Another auction find...

Yesterday I put up a picture of the bearing separator I got with a press I bought at live auction in recent weeks. So here is a picture of the actual press. I bought this on spec not knowing if it worked or if I could use it. Just thought it was a cool old machine so I bought it. It is not hydraulic, it is pneumatic, and I could not figure out how it could work on standard compressor pressures and still do any type of heavy jobs. Getting it home was the first chore. The very nice man who loaded it was afflicted with Alzheimers (really!) and had to be shown periodically where the controls were on his forklift. Got it home where I have no forklift...but that is another story. I hooked this up to my Makita portable compressor and plugged it into a convenient outlet. It has a red and a green button which I assumed were off/on switches. They are in fact both ON switches and have to be operated together to make the press work. I tried it on a bent mower blade and it pressed it flat. I have a finish mower with rear trailing wheels and the wheel arms are 1/2" steel. Both were bent so I thought I would try the worst of those on the press. I was shocked when it flattened that out also. The ram comes down very quickly and no hesitation. So I am very much liking this press. Various documents say Parker Fluidpower, Otsego MI. The press table is still off the press in the picture. It weighs around 100# and did not want it on there while unloading. If anyone knows anything about this thing I am interested in learning.

Looks to be about a 5 ton pneumatic press.

Wow, a very nice looking press!

Be very careful with that!

It's not going to act like a hydraulic press. If you are pressing something apart, when the piece gives it up, the ram is not going to proceed at the same speed like a hydraulic will. If it has a lot of pressure built up, it will slam down!

That's why the dual controls, to keep both hands on the buttons and away from the ram area. Still it can eject a part, come down and break something, shatter a bearing into shrapnel!

You need to think of that thing as a big QUICK hammer. If you have something not centered right and hit the buttons parts can fly. Not something I would want around my shop.

Before I looked at the picture, I thought it could be an air over oil system. That would multiply the air pressure. After looking at the picture, it is probably all air.

Put a ball valve in the air supply line to slow down the rate. It won't change the force of the press, just the speed.

Mr. Dave, I don't reply to very many posts on here, because somebody else usually knows more than I do. However, in this case, I may be a tiny bit more knowledgeable than some . If that is a double acting cylinder, and it should be, you have to control the speed of travel by restricting the rate the discharge air leaves the cylinder. A flow control valve is the correct means of doing this. If this cylinder is pressure down and spring return, you will not be able to have the control that you need. You could put a flow control valve on the top side, it would slow the cylinder until it met resistance and then if pressure overcame resistance, It would become, as someone said, a hammer. To have complete and safe control of this machine, you would need a flow control valve on both ports of the cylinder. Flow control valves are free flow in one direction and controlled flow in the other. I hope this made sense. Steve, in Banner, Ms.

That would be a nice addition to my shop.
We had one similar where I used to work, probably not going to work for all your pressing needs but handy none the less

Since the brand name is Parker, could it have originally been a press for crimping hydraulic hoses? As many of you know, Parker is a leading supplier of hose and fittings

In a factory that would work in place of a (more technical/moving pieces) crank press. A die would be loaded in, place the blank then stamp away. My pa got a smaller one out of the plant he worked at. Sure was a fun can crusher till something didn't work one day.

You have a good solid frame there. Pull that air cylinder off and convert it to hydraulic. See if you can find a make and number on the cylinder. From the looks of it it could be hydraulic, nice thick end plats. Some cylinders can be used either way. Just put a pump and valve on it. With that bore it will be nice and slow with a lot of force. You have no control with air.

You should be able to figure out how many pounds of force it is capable of producing. Just take the estimated surface area of the piston in square inches and multiply it by the pounds of air pressure that you are applying.

Makes absolute sense, and if you watch this forum the next couple days I will get some pictures of the far side of the press and post one. The side shown has a lot of electrical components but the hidden side has the pneumatic components. It also had a couple little tools that came with it. I will post those along with the press. The ram on this press moves well but I may have misled others on the speed. It is a slow controlled movement. I will test it with a strip of plywood to see if it jumps when resistance is overcome...just so I understand the potential for harm.

Also, I do not believe the ram to be spring return. If you look at the picture, the ram is hanging below the cylinder. Once air pressure was restored to the unit it retracted slowly back inside. Appreciate the info! I will get the additional picture and maybe we can learn more.

Mr. Dave, it may already have the flow controls. I look forward to the pictures. Thanks. Steve.

I enjoy reading posts like you posted Steve, as you know what your talking about. Thank you