Shop Press For Clicker

[angie m]

I converted a shop press into a clicker and have been using it for a while now. It works, but not great. My business is busy enough now where I may just need a real clicker if I can't get this one to work better. Any suggestions?

I have it hooked it up to an air compressor, but I always seem to go too deep in the cutting board. Have broken lots of boards. Other times, it does not cut all the way through and I have to recut. Is there anyway to regulate it at all? Most of the time, I just hand crank because it is easier than prying my dies out of the cutting board.

Also, it cuts one end deeper than the other. I even had someone redo my steel plates because I thought they must be warped and messing up my cutting. It did not help.

Help me please!!!!

[rickeyfro]

Angie you might want to try putting a regulator or even a plain valve on the output of the compressor, or raising the ram or lowering the plates so that at full stroke it stops where you want it to

I converted a shop press into a clicker and have been using it for a while now. It works, but not great. My business is busy enough now where I may just need a real clicker if I can't get this one to work better. Any suggestions?

I have it hooked it up to an air compressor, but I always seem to go too deep in the cutting board. Have broken lots of boards. Other times, it does not cut all the way through and I have to recut. Is there anyway to regulate it at all? Most of the time, I just hand crank because it is easier than prying my dies out of the cutting board.

Also, it cuts one end deeper than the other. I even had someone redo my steel plates because I thought they must be warped and messing up my cutting. It did not help.

Help me please!!!!

[Iron Pounder]

I've been kicking around making one myself. Just a few things come to mind that may help. I would first check to make sure the push plate on top is in perfect alingment to the cutting board below it. If it is and the cut die is even I don't see how it could cut uneven unless something is flexing. How think is the upper plate and how is it attached? I see the old big clickers go super cheap but never close to me. If everything measures out ok I would put it under a load and remeasure.

[angie m]

I've been kicking around making one myself. Just a few things come to mind that may help. I would first check to make sure the push plate on top is in perfect alingment to the cutting board below it. If it is and the cut die is even I don't see how it could cut uneven unless something is flexing. How think is the upper plate and how is it attached? I see the old big clickers go super cheap but never close to me. If everything measures out ok I would put it under a load and remeasure.

1/2" thick steel and it is welded on. I will take a pic in a minute when I go out there and post it.

Thanks!

[Sylvia]

1/2" thick steel and it is welded on. I will take a pic in a minute when I go out there and post it.

Thanks!

Make sure your dies are sharp too. A dull die can cause you issues.

[JLSleather]

Angie -

If your die is cutting deeper on one end, then you have an alignment issue. Either your die is taller at one end, or the bed isn't square with the ram, or the top plate is welded out of square. You can check this by dropping the die close to the work, then measure the distance between the top plate and the bed (or in this case, your "board"). If it's not the same distance in all corners, you can [fairly] easily fix this.

STEP !) Measure the die itself. If it's not the same height all around, have a machine shop grind the BACK (non-cutting) side of the die so it's parallel.

STEP 2) Once the die is parallel, place a block in each corner of the bed, same height. Set the top plate ON the blocks. Slowly lower the ram of the press. If it doesn't contact all 4 blocks together, something is crooked. Most reliable way to fix this is to cut the weld, position the ram down on the die (with it still on the blocks) and re-weld. NOTE: You could have a machine shop make sure that the attaching piece is square with the face of the die, but if th eproblem is in the press bed OR the ram itself, this will not solve the issue.

This sounds like a bit of doing, but it can probably be done in the time it took me to type all of this

Oh, yeah ... I see you were talking about "hand crank" ing the press. I should maybe wait for the pics, but does your press include a big screw on the ram?

Edited February 14, 2012 by JLSleather

[angie m]

Here is a pic of my press. I have been hand cranking since my dies were not cutting evenly - with my compressor they get too embedded in my cutting board.

I will check to make sure all is level. May just need to have it rewelded.

[JLSleather]

Oh, THAT kind of press One more thing, then. Before you go checking the corner heights, I would check to make sure all the bolts on the cylinder and the guides are tight. Yeah, I know that sounds silly, but I'd still check ...

[Andrew Chee]

Here is a pic of my press. I have been hand cranking since my dies were not cutting evenly - with my compressor they get too embedded in my cutting board.

I will check to make sure all is level. May just need to have it rewelded.

Hm... Just a thought, assuming that you don't need to cut something all the way to the corner of your cutting pad, you could cut the corners of the pads off and then find some pieces of steel that you can use as a stopper for the top steel plate. Then when the press comes down, the steel stoppers can stop the plate before it pushes the die into the cutting board. You would have to figure out the correct height for the stopper but once figured out, you could just leave them there. Anyways, just a thought.

Andrew

[JLSleather]

Hm... Just a thought, assuming that you don't need to cut something all the way to the corner of your cutting pad, you could cut the corners of the pads off and then find some pieces of steel that you can use as a stopper for the top steel plate. Then when the press comes down, the steel stoppers can stop the plate before it pushes the die into the cutting board. You would have to figure out the correct height for the stopper but once figured out, you could just leave them there. Anyways, just a thought.

Andrew

Check your alignment FIRST! If you bring the press down on steel blocks and it's crooked, you could end up with some really NOT fun results!

[angie m]

OK!! Thanks! I will check the bolts first....will let you know.

[King's X]

Give Cobra Steve at Leather Sewing Machines a call. He is an ad sponsor on here. he has a nice clicker for any busy shop. There is also a smaller clicker option through Tippman Industries.

[glennaycock]

Here is a pic of my press. I have been hand cranking since my dies were not cutting evenly - with my compressor they get too embedded in my cutting board.

I will check to make sure all is level. May just need to have it rewelded.

Your steel plates may be flexing or shifting ever so slightly in the rails, since the jack applies pressure only in the center of the plate. You might consider some 1/8 x 1" steel bars arranged vertically and perpendicular to the plate (like a grating) to distribute the force more evenly.

[King's X]

I believe the cross bar to balance your clicker (upper) plate can be seen in the picture attached. There is too much play with that much distance of travel. Take a look at the picture.

Edited February 15, 2012 by King's X

[NeilM]

has anyone used the 10 ton cobra clicker. if so how was it

[angie m]

I gave up and bought a 20 ton hydraulic clicker. LOVE it!!!!