angie m Report post Posted July 18, 2011 I have a shop press that I am using as a clicker. It worked fine with a 20 ton bottle jack until I got tired of pumping. I bought an air tank and an air 20 ton bottle jack. Worked great for about a month or two, then the seal broke. My son was using it and I blamed him for over pumping. Bought a new jack, and two weeks later the same thing happened to me!! Why are they breaking? Any advice??? It is soooooo much easier to use the air type, but I may just go back to pumping. Please help! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flintlock Report post Posted July 18, 2011 I have a shop press that I am using as a clicker. It worked fine with a 20 ton bottle jack until I got tired of pumping. I bought an air tank and an air 20 ton bottle jack. Worked great for about a month or two, then the seal broke. My son was using it and I blamed him for over pumping. Bought a new jack, and two weeks later the same thing happened to me!! Why are they breaking? Any advice??? It is soooooo much easier to use the air type, but I may just go back to pumping. Please help! Do you have an air regulator? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
$$hobby Report post Posted July 18, 2011 imo, air is fine for blowing up tires, but for your application, i would look at hydraulics. Air is compressable, hydraulic fluid isnt. im thinking youre exceeding the limits of your system somewhere and its blowing the seals so the equipment doesnt. look at Parker. We used alot of their stuff at work and what we had was a foot peddal style resevor assembly that connected to your air and then to the hydraulic cyinder. It ran off of iirc, 90 psi (out regulated max at work) and we were using them with tandom cylinders. they were portable and nice units. They maybe spendy, but they worked and i dont ever remember having any of of them fail in the 10 years working there. one feature they had was that to relase the pressure, just press on the top part of the pedal like you do to brake an airplane. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
angie m Report post Posted July 18, 2011 THANKS!!! I am using an air /hydraulic big red 20 ton that I got at Northern. I have a large air tank and have been using 100 - 120 psi for the clicker. SO frustrated!!! I have cut out some things today back with my hand pump.....hard to go back once I have gotten used to the air. Very tempted to go buy a different brand and try it again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bkingery Report post Posted July 18, 2011 Air/overs are sometimes hard to regulate, get an air dryer/regulator and put it in the line right after the compressor, you can't rely on the pressure surge from an air compressor sometimes. After you put the regulator on make sure you put a tiny bit of air tool oil in the line every other time you use it or so, or if you use it a lot then you can put an oiler/dryer/regulator in instead. The oil will help keep the seal pliable. Another thing I was wondering is how much are you pressuring up AFTER you hit the bottom of your cut, if you overpressure your cut you could be putting to much backwards resistance on the seals. maybe try a more cushiony cushion if that makes sense. If none of that works i would probably try to get a better brand of jack. Northen's stuff to me usually isn't much better than harbor freight but that is just my opinion. Good luck Bryan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
