Recommendations on Hydraulic Presses

[lonestr]

Hello everyone.

I've been doing some very basic pyrotechnics so far, and I am slowly ramping my self up to some slightly more complicated stuff. I've been thinking about making some rockets using whistle mix, and if I were going to do this, I would need to get my hands on a press.

I've been looking at the presses available from http://www.hobbyfireworks.com/Rocket.html
Before I do anything, I just wanted to check with all of you, and see if any of you have suggestions on presses and which ones you feel have worked well to press typical pyro compositions.

Thanks guys.

[cutefix]

If you have some bit of mechanical aptitude, and good with your hands with anything related to DIY repair, you can improvise using your car's tools accessories like the hydraulic jack.:cool:

[Sausagemit]

It wouldn't be that hard to make one for under $50 US.

All you would need would be the following items...

Bottle Jack (http://www2.northerntool.com/product/200326592_200326592.htm)
Pressure Gauge for Bottle Jacks (http://www.hyjacks.com/76412g.jpg)
Angle Iron (http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/gastankskid/angle.jpg)
Sqaure Tubing (http://www.chippingaway.com/WoodCarving/BirdCarvingSupplies/BirdImages/square%20tubingweb.jpg)
Nuts & Bolts (http://www.pipelinepub.com/0605/graphics/nuts_bolts.jpg)

And these tools...

Drill (http://www.hr-hardware.com/img/electric-drill/electric-drill-s61011.jpg)
Angle Grinder (http://www.ryobitools.com/images/tools/AG451K.jpg)

If you don't allready have the tools it would still be cheaper to make your own. A decent drill and a decent angle grinder can be had for less than $50 each. Plus you would have some decent tools. And angle grinders are cool and very handy. An angle grinders is to a dremel like a claw hammer is to a sledge hammer.

[lonestr]

I appreciate the responses, and I have been looking into what it would take for me to make my own.

The biggest hurdle I am facing is finding a bottle jack that has a pressure gauge, and is still reasonably cheap. While the first jack that Sausagemit linked only cost about $30.00, the one that has a port for a pressure gauge unfortunately costs $112.00, and the pressure gauge costs an additional $179.49.

I can find tons of super cheap bottle jacks, but not ones that either come with a pressure gauge, or have a port for one.

I would think that having the pressure gauge would be important to make sure that the compositions are being pressed with the correct amount of force.

I'll keep looking. But if anyone has more suggestions or tips with these things, I'd love to hear about it :).

Thanks again.

[deadman]

While a pressure gauge would be useful it is not particularly important. Make sure to use sleeves, and you'll most likely be fine. After a short amount of use a press without a gauge will be easy to use and end with a high quality product.

[Skean Dhu]

I'm sure there is something I'm overlooking, but why not just figure out the density that your powder needs to be pressed to in order to function properly and then use that as your guide rather than spend 100+ dollars on a pressure gauge?

Dan Williams pyrotechnic page has a powder press tutorial that employs that exact practice.
http://www.pyrotechniques.org/dwilliams/tools.html
http://www.pyrotechniques.org/dwilliams/top.html


edited to include his home page since he dosen't have a 'home' button, and to correct his name

[lonestr]

Thanks Skean. In my searching I had not come across that page. I appreciate the link.

With the information I have now, I think I'm going to try and make my own.

Thanks for everyone that contributed information.

[Bert]

You might want to go to Rich Wolter's site and look at his Pressure Conversion Gauge: http://www.wolterpyrotools.com/pyrotools/rockettools.html

$91.00 but you won't need to do any modification of your bottle jack. You WILL need to do some math to relate total force aplied to PSI on the composition, but they come with instructions.

(edit: Rich has some info for this posted on his site: http://www.wolterpyrotools.com/tips/rppcf.html)

Rich makes nice tools.