dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 I just finished my first electric press and I wanted to share it with you all. It has a 3" ram, 16" stroke, double acting, sitting on a 2" x 6"-1/4" structural steel box that is 24" high inside, 12" between the uprights with 5 stops equally distanced every 4". The pump is a 3000psi double acting unit with a 2 gallon tank, adjustable relief valve that can be dialed down to 200psi with room to spare for the small rockets and pumps. I have a 625 cold cranking amp battery (cheapo from Wally-world) and a battery maintainer for trickle charging all contained in a rolling 27 gallon latching bin for mobility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookieman Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Thats a nice press Rocket man. I'm sure it makes things alot easier. When I can scrape some money together I had my eye on this one. Tell what you think. Does the gauge measure in PSI? My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 Thats a nice press Rocket man. I'm sure it makes things alot easier. When I can scrape some money together I had my eye on this one. Tell what you think. Does the gauge measure in PSI? My link The only problem with that press is that it will not press a 3# rocket. My press has a 24" throat and when that first rammer is done, it takes up a full 14" of space, your open space on that one will only allow you to press a 1# rocket max. This is the one you need and its an air over, $200.00 delivered to PGI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsi Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Oooh, thats a beauty! Really, really great job! Did you do the welding yourself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Thats a nice press Rocket man. I'm sure it makes things alot easier. When I can scrape some money together I had my eye on this one. Tell what you think. Does the gauge measure in PSI? My link I have the same kind of press and I have pressed dozens of 3 pound rockets with it. If you want to I can measure the maximum hight you can press with this thing.I don't know where dagaubu is talking about.His press is nice obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunzway Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 That looks very nice indeed. Really need to get around with making my press... What do you plan to use for a blast shield? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost808 Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Ooh wow that is really nice.... i wish i could get one of those.! Did you make it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookieman Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 I have the same kind of press and I have pressed dozens of 3 pound rockets with it. If you want to I can measure the maximum hight you can press with this thing.I don't know where dagaubu is talking about.His press is nice obvious. The spec. sheet says it has a working range of 6 1/2" to 13 inches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 Oooh, thats a beauty! Really, really great job! Did you do the welding yourself? Yup! I was a union welder for a decade after the gulf war. It took 6 hours of welding and 5# of .35 wire to finish it. Thanks for the compliment, it was a labor of love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 That looks very nice indeed. Really need to get around with making my press... What do you plan to use for a blast shield? I have two sheets of hockey glass that I got from a friend on Passfire that I will mount sandwiched with a 1" gap between in an angle iron frame and hinged on the right side with an L latch on the left side. I may not have it done for PGI so I will stand to the side when pressing rockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 The spec. sheet says it has a working range of 6 1/2" to 13 inches Freaky, yes, sorry, I see that now, I was looking at the stroke What I was addressing is the height of the tooling when you are pressing a 3# rocket, namely the Universal Hybrid design. You will see that in the attached picture that the overall height of the tooling is 15" before the next rammer is used. With 13", the 2# UT tooling can be used but you do have some limitations with a bench top press. I am not trying to hack on anyone here, I have a club buddy that dropped $250.00 on a similar press at Harbor Freight last fall after PGI and won a 3# UT tooling set and he has to use my press to make them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 (edited) Ooh wow that is really nice.... i wish i could get one of those.! Did you make it? Yes, I saw one that someone else had made for commercial sale and they wanted $3000.00 for it. I paid $715.00 complete including the welding wire. I have some carpel tunnel issues so this is a blessing to use. If anyone wants to build one, I can direct you to the places I got all of my materials. A welding shop should charge by the weld inch so be prepared to spend a few bucks to have this welded up for you. Edited July 24, 2010 by dagabu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Thats a nice press Rocket man. I'm sure it makes things alot easier. When I can scrape some money together I had my eye on this one. Tell what you think. Does the gauge measure in PSI? My link You can take the black beam out so you have 3"" extra space. 47cm is the max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookieman Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 You can take the black beam out so you have 3"" extra space. 47cm is the max. Thanks, what"s the length of your tube for a 3lb rocket motor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 8" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookieman Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Freaky, yes, sorry, I see that now, I was looking at the stroke What I was addressing is the height of the tooling when you are pressing a 3# rocket, namely the Universal Hybrid design. You will see that in the attached picture that the overall height of the tooling is 15" before the next rammer is used. With 13", the 2# UT tooling can be used but you do have some limitations with a bench top press. I am not trying to hack on anyone here, I have a club buddy that dropped $250.00 on a similar press at Harbor Freight last fall after PGI and won a 3# UT tooling set and he has to use my press to make them. Rocketman, Is this the tooling your talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted July 24, 2010 Author Share Posted July 24, 2010 Looks like it, mines by Ben Smith so it has a round bottom but it sure looks like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 (edited) Thanks, what"s the length of your tube for a 3lb rocket motor?The maximum tube length for rockets is 10x ID, so about 10" for a 3# BP coreburning rocket. Edited July 24, 2010 by FREAKYDUTCHMEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 Yup! I was a union welder for a decade after the gulf war. It took 6 hours of welding and 5# of .35 wire to finish it. Thanks for the compliment, it was a labor of love Very nice press dagabu. I'd have burned about 5# of 7018's myself...and probably 10hrs of welding One of these day's I'll make a nice press, but I really only press BP and maybe a fountain from time to time so no rush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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