How to Make Your Own Hydraulic Jewelry Press

Hydraulic presses can save both time and money in jewelry production. In this workshop, participants learn basic forming techniques using the small war surplus hydraulic press.

Discover hydraulic press safety, how to use pancake dies and impression dies to form 3-dimensional shapes, as well as best practices for using silhouette forming dies to create exciting textures and forms.

Frame

The frame is the structure that holds your cylinders and working surfaces together, and there are various models to choose from, each offering unique features and abilities. While some are better suited to metalsmithing than others, depending on your individual needs; others provide extensive adjustment capabilities while some offer simpler setup. Regardless of which you select, it is crucial that you know how to use it correctly for maximum effectiveness.

Hydraulic presses can be used for forging, clinching, molding, deep drawing and punching applications. Although these industrial-sized machines can be expensive to purchase and build from standard bottle jacks used to change car tires (see image), smaller versions may be possible using other means (for instance a bottle jack can be modified into an hydraulic press).

Hydraulic press cylinders are power-generating parts that create compressive force for anvil and die operation, acting like two ports to allow the input and output of hydraulic fluid. There are two basic cylinder designs: smaller plunger and larger ram - held in place by their smaller plungers using Pascal's law.

Hydraulic presses offer many advantages over mechanical presses, including greater stroke control and the ability to alter the speed, direction and pressure dwell time of their ram. Their height, throat clearance and bed size can all be adjusted as desired - it may even be possible to have one with a larger bed than is typically found for certain tonnages but this usually incurs additional fees.

This Potter USA hydraulic jewelry press features a durable 1/2 inch steel plate construction with only two critical welds to avoid distortion under heavy use. It boasts an automatic self-leveling lower platen which resists flexing, as well as an ample work area of 6-3/4"W x 24"H for all your crafting needs. An integrated mounting foot makes bolting it to a workbench quick and simple; there's even a release valve equipped with a t-handle to open/close its valve easily!

Cylinder

Hydraulic cylinders are at the heart of hydraulic presses, producing force through expansion or contraction of their piston rod and piston within. When hydraulic fluid enters the cylinder through one end of its barrel, this creates movement within its piston rod that generates force against anvils and die. When piston extends or retracts it generates pressure that presses against them both simultaneously.

A cylinder is connected to its master cylinder through a series of ports that accept input and output of hydraulic fluid, allowing fluid to enter and exit via these ports, with pressure managed within the system by way of a valve which controls pressure within it - this prevents fluid entering slave cylinders when not needed and also determines how much force is applied against anvils and dies.

When not in use, hydraulic fluid flows back through the piston rod into its reservoir via pressure increase in the reservoir, pushing on the piston and increasing pressure within it - this causes extension or retractile movement of piston, increasing or decreasing it and ultimately producing more pressure that is transferred through ram and piston rod to anvil and die.

Jewelers employ hydraulic presses in many different ways, from sheet metal forming and stamping at low pressures, conforming dies for increased detail at medium pressures, coining metal at higher levels of precision and fineness, as well as coining metal into one-of-a-kind jewelry designs with exquisite accuracy and fineness. This tool helps save both time and money when producing both large quantities or unique one-off jewelry items. Our demonstration will begin with basic operations and safety guidelines before progressing to custom shape forming and piercing using pancake dies forming custom shapes from sheet metal forms.

Pancake Die

Jeweler's hydraulic presses are essential tools in any metalsmith's shop, used both commercially and homemade to form metal into jewelry-scale shapes. Their basic configuration consists of a strong steel frame filled with hydraulic fluid that houses male and female dies that press against each other for shaping purposes. A hydraulic ram then presses these dies against one another using hydraulic power.

Dependent upon the depth of metal you desire, rubber inserts will need to be placed between it and the die. Richard uses old inner tubes stacked slightly smaller than one another in order to achieve a gentle doming effect during pressing. As soon as the press is activated, these rubber inserts expand, helping the metal puff out into its target space in the die.

To create your own pancake die, begin with a three-dimensional model or pattern and create male and female dies that conform in shape to it. These conforming dies can either be purchased commercially or created using a Devcon kit; when making one yourself make sure you heat treat and lubricate it; laser cut edges do not produce perfectly flat surfaces like saw cuts; they may need to be filed manually by hand to achieve maximum precision.

Other dies available for use with a press include silhouette dies, which don't actually cut out pieces of metal but instead force the material out through negative space, and impression dies featuring intricate hardened steel patterns over which annealed metal can be pressed, leaving an imprint in its surface when compressed - ideal for creating finished pendants, earrings, rings and components such as bracelet links and bales.

Rubber Inserts

Hydraulic jewelry presses have evolved from small embossing presses used during World War II, with two components - frame and cylinder - serving as powerful tools in any workshop environment. They allow users to emboss, texture, and bend metal into precise forms with precision.

The cylinders of our hydraulic presses are lined with hard rubber mats that absorb some of the force applied by the press, helping it control pressure more accurately than mechanical presses and produce less dense materials. Furthermore, this mat protects metal from damage while simultaneously protecting your workpiece.

Adjustments allow you to control the pressing process and achieve desired results. For instance, you can set the distance that the ram reverses or use a dwell timer to determine how long the ram remains in contact with the blank during deep drawing operations. Furthermore, speed controls allow for the rapid production of multiple pieces at one time.

Remember, however, that hydraulic presses cannot compete with mechanical ones in terms of speed; they only form metal as quickly as you feed it. But these versatile metal-forming solutions remain an excellent way to complete metal forming projects more quickly and cost effectively than drop hammers and mechanical presses alone.

No matter if you want to emboss, texture or bend metal into precise shapes, Bonny Doon hydraulic presses are your ideal solution. Each press has been specially developed for jewelers so it's safe and simple to adjust. They feature high-quality rams with 10,000 PSI pressure gauges already attached - ideal for embossing, texturing or bending metal into precise forms.

Valve

Hydraulic presses use valves to switch between smaller and larger hydraulic cylinders to maximize mechanical advantage, as well as control pressure applied to workpieces. They may also restrict oil supply so less force is applied by piston in cylinder, making forming metal pieces simpler for you.

Use of appropriate equipment, like a hydraulic press, can save both time and effort in your jewelry production process. With it you can produce intricate shapes and textures that would be difficult to accomplish manually - discover all its uses in this class!

Richard Sweetman presents an extensive online workshop on hydraulic presses. After covering basic safety and operation principles, he introduces various techniques. These range from using conforming dies that enable greater detail at low pressures to creating symmetrical shapes using two pressed halves that join at relatively higher pressures as well as coining metal with exceptional detail at relatively higher pressures.

A Bonny Doon Classic 20-ton hydraulic press is one of the safest and most versatile metal forming tools available to jewelers, providing unsurpassed flexibility when creating custom stamps or embossing metal with embossing, texturing and embossing textures, bending thin or thick wire precisely, forming silver and gold into 3D shapes or creating embossed patterns quickly and efficiently. It will save production time while speeding up repeat patterns for quicker production times.