Cardboard baler to Hydraulic press ?? Advice please

[hammernanvil]

I was thinking about converting a cardboard
baler into a Hydraulic Press.
I really have no Hydraulic experience, so I’m
wondering if one of the cylinders from a baler
would work as is?
Would the pump be my main concern for
tonnage or ?
I was interested in a baler cylinder for the
extra long stroke length if needed.

[Black Forest]

I would say it all depends! What do you want to press and what tonnage do you think you will need? Then it is a simple matter of a few calculations to figure out if what you have will work.

[754]

I hope you are thinking one axis..

[reggie_obe]

https://www.wastecare.com/Specs-Details/Vertical-Balers/60-Inch-Balers/60-1048.htm

These specs may or may not be typical, But from what I recall, bailers have fairly large electric motors. even if you got the bailer for free, seems like it would be a real energy pig.

[BCRider]

What is the stroke on a baler's cylinder? You seldom need more than 6 to 8" of stroke for a press. And many/most get by just fine with the 3 to 4 inches of stroke from a basic hydraulic shop jack used with a suitable adjustable frame.

Next is the force. What is the diameter of the piston in the baler's cylinder? The surface area x the pressure provides the total force you can produce. For example 1.5" diameter piston is 3.14 x .75^2 = 1.77 square inch area. And if you feed it with 3K psi that's 3000 x 1.77 = 5300 lbs of push maximum.

For occasional home use there's really no need for a motorized pump. If you get it for cheap then sure. But you can find hand pumps that will run a hydraulic cylinder which work just fine too.

I've never seen a baler and reggie's link provided me with a security warning so I didn't bother going further with the link. So I offer you the factors that are a good start to figure out for yourself if a baler is a good option or not.

[Toolguy]

Another good option is a log splitter ram and controls.

[Illinoyance]

That will give you close to 30 tons force. You will probably only be able to use a foot or so of the 48" stroke.




'

[hammernanvil]

Thanks for the replys, especially the formula.
I really don’t have a specific one in mind but
a lot of them seem to have about a 60” stroke
and about a 4-6” cylinder with a 2” rod or so.
I have seen some slightly smaller ones.

[754]

- Sounds like you can easily add a punch and shear. .
I say try for around 10 inch.
3to 4 just means constant table raising and shimming.

[hammernanvil]

What?

[oxford]

Unless you have a specific operation you need it for I don’t see the need for such a long stroke. I could see 12” max and like the others have mentioned shorter than that is definitely usable.

[BCRider]

754 means that 3 to 4 inch stroke, like from a simple floor jack, means you end up moving the base table or cross pieces a lot more or can't do a full push in one stroke. He's suggesting a cylinder with more like 10" travel if you're going to do this at all.

The other question is just how often will you be doing this sort of thing? I have a frame I welded up many years back to use as a bearing press. It's come in handy as blazes roughly once every 12 years or so. In other words I've used it precisely three times since I made it back in the late 1980's for a job I needed to use it for right then. And I've used it twice since that time. It's a simple frame with an adjustable cross table and some bar stock pins. I use it with a common floor jack. It's not ideal and there's a lot of fumbling with things but it does the job. And for as often as I need it it does the job just fine. Most of my pressing needs are handled with my bench vise. It's only when things don't fit there that the frame comes off where it hangs on the wall and I break out the little hydraulic floor jack.

Mind you that's pretty odd. I'm sure a lot of us around here use their presses far more often than I've needed. But a cylinder the size of what you're suggesting from the baler would certainly be rather fantastic overkill.... or just VERY impressive.....

And due to the volume involved in a cylinder of that size I'm going to alter what I mentioned about the hand pumping supply and suggest you opt for the electric version.

Thing is you can get electric sources that provide good pressure but at a limited gallons per minute. And again for most uses of a press you don't need it to slap in and out. A slow steady pace would be just fine. And for that sort of thing a lower volume high pressure pump with a lower power motor would be just fine.

[metalmagpie]

The REAL question is what PSI the baler's hydraulic system runs at. If it's 1500, pass. If it's 2500, it is very iffy for a press. If 10,000 it's a good choice even with all that extra ram. You can take the cylinder apart and cut a lot of the ram off, then cut an equivalent amount off the barrel and reassemble. Now you can get the stroke you want. If it has the bore you want and the psi rating you need, then it's modifiable to be used on a press. If it has too small a bore or too low of a psi rating, it will not work.

metalmagpie