Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms hydraulic presses

I have a little space in my workshop where I could locate a floor mounted 20T press. New there are two types available; one has what looks like a bottle jack mounted on a sliding plate with a ram underneath, these seem a bargain at around £150; the other type has a remote pump with a fixed ram on the top beam, these are much more expensive at £350.

I'd welcome feedback from anyone with either of the above before I take the plunge

Gary

Just looked and the price difference between bottle jack and remote hand pump type with pressure gauge seem to be even greater. From £70 to over £500. I guess it depends on intended usage particularly how far you want to move objects as in just pressing in an outer bearing or moving a bush within a long housing several inches. Mechanical advantage will have a part to play in ease of use as well.

I recently purchased a 30t narrow garage press it is air over hydraulic but can be operated just by a hydraulic pump if you don’t want to start up the compressor. But the best thing was the 600mm (2ft) long brake press adapter that fits under the ram it will bend 4mm steel up to 600 long makes it a very versatile and handy tool.

these are the ones I'm considering

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285356685427

and

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126420845608

don't want anything that requires power as the space I have has no power close by

I have a 15t upside down bottle jack one. I rarely use it near to it's limit but this does depend on what you plan to use it for. I used to do a lot of two stroke cranks and some would need a lot of force to part them. Honda ones in particular I had a problem with. But for normal bending stuff for brackets, pushing bushes in and out (mog king pins), bending sheet metal etc then 10t is OK. So 20t is ample. A two speed function would be useful at times, also lifting the carriage between settings can be an effort, when set up for a job and you run out of travel in the ram. A winch for this would be useful.
Apart from that have fun and any press is better than the one you have not got.
Cheers
John.
PS too much force and you can do a lot of damage!!! Don't ask how I know. LoL.

thats really useful John, thanks. No problems with the ram pushing off centre? thats my concern with the bottle jack type.

Grumpy2, Well that £149 one you link to has the jack the correct way up and it pushes the spigot down. On mine the jack is upside down and the spigot is the actual ram of the jack. However I see your point so it will depend on how well located the frame that holds the base of the jack is. In general I've not had a problem with the ram being pushed sideways but one does need to be careful to get everything vertical and have square ends on any pushing pieces you use. I have a lathe so that last point is not a problem. For general bending and straightening things I do not see a problem and those sheet metal bending tools will be OK. You just need to be sensibleabout things, if it starts to go sideways then stop.
Cheers
John.

I must say the Automotech job looks to be a much better bit of kit. With pressures like this there's all sorts of possibilities for disaster should anything go wrong, so personally I'd swallow the extra cost.

It's not always true that you get what you pay for, but it is always true that you don't get what you don't pay for :-)

I have the Automotech scissor lift and it has performed very well. Good company, good products and good prices for the spec.