May. 13, 2024
Choosing the right type of press can significantly impact productivity and quality at your factory. Let’s take a look at the details of hydraulic presses for manufacturing and assembly, as well as some potential alternatives to hydraulic presses.
Click here to get more.
There are many different factory presses to choose from, and finding the right press for your needs means matching the functionality and design of the press to the needs of your process. It’s important to assess your process first, so you know what to look for in a press, and then assess the different options available, so you can find the right fit.
As you assess your process, look for the following:
The following are a few of the most common presses used in manufacturing and assembly operations. We’ve selected these press types because of their versatility, functionality, stability, and power, which makes them ideal for a variety of different manufacturing and assembly tasks.
The C-frame hydraulic press is a versatile choice for manufacturing and assembly. Its open-front design allows easy access to the work area for easier die changing or adjustments and also for material loading, making it suitable for a variety of tasks such as bending, stamping, and forming. Since these presses are often smaller than 2 or 4-post presses by design, they are great choices when you’re dealing with limited floor space but still need the power of full hydraulic force. These presses are typically lower in cost compared to 2 and 4-post hydraulic presses as well.
Hydropneumatic presses are also available with a C-frame design. Air-over-oil presses can provide between 2.5 and 50 tons of force, allowing these models to accomplish many of the same jobs as hydraulic presses.
For heavy-duty applications, 2 or 4 post hydraulic presses provide stability and strength. The vertical posts on each side of the working area can either be structural or have a guided platen that moves along the posts for perpendicularity. In either case, the hydraulic cylinder or cylinders are typically mounted at the top of these posts.
With non-guided 2- or 4-post hydraulic presses, the structural configuration simply offers more room for larger pieces of working material. Guided systems provide an even surface area of pressure, exerting force horizontally along the surface area of the guided platen, ensuring perpendicularity for tasks that require a consistent and uniform application of force. These configurations may be required for punching several dies from a sheet of metal, foam, or plastic, or for other applications like metal forming and pressing over a large surface area.
The following presses are not full hydraulic presses, but they fit the bill for jobs and applications that require hydraulic power and often come with higher efficiency and lower cost and maintenance, so they are worth mentioning in the same vein. These are hydropneumatic presses, the first of which is something uniquely designed to function just like a hydraulic, with a higher return on ROI.
A hydropneumatic press is a great alternative to a purely hydraulic press for manufacturing and assembly. The Air Hydraulics line of AH-Series Hydropneumatic Presses provide a range of 4 to 50 tons of force. Since this model combines pneumatic and hydraulic forces, it works faster than a purely hydraulic press, and also requires less maintenance and initial investment. This model’s rapid, low-force approach stroke uses a hydraulic-intensified half-inch power stroke, providing a strong finish to a steady procedure, and also provides a low-cost, energy-efficient alternative to a single or 3-phase high voltage hydraulic power unit.
While most hydropneumatic presses deliver intensified power within a half-inch of the cylinder stroke, air-over-oil presses designed with full power strokes like our unique C-Series Air Hydraulics Presses, can be the perfect alternatives to medium force hydraulic presses.
These presses combine the advantages of hydraulic and pneumatic systems, offering a full power stroke like their hydraulic counterparts, but using compressed air for the return stroke, providing efficiency and speed. The full powerstroke air-over-oil model press provides between 2.5 and 15 tons of force, with pressure maintained throughout the entire stroke. This type of press is ideal for bushing or bearing insertion, press-fit, stud insertion, and many other manufacturing and assembly tasks. These presses provide the force of a hydraulic press, with reduced maintenance demands, increased speed, quieter operation, no high-voltage power requirements, and a lower upfront investment cost.
View our Air Hydraulic C-Series Presses ›
Choosing the right press for manufacturing and assembly involves a careful consideration of force, speed, and control. Hydraulic presses, along with their alternatives, offer a spectrum of options. By understanding the nuances of each type, manufacturers can make informed decisions that contribute to the efficiency and success of their operations. If you’re wondering about which press is ideal for your manufacturing or assembly needs, contact us. We can help you find the right design, force, and features for your application.
A hydraulic press is a machine that uses fluid pressure to generate a force. Also known as a Bramah press, this force can be used to compress or mould materials.
Often used in manufacturing and industrial applications, hydraulic presses are designed to exert a large amount of force while still being easy to operate. Laboratory hydraulic presses are smaller and have a lower force capacity than what you may see in an industrial environment, but they also have an added benefit of being more precise.
Hydraulic presses are commonly used for laboratory research and testing. This includes pressing KBr pellets for FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), or general sample pellets for XRF (X-ray Fluorescence).
To get accurate results from these tests, it’s important to use the right equipment. This is why hydraulic presses are available in numerous sizes and configurations – but with so many models to choose from, selecting the right machine for your application can prove difficult.
If you’re on a tight budget, a manual solution is likely to cost less than a product that’s electronically powered – but if your workforce will be using the press frequently, it might be too labor-intensive to be efficient. For busy labs where a lot of samples will need to be pressed, your workflow (and staff morale!) might benefit from an automatic machine that will be quicker and easier to use.
That’s not all. You also have the option of a mini hydraulic press, which is not only affordable but portable and easy to use, too.
Fortunately, Specac offers a range of hydraulic presses to suit a wealth of applications. This means we’re ideally placed to help find the ideal product to suit your requirements.
When used in a lab, hydraulic presses are often required to:
Here are some specific examples of where these applications are seen…
A hydraulic press is essential to create KBr (potassium bromide) pellets for FTIR, as well as general sample pellets for XRF.
