Man, thanks for the warm reception guys. On the "other" forum there was several negative comments about my low-budget, and self-impose choice to re-use existing & left-over materials: many felt it was foolish, waste of time, it would take too long, why bother when you can buy metal already in the right size, etc.. It is neat to see that over here you guys appreciate the value in finding ways to make existing tools/parts/materials work.
I "still" have lots of metal left over from my own project and from helping others, and from a retired knife maker 2-3 years ago, so I wanted to find out if I "could" do re-use a lot of that steel. The learning experience was about me never have done anything like a precision press with bushings, nor had I done any work with air-oil hydraulics before. I knew I wanted a strong press with a 30deg offset, and planned for several months before starting actual work, but I admit I started without having "everything" figured out.
I am still very much an amateur machinist, and make lots of mistakes. Like using the old insert on two of the rods, which resulted in less than optimum finish, and about a tiny bit undersize from my target on one of the two support rods. Heck, I only showed you the second aluminum guide block - not the first one which I was 1/3 into the machining of it when I realized it was not wide enough and had to start from scratch again!.
I finished the basic press with no "clear" idea of how I was going to get the piston attached, and I wasn't sure exactly how the 5-port air valve worked. I figured out a lot of the details as I got to that particular stage: sometimes that meant walking away from the pile of parts while I thought of possible ways to make things work. I think you guys are giving me a way too much credit
I tent to pick projects where I can learn something from the work/labor, not just the end result. The water cooled, hydraulic controlled, 1HP 3-phase motor with VFD variable speed metal bandsaw that I showed in some of the pictures was one of those neat projects. I designed and made several years ago, when I was making custom LED flashlights and custom parts on the mill & lathe, and it has seen lots of use once I started welding. That metal bandsaw started as a "plain" Harbor Freight unit, but now customized, on its own steel cart, is one of my most used tools now in my "shop" (basically the space of one car garage
).
I have completed work on two form 1 suppressors (22lr and 45 caliber - both for rifles), and will soon start on the 3rd one (high-power 30 cal), so that will likely be my next project.
Will