20 Ton Hydraulic Jack with 3D Printed Knobs
This is another ‘simple’ 3DP ( 3D-Printed ) item to make life easier …
Hydraulic Jack 3D Printed (Open/Close) Knobs Project
I am designing a 36 inch long Sheet Metal bending Press Brake for DIY ‘Maker’ workshops and decided to use a Low-Profile Hydraulic Bottle Jack.
Compact Workbench 36 inch Wide Metal Bending Press Brake
Press Brakes are designed based on what material the user wishes to form …
Sheet Metal Thickness Dimensions Used to Figure Out Bending Tonnage
This new workshop sheet metal bending press brake will have an adjustable Vee-Die that will open from 1/2″ to 1.5″ across the V.
Vee-Die Examples Showing the Sheet Metal Bend Radius
A common method of calculating the ‘Air Bend’ Vee-Die distance is using the metal’s thickness multiplied 8 times, or 6 times for a tighter bend radius.
Link for more about Bending Sheet Metal with a Press Brake
If one knows the Vee-Die opening distance and the metal’s thickness then the bending tonnage can be calculated for different widths of metal.
( CINCINNATI has a great Press Brake Load Calculator Webpage )
CINCINNATI Press Brake Load Calculator Website
First step was to decide on the maximum thickness of metal I will be bending, so I measured the 10 gauge mild steel I had in the shop. ( 0.136″ thick )
While I may bend thicker metal at lengths less than 36″, decided 10 gauge mild steel would be the max thickness bent at 36″ length in a 1.5″ V-Die.
CINCINNATI Press Brake Load Calculator said I would need 17 Tons to bend 36″ of 0.136″ thick mild steel in a 1.5″ V-Die.
http://www.e-ci.com/press-brake-tonnage-load-calculator/
Tonnage Calculations for bending a 36″ length of 14 Gauge (0.075″) Mild Steel
While I may bend 0.136″ thick metal from time to time, 16 gauge and 14 gauge will probably be the metal thicknesses I use the most for full 36″ bends.
BTW ~ CINCINNATI make Amazing metal bending Press Brakes and if I had room in my little shop I would buy one; however, since space is the limiting factor, I am going to make a small worktable size press brake.
( View CINCINNATI’s Press Brake Models )
Torin 20-Ton Stubby Bottle Jack purchased at LOWES
I found a low-profile Hydraulic Jack that fits the metal bending specs given by the Tonnage Calculator, so purchased the TORIN 20-Ton Stubby Bottle Jack online and picked it up later that day at my local LOWES store.
SolidWorks CAD model of the 20-Ton TORIN Low-Profile Bottle Jack
First thing I did was draw the Jack into SolidWorks with adjustable features …
SolidWorks Allows the Bottle Jacks Parts to be Adjustable
Knowing the Jack’s exact lifting dimensions will be helpful in future designs …
Since this Hydraulic Bottle Jack will be used with a metal bending press brake I may need to release the pressure quickly with one hand while supporting the metal with the other hand.
Hydraulic Jack Handle with the Replacement 3DP Open/Close Knobs
Using the handle’ notched end to Open & Close the hydraulic valve may be cumbersome at times; therefore, I needed to come up with a valve solution.
Concept for the Large Hydraulic Bottle Jack Knob
Decided to use SolidWorks to draw up Large & Small versions of knobs to Open and Close the jack’s hydraulic fluid value.
SolidWorks 3D Printed Concepts for a Large & Small Open/Close Knobs
3D-Printed the Knobs with a tight hand press-on fit and they worked great!!
3D-Printed the ‘Quick-Turn’ Knob for the Low-Profile Hydraulic Bottle Jack
I had black filament on the AFINIA 3D Printer so used it, but I will probably use an easier to see ‘brighter color’ in future versions of the Open/Close valve knobs.
Close-Up View of the Finished Large Knob for the Hydraulic Bottle Jack
Once again ~ Sometimes the simplest items are the most helpful 🙂
… CHEERS!!!
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