Ultimate Home Machine Shop

[kmcconaughey]

On December 29th 2004, Mike Horn, Robb Kruger, Art Aytay and I went on a little road trip. Anyone care to guess where we ended up? )

 

[digger]

Looks like a Dan H. setup to me, grin

 

[kmcconaughey]

Charlie, yep! Dan even offerd to make some stuff while we were there so we could see how he does it. Very Cool!!!

 

[kmcconaughey]

And of course a trip to visit Dan wouldn't be complete without a few minutes in his basement to play at the race track.

 

[digger]

Well I guess we better have some moving pictures of this deal huh!

CLICK HERE for Movie #1
CLICK HERE for Movie #2
CLICK HERE for Movie #3
CLICK HERE for Movie #4

 

[kmcconaughey]

Charlie, thanks for posting the links to the videos.

 

[sblunier]

Did you crash as many cars as Travis, Wyatt, Chris E., and I did when we made the trip????

Did Dan expalin his youngest daughter's racing techniques????

BTW, Isn't that one of the coolest places on earth?????

(Message edited by sblunier on January 11, 2005)

 

[kmcconaughey]

Steve, I declined the offer to race the cars. There were only a few crashes. (Could be due to me not driving, but then I drove the "road trip" vehicle and there were no real crashes either.....TG)

Yes, and Robb quickly learned the technique, choose the outside lane then run WOT and slap the wall. )

YES!!! )

 

[dkamp]

Hey- a man's gotta have tools! :-}

Having good tools in a well-illuminated and climate-controlled shop really makes it easier to do this stuff. Dan's got an AWESOME shop!

 

[dbeck]

A while back someone was asking about foam filled tires. I had foam filled tires (23x10.50x12)on a 1650. Total weight for each tire was 115 lbs. I tried wheel weights but tractor width was a factor. This tractor was modified with a stump grinding wheel mounted on the front end and the foam filled tires provided very adequate counterbalencing.

 

[dkamp]

Good info, but did you mean for this to be on a different forum-thread, Dave?

 

[dkamp]

Great video-clips of the press-brake in action- makes me wanna ditch my 20-ton for something 'thicker', and put an electrohydraulic power unit on a 6" ram...

Looking at the shape of the cross-bed, I'd say that Dan has seen the upper limit of the press's capacity...

(Message edited by dkamp on January 12, 2005)

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dave K2, Dan made the press, I believe he said it now has a 50 ton capability but be built it for less then that and that is why the bed is flexing. He has the steel for a new stronger higher capicity press but has not gotten around to making it. Note the sliding cylinder (trolley) on the press. Also the pulleys on the top are for a counter weight system on the bed so it is easier to adjust up and down, if you pull the support pins the bed wont drop. (Dan, I hope I'm not giving away any secrets...)

 

[aaytay]

Maybe if I throw one of these little pointy metal things I can break his camera....

 

[dkamp]

Kraig- there was a nice article in one of the Home Shop Machinist / Machinist's Workshop magazines a year or so ago about building a friendlier shop-press, and these features did appear there, albeit not in the 30+ ton capacity. The trolley'd ram and counterweighted-bed are on my wish-list, as well as more rigidity in the bed, and better clearance around the ram. Mine's hand-operated bottle-jack territory, and there's a 'dead zone' between ram extension range and bed-spacing that'd I'd much like to see vanish... most likely, once I get the Bridgeport and Monarch running, I'll just start over from scratch, and make the press full-power, with extreme strength, but also on serious casters so I can tuck it along the wall when not-in-use.
The unfortunate aspects of my current shop is
1) no climate control
2) Does double-duty as a garage in the wintertime.

Once I overcome these two factors, I'll be a VERY happy guy!!!

 

[bpalsgrove]

Here are some pics of a small 10T press I just finished. I made it so I could put a larger cylinder on it in the future. If I find one cheap on eBay.

http://tractorsport.com/pressfront.JPG
http://tractorsport.com/pressside.JPG

The cylinder and pump can be moved from side to side and oversized parts can be located between the uprights if need be.

 

[dhoefler]

Hmmmmmm...Haven't posted in a while so, I hope I remember how this works.

First off, Kraig and Art, thanks for taking the pictures, I guess we did cover many topics that day! Rob and Mike, it was good seeing you guys again too. Thanks for taking time from your holiday vacation to stop by. It is always fun to show folks how things are made. The visit was a lot of fun, I don't get as many "tractor" guys stopping by like I did some time ago.

My shop is my first and longest hobby I have had. I have been collecting machines since I was in grade school. Most of the early machines I had are no longer in the collection with the exception of my drill press I bought new when I was in 8th grade in '75. It still gets used on a daily basis.

I designed and built the shop press back in '86. At the time I had a 25 ton Enerpac ram mounted on the press. When I did the calculations for the cross rails I figured for a maximum load of 50 tons applied at the mid point of the press. I figured a 25 ton safety would be adequate. Well, I quickley found out you can not do much work with just 25 tons so, a 55 ton ram was installed. Since the machine was designed for only a 50 ton load and I can apply an additional 5 tons, seems that is the reason for the deflection in the beams and tells me the calculations were pretty accurate.

The new press will be designed for 150 tons and will be fit with a 100 ton ram. It will also have the 55 ton ram mounted to the outside of one of the columns for doing lighter, open ended work.

At the time I built the original press, I had not seen any units outfitted with a ram mounted on a trolley or counterweights burried inside the columns. They are such useful features that I am sure they did exist on a press design out there somewhere.

Any other questions about the equipment in the shop, just ask.

Dan

 

[dkamp]

Don- two questions:

1) What diameter (and consequently what pressure) do you plan on using for a 100-ton ram and

2) Tell us about the cutting table!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dan, good to see you post! Thanks for the correct info on the press and for letting us "tractor" guys stop by. )

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dave K2, if you hurry you can edit your post so it reads: "Dan- two questions:......." rather than: "Don- two questions:.......")