Getting Ready to Crimp? Make Sure You Have the Right ...

Bringing your hydraulic hose making in house is a big decision &#; one that can save you a lot of money.
Consider the time and money you save by simply walking over to your work bench and creating your own custom hose, instead of driving to the nearest shop to have one made for you. Consider not only the cost of the hose, but the time it takes you to get the information to the hose maker, driving there to get it and, most importantly, the amount of time your equipment is unusable without the hose it needs. Sometimes, it&#;s much longer than just an hour or so, isn&#;t it? If the hose maker is backed up, it could be a week or more!
In reality, it just makes sense to make your own if you go through enough hoses.
But, how do you know which crimper is right for you?
At Kimball Midwest, we offer three of our own machines to help you get the job done right. The K100, K300 and K500 crimpers have several options that go with them to make the machines work even better for you. But here&#;s the general rule: The higher you go, the more crimper capability you get. And of course, all our crimpers are made in the USA.
All three of our machines have an open design, which provides excellent operator visibility, and the fully adjustable micrometer allows for a precise crimp. The removable pusher and die cages make it easy to accurately place the fittings into the die.


The first in our series of three crimpers gives you 35 tons of crimping force and can handle up to 1" of 2-wire and 3/4" of 4-spiral hose.
The K100 has an LED crimp indicator that illuminates when the optimum stop position has been reached to help prevent over-crimping and crushing hoses.
The K100 can be mounted to a bench or used in mobile applications, easily mounting to truck beds. Weighing just 48 pounds, the mount with built-in handle makes it easy to move if your needs change. It is available with an air/hydraulic pump or with a hand pump.
Our next crimper provides 62 tons of crimping force with hose capacity of up to 1 1/4" 2-wire, 1 1/4" 4-spiral and 1" 6-spiral hose. Like the K100, it can be bench mounted or used in mobile applications.
The K300 offers an adjustable retraction stop, which limits the ram retraction to only the amount required to remove the hose and coupling, saving time on multiple crimps. It also provides an automatic shutoff, which stops the pusher when it reaches the optimum stop position to prevent over-crimping. A pneumatic switch allows hand or foot operation. The crimper has three options for operation, an air/hydraulic pump, a 110 volt electric pump or a 220 volt electric pump.

The final crimper in our line is the most powerful. The K500 doles out 80 tons of crimping force and can handle up to 2" 2-wire, 2" 4-spiral and 1 1/4" 6-spiral hoses. Like the K300, this model offers an adjustable retraction stop.
With its two choices of electric pump operation, the K500 is easy to use. A built-in work lamp allows easy visibility of dies and fittings to ensure an accurate crimp. The K500 can be mounted on a bench or in a truck bed.

These are just the basics of these machines, so if you want to learn more,

For more information, please visit SUNCENTER.

Susan Kingsley has written an excellent book, Hydraulic Die Forming
for Jewelers and Metalsmiths, 20 Ton Press, . Inside are plans for
a homemade 20 ton press, which is adequate for most, and within the
means. The Bonny Doon press is made with quite a bit heavier
materials, but once having made the one, making another with your own
personal improvements isn&#;t that difficult. You will find it adequate
for most 3-D forms, but not for the deep-draw methods. A 50-ton press
is still required for that. The 50-ton just means you&#;re using a
50-ton hydraulic jack, along with seriously beefed
up frame and platens, not how much the whole press weighs

Hello to Everyone, I am looking for a source for a decent Hydraulic
Press that doesn&#;t cost an arm and a leg to buy as well as ship. I
am not going to be making vessels or large forms, etc. I am simply
looking for a way to put some volume into my work which is
predominantly functional jewelry and pretty small in scale. I went
into Ebay and they have several presses but they are either around 6
Ton capacity or 100-200 Ton meant for industrial use. The presses I
see in most jewelry catalogs are around 20 Ton. Can anyone lend any
experience to what a 6 Ton press could do?? Would that simply be
too chintzy for a jeweler&#;s needs?

Greatful for any light you can shed, as always.

Grace S.

THE source for small hydraulic presses is:

http://www.bonnydoonengineering.com/index.html

Here you can also find the book:

Hydraulic Die Forming For Jewelers and Metalsmiths by Susan Kingsle

This is a must have reference . It does include plans for a
homebuilt press.

You can get help at the site discussion group.

Jesse

Grace, One option is to build one for yourself. There are plans for
one in Susan Kingsley&#;s book, &#;Hydraulic Die Forming for Jewelers &
Metalsmiths&#;. This book used to be available from 20 Ton Press, PO
Box , Carmel, CA . I&#;m not sure if it is still abailable
there. ISBN 0--0-4.

The company is the world’s best hydrostatic bench supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

Another option is to look in the Harbor Freight catalog. They
usually have a few different capacity presses. I have no personal
experience with these as I have been using a Bonny Doon press,
expensive, but very well made, durable and trouble free. Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb www.schwalbstudio.com

Grace: The BonnyDoon press available from Rio Grande or Bonny Doon is
probably about as light weight as you can get for the tonnage and
still have a properly engineered press. A six ton press would
probably be ok for light blanking , straightening or flattening stuff
and maybe changing a tire on your car. 20 tons would be the minimum I
would look at for forming. My press is 50 tons and yes I use all
100,000 lbs. of pressure it provides. It is amazing how much pressure
it takes to do some pretty simple stuff.

There is also a good selection of tooling available for the BD
press. Unless you are equipped and capable of modifying or producing
your own tooling this is an invaluable resource.

There is a reason you see 20 ton presses in jewelry catalogs,
because that is how much pressure you need to do much of the work you
see jewelers doing with presses.

A good press is an investment and a good one at that. I built my own
press, it was not cheap or easy to do and weighs about 800 lbs. It
has paid for itself many times.

I have no business interest with Bonnydoon other than being a
customer.

Ken Gastineau
Berea, Kentucky

A group of us in my metal&#;s guild had our 20 ton hydraulic
presses made by a local machine shop. The machinist followed the
plans in the Susan Kingsley book, with some modifications. We
saved a bundle, and the presses work just fine. They are made so
that they can take the accessory items developed specifically for
the commercial hydraulic press sold by several jewelry supply houses.

You might consider this as an option. Alma

Go ahead and buy the 20 ton jack from Bonny Doon, if you want the
pressure gauge (and you do), you can&#;t save money by buying the jack
and guage separately elsewhere and installing it yourself (the gauge
I mean). I researched this extensively.

Maybe you can save by having the frame made or welded up by a local
welder. If you do, make sure the 1 inch steel plates top and bottom
are threaded to match Boony Doon&#;s so you can still use all their
accessories.

Elaine Luther
Chicago area, Illinois, USA
Certified PMC Instructor
@E_Luther

I too, tried to find a cheaper hydraulic press when I first started
using the tool. I had one welded for me. After using it a while,
I sold my cheapie to a friend and upgraded to a Bonny Doon. I have
come to realize how well thought out these presses are, and what a
terrific guarantee they come with. Get the good tool. It won&#;t let
you down, and it will hold its value if you should ever decide to
sell it. Just my opinion. Cindy www.cynthiaeid.com

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