FTIR is a type of spectroscopy that uses infrared light to study the properties of matter. To study the molecular structure of a powder sample, it first needs to be diluted in a transparent material – which is where the hydraulic press comes in.
When a mixed sample and KBr powder is compressed inside a die using a hydraulic press, its uniform force will produce a solid pellet that is mostly transparent to infrared light; but also contains a dilute quantity of sample, which is within the detection range of an FTIR instrument. The press applies an evenly distributed pressure over the sample, which transforms refractive material into transparent films that can be used for spectroscopic analysis. With the right press, this process can be completed in a few minutes.
Similarly, XRF spectroscopy is an analytical technique used to determine the elemental composition of materials. By producing general sample pellets in a hydraulic press, the integrity of a sample can be maintained throughout the XRF process. By squeezing the sample between two pressure plates at high pressure, a hydraulic press ensures that the sample is completely compacted and ready for analysis.
The APEX 400 is an advanced benchtop press dedicated to the high-throughput production of pellets for this application. It is designed with users in mind who will be working shifts, producing 10s to 100s of pellets in one go. Its layout and overall size are designed to make working in this way safer and more efficient for the user, while ensuring rapid progress of the work.
APEX 400 Benchtop XRF Press
The APEX 400 can press pellets via one of two methods: in a single-stroke process using reusable steel rings and a special “ring die” to hold the sample; or in a two-stroke process using standard dies and our innovative “Quickshift Technology” to help quickly retrieve the pellet from the die without manual replacement of the die.
Powder compaction is a process used to create a wide variety of composite materials. It involves using a hydraulic press to compress powder into a desired shape.
Powder compaction is an important tool for engineers and scientists who are working to develop new composite materials – for example, in the study of ferromagnetics.
In ferromagnetism, a hydraulic press is used to apply a force to a material to change its shape. The force creates a magnetic field, which then aligns the spins of the electrons within the atoms of the substance. Here, hydraulic presses are used to control the strength of a material’s magnetic field. By increasing or decreasing the force of the press, the magnetic field can be made stronger or weaker.
A similar example of powder compaction is seen when creating metal matrix composites.
Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are materials that combine a metal with another substance, typically a ceramic or a polymer. Powder metallurgy is the most common method for producing MMCs, and it typically involves using a hydraulic press.
First, the desired metal powder is blended with a matrix material. A press then applies force to the mixture, causing it to compact and take on the shape of the mold. The composite is then ready to be removed.
Presses can also help to analyze a material’s performance during the manufacturing process. For example, a hydraulic press could be used to assess blocking resistance, by testing the capability of a print material to not adhere to itself when applied under a certain amount of pressure.
For more information, please visit tpypress.
To test blocking resistance, a sample of material is placed between two plates. The pressure from the hydraulic press is increased gradually until it reaches a point where the sample can no longer be displaced; this is known as the ‘blocking point’, and is used as an indication of how easily any given sample might suffer shape deformations when stored in stacks on shelves, or in machines.
Microfluidic devices are often used in the healthcare industry for tasks such as blood testing and drug delivery. Prototyping microfluidic devices can be a challenge, however, due to the small size of the components. One way to overcome this challenge is to use a hydraulic press.
The process begins with a mechanic punch; this creates a hollow cavity in which the device walls can be formed. The punch is then placed inside the chamber of the press, and under pressure from the hydraulic system, it drives two weldable plates together to form a single device entity. This method ensures that all connections have been secured and any fluid going through such connections will not leak out of the system.
There are many ways that hydraulic presses can help with pharmaceutical research and development. One such example is dissolution testing – an important quality control process that helps to ensure the efficacy of pharmaceutical products.
Dissolution testing is an essential tool for ensuring that drugs or drug substances are safe and effective when consumed. It involves testing the rate and amount of active ingredients that dissolve in a liquid vehicle; this helps to measure how much of a drug will be released into the body, and at what rate.
One common way of performing these tests is through the use of a press. The sample is carefully weighed, placed in a dialysis bag with a dissolution medium, and submerged in the vessel of the press. From there, it’s pressed against a die with 1-10 tons of force, repeatedly over time to ensure thorough mixing with the dissolution media. This mixing process helps to calculate how much material was released out of the system, and continued pressing reinforces accurate results by breaking down particles even further.
Laboratory presses are available in a variety of sizes and configurations. Which one you need will usually be determined by the intended application – as well as how well it fits with your lab’s workflow and user requirements.
A manual hydraulic press uses a hand-operated lever to apply load to a sample.
A mechanical lever controls a piston that moves in a cylinder containing hydraulic oil, exerting pressure on a die or head containing the desired material. By turning the lever back and forth, pressure from the cylinder can be increased or decreased until an optimal amount of force is achieved for a given task.
There are no electronic components in a manual hydraulic press and, as a result, this machine is often cheaper than its automatic counterparts – but they also require more physical effort to use. As a result, they’re harder to use consistently for each task; there’s always a chance that samples are being pressurized to a slightly different load by the operator.
An automatic hydraulic press works by using a pump to elevate a piston, which holds air or liquid pressure. This allows for incredibly precise application of force when the piston’s pressure is released and directed into whatever is below it.
Unlike a manual press, the piston is controlled by a switch or automated controller. This means they can be controlled to a high accuracy and repeatability; the pressure will be the same every time.
Automatic hydraulic presses, such
If you are interested in sending in a Guest Blogger Submission,welcome to write for us!
All Comments ( 0 )