Pneumatic presses.......

[KABAR2]

I put an air-operated hydraulic jack on the same kind of 20T press, makes it a lot more fun to use, and a whole lot faster too.  The footprint of the base of the air jack is larger than that of the manual, so an added 1/2 in. steel plate under it gives the requried support.

I have taken this out of the Seacoast Giant mortar thread, not exactly cannon related but tool related and presses can be utilized in
swaging  lead projo's 

Been meaning to add this for some time... Finally got around to up loading photo's great minds think alike........  Cannonmn you mean like this?
I am using air rather than hydraulics but the principle is the same, and it speeds up the process.......



this is probably similar to what your talking about although for a different use.
this is in it's early form before a large steel plate and all the pneumatics were
added.


ours has two push buttons to activate the ram being used in production
it has to meet OSHA standards we use presses like this in molding
plastic and foam components.



Each press has a purpose built controller that can have the dwell time set from 1sec. to 6 min.
this is on the back of another press but they are all the same each press also has it's own air holding
tank so if there is too much demand on our air system the press always has enough air to power it.
so far we have been running 5 presses all custom built and designed by me for almost a year now,
and they have been working very well, I have one more to finish  as a stand by in case we have one
go down production will not suffer while one is being repaired.





this is the final stage of development on the presses, the large orange one is used for the larger moldings,
this unit is custom built, and would probably be the one I would use for swaging projo's
the head is adjustable up and down and it is built like a tank.

[cannonmn]

Very interesting Allen.  My press is still hydraulic, the only change is that the hydraulic cylinder now has an air motor to pump it so you don't have to move the handle up and down manually.  The air motor also works several times as fast as you could pump by hand.

[1Southpaw]

Same way with mine , I added the pulsating air operated jack to my 20 ton press . Only down side is the release is still like the old press . One can take up the slack in a hurry and also put the final push with the hand pump.  I use mine quite often here doing fab and repair work.

[Rickk]

I shot on a cannon team last year with a guy who swaged lead "nose cones" for his concrete filled juice cans.  His "Press" was a hydraulic wood splitter.

[GGaskill]

What are you using for the hoses?

[KABAR2]

What are you using for the hoses?

It's a 3/8" PVC hose with quick connect fittings much cleaner appearance than the old school stuff.

[GGaskill]

What's the pressure rating?

[KABAR2]

What's the pressure rating?

I have that info at work I'll get it for you Thursday I'm taking tomorrow off.

[Victor3]

 Those are nice machines you made Allen. Many aren't aware of all the thought and work that go into building custom stuff like that.

 What diameter and projectile type are you thinking of swaging?

 A note on your dual buttons - We use a similar setup on 100's of machines where I work. We've added shields over the buttons due to incidents where an operator's elbow contacted one button while pressing the other with a hand. One incident resulted in the press actuating while the operator's hand was in the work area. Fortunately there was only a minor cut in this case, but she would have lost fingers had they been further under the punch.

[KABAR2]

Those are nice machines you made Allen. Many aren't aware of all the thought and work that go into building custom stuff like that.

 What diameter and projectile type are you thinking of swaging?

 A note on your dual buttons - We use a similar setup on 100's of machines where I work. We've added shields over the buttons due to incidents where an operator's elbow contacted one button while pressing the other with a hand. One incident resulted in the press actuating while the operator's hand was in the work area. Fortunately there was only a minor cut in this case, but she would have lost fingers had they been further under the punch.

Well at the moment 20mm cast projo's I'm looking a head to the time when my Armstrong is finished.
If the time comes I can find or afford a larger section of rifled cannon barrel what ever cal it is, 
30mm 40mm could be done on the smaller presses, 75mm.... (one can hope  )....... would have to be done on the orange press.

[Cat Whisperer]

Those are nice machines you made Allen. Many aren't aware of all the thought and work that go into building custom stuff like that.
...
 We've added shields over the buttons due to...

EXCELLENT point.

I've seen a MOTIVATED operator hold one with a hand while using his second hand to adjust the work and press the other button with his foot (right leg twisted behind him to hit the left button)!  He HAD to get production out!!!!

[KABAR2]

Yeah, people do stupid stuff I've caught one of our guys with a hunk of metal sitting on one button so he could "Adjust" stuff.

I let him know DON'T and if I see him do it again he can go home for the rest of the day.  for the most part we pick people who

can walk and chew gum at the same time if I get a careless operator I'll see that he goes to another department where the results

will be less dramatic to both himself and our product.  I don't want accidents, I don't want people abusing the equipment or molds depending

on the complexity of the mold it can take a few days to a little over a week to make a new one , the product has 21 molded parts made on 6 different

presses with only two molds being the same,  times that by 1000 to 1500 a week. so far we have a good crew,  one know it all but he's not a problem.

[Victor3]

 I'm not too worried about knuckleheads circumventing safety devices; everyone knows that doing so can mean termination at my company.

 My concern is for someone working on a machine where safety devices are not adequate to prevent inadvertant actuation while a body part is in harm's way. The cost of a shield is a small price to pay compared to an amputation.

 I think we paid ~$3 each for a bunch of universal ones like this...