Press Alignment

[SuperstitionCoues]

After thinking about it, let me rephrase my question.

What can cause a press to go out of alignment?  Once it is out of alignment, can it be repaired?

[Evil Dog]

This is just a guess, but excessive stress seems to me like it could knock things out of whack... especially with a single stage "C" type press (including a single stage turret).  An "O" type press would be a bit harder to spring.  Also a lighter press would be easier to spring than a heavier one.  Just a guess on my part though.

[BigJakeJ1s]

Traditional press designs result in horizontal pressure on the bottom end of the ram during use, which over time and/or with heavy use, wear out the ram and the bore in the frame through which the ram moves up an down This causes an arc in the up and down motion of the shell holder, rather than straight up and down. The only fix would be to re-machine the ram to restore it to a true cylinder. Then the frame can be bored out and a precision bushing installed. But it is almost always cheaper to buy a new press.

The Forster Co-Ax design avoids most of these misaligning forces in the first place, ensuring better alignment over longer life.

Andy

[PaulS]

After thinking about it, let me rephrase my question.

What can cause a press to go out of alignment?  Once it is out of alignment, can it be repaired?

Too much pressure can cause a press to go out of alignment.
Whether or not it can be repaired depends on the type of press and where the misalignment is at. A "C" type press can flex the "C" open and that can not be repaired without an oven and machine shop. The "O" type presses can wear at the ram sleeve and the top of the press. The ram sleeve can be bushed to repair it but if the "O" frame is warped or twisted it would take a machine shop and an oven to realign it.
As to how you can put too much pressure on the press just try swedging bullets from hard alloys. I had to make some corrections to my Rock Chucker press after trying to use it to swedge bullets with it.