feb 22, 2017

As long as you are actually pressing something, you should see some movement on that gauge. Here's a pic of the one on my 40 ton. If I'm reading it right, it's 15000 psi at full scale.

Oregon Tractor Jack · Feb 22, 2017

The bore is 4" which calculates out to 12.56 sq/in. I was compressing some fir and cedar scrap lumber. Number one son pointed out that the wood is soft and that most wood splitters work on lower pressures. I am going to press some steel tomorrow and see how it works. I will give an up date then.

jimtrs · Feb 23, 2017

(quoted from post at 18:28:14 02/22/17) Okay, I'm stumped. I bought a 50 ton air over oil shop press

Probably needless to say, but Be Careful with that much force.

I have a 30 ton shop press that I couldn't live without. Whenever I get over about half of that force, I can tell it can become dangerous.

If something ain't budging, more force is not always the answer.

Pete in Holland MI · Feb 23, 2017

Note the Force on a 3-1/4" ram note on the face? That 15,000 number is pounds of force on the object being crushed, or 7-1/2 tons, not oil pressure.

The area of a 3-1/4" ram is 8.29 square inches.

15,000 pounds force divided by 8.29 square inches 1,809 pounds (PSI) of hydraulic force required to generate 15,000 pounds force on your part.

You need a 2000 pound gauge, then create a conversion chart to place along side.

Deere Mark · Feb 23, 2017

On the gauge the outer scale is clearly marked in "pounds per square inch". The inner scale is labeled as "Tons on 3 1/4 inch diameter ram". So 15,000 PSI would give 62.175 tons of force. 15,000 * 8.29 = 124,350 pounds = 62.175 tons. You have a 4 inch diameter ram and a 10,000 PSI gauge. That should be a good combination.

Gauge for 50 ton shop press

Oregon Tractor Jack

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