Honest Review of Big Blu – 50 Ton Press

B

bjansen

Joined
Feb 4, 2013
Messages
229
Thought I would post a review of my Big Blu 50 ton press:




Components: Overall the components used are super high quality- The Parker hydraulics, rams and hoses are all top shelf

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Assembly: The fit and finish of the assembly is pretty good. Crating/Pallet is pretty good.

Weld Quality: The weld quality is a disgrace to the Made In USA sticker. Several welds were not even fully attached to the metal (note the pictures of the edge delamination). There is no way that anyone could have inspected these welds before it shipped. This was unsatisfactorily resolved with the manufacturer which is why I call this out and share these photos. (see pics below)

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Design items I really like:

  • The overall footprint of the press, specifically where the hydraulic unit sits, foot pedal and casters. makes it easy to move around and store.
  • The bottom up hydraulic design does not take too much to get used too (the press I had before was pushing top down and I got used to this new design in a day). The work is at your eye level with this press and that really helps.
  • I love the simple die design – it makes it very easy to fabricate your own dies.
  • The bronze wear strips for the ways are nicely designed
  • The high pressure pump is really manageable to control (meaning when it is pumping at high pressure it is easy to stop where you want to stop)
  • This baby is quiet with the 1800RPM motor
Design items that can be improved:

  • The bottom die holding pins need to be detent style pins as the pins they supply vibrate out. This is an easy and cheap upgrade for Big Blu to include.
  • I do not like the electric solenoid design. After using this press compared to others, I would much prefer the old school manual value operated design. I have had one instance already where the solenoid stuck – which ultimately would ruin a piece you are working on or be a significant safety hazard. I am still getting used to the one-way operation (press down and it presses…release and it detracts) but after working with it for a few days, I would prefer the Gilmore press style operation (manual valve).
  • The press is a bit slow. I am comparing this to my Batson style home-made (prob 15 ton) press which was faster and I could almost get the same amount of actual work done with it (other than the times you really need to squeeze hard). I am sure I will get used to the Big Blu speed over time, but the Big Blu is slower for sure.
  • The top and bottom limit switches need a redesign. They are a great feature in theory, but getting them set where you need them is just a guessing game and the overall design of them does not allow them to be spaced close enough together to work well. For example, say you want to take a 3/4” thick billet down to ½”……your opening (based on the design of these switches) cannot really get any tighter than 3”, which coupled with the speed makes this frustrating. I will be coming up with my own, better design for these limit switches. This could be an easy fix if I just reposition the arms, or more complicated if I need to fab something up (see pics below as the unit comes – you can see as tight as you can get them and then the size of the opening that it allows for)
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  • They need to fab and install a front scale shield. You will have scale all over your rams if not. I will likely fab one of these myself for the machine. The rear shield works ok, but it needs to be another inch longer as scale will still vibrate off the back shield and find its way back on the cylinder rams.
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Overall: Overall, based on the items needing improvement, quality control and price – I would probably not recommend one to another smith. I think if you are in the market for an H style 50 ton press, the Gilmore would be the best one….and if you want a C style, then Coal Iron (although I never used one).
 
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What was their response to you when you brought the weld quality to their attention?

I don't believe I'd ever purchase one of their presses or hammers knowing they find that as acceptable for continued use with their name on it. That is not acceptable at any price, let alone for $9K. I hope you are able to find an equitable solution, because if that is the degree of lack of fusion visible, I can pretty much guarantee that the lack of fusion and other possible weld flaