Need recommendation for press for swaging aluminum oval sleeves

[adatesman]

Howdy Folks,

A friend has an application where he will be swaging a large number of Locoloc rope sleeves onto nylon rope and is looking for advice on what sort of press to use. The sleeves in question are customized SL1-10R and SL1-12R from Loos (Link to Loos), with the customized bit being that they're only 3/4" in length rather than the standard 1-1/4" and 1-7/16". Loos spec'd out a suitable swaging die for him, but had little advice on what kind of press to use other than it might take upwards of 5 ton to complete the swage (although likely half that). The Loos catalog says to use their #4 Hydraulic press for the SL1-10R and 12R, but a 30 ton press seems like quite a bit of overkill and unnecessary cost.

A couple other factors.... His time study needs the die go from open to closed to back open in ~10 seconds and removal of the completed piece and loading with a new one to happen in ~20 seconds. Repeatability of the swage is a must, as he needs to be able to hand this process off to someone else. And finally quieter is better, both for the sake of his hearing and because he's working in a residential neighborhood.

I'm thinking at 5 tons a simple arbor press or kick press would do nicely, provided something was done for die alignment.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
-aric.

[ogre]

The time u need would toss the hydraulic press out i would think . How fast are the air operated ones? I dont own an air one but i know i can gettem everywhere.

[Optics Curmudgeon]

There was a discussion of this here: http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/thr...hlight=swaging
I didn't read it all, but you might find something useful.

[Boucher]

I have used a punch press to do something similar back in the late 50’s

[adatesman]

Thanks Guys!

Posted this on PM as well, and got a bit more response there. Someone pointed out this is what fly presses were used for back in the day, and with a bit more digging I turned up a blacksmith supply place in WI that imports seemingly decent ones. I'm pretty excited about this, as I'd been lusting after a fly press a while... :-)

Oh, and I passed the contact info over to my friend.

[Paul Alciatore]

You can get at least up to 5 ton arbor presses with mechanical activation which would give the fast cycle time needed. Here is one on E-Bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTERSTATE-5...item20c88efc75

A mechanical stop for the arm would provide the repeatability.

[ironmonger]

I have a #3 Flypress that I purchased from Bob at the aforementioned shop in Wi. I have known him for 25 years. If you have any doubt as to the suitability of the flypress for your application I know that you will get a straight answer from him.
The flypress has a high cycle rate, and has a good resale if you don't find another use for it.

see:
http://www.oldworldanvils.com/flypresses/index.html
http://www.abana.org/ronreil/flypress.shtml
http://fredlyfx.com/flypress.htm

Thanks Guys!

Posted this on PM as well, and got a bit more response there. Someone pointed out this is what fly presses were used for back in the day, and with a bit more digging I turned up a blacksmith supply place in WI that imports seemingly decent ones. I'm pretty excited about this, as I'd been lusting after a fly press a while... :-)

Oh, and I passed the contact info over to my friend.

[adatesman]

Thanks for the referral, Ironmonger! I've already found the first two links, but looking forward to going through the third now that everyone else is asleep. I really think this is the route my friend should go, and already forwarded him the info. He's apparently still away for TurkeyDay, but we should be getting more info/questions from him tomorrow or the next day.

[adatesman]

Thanks Paul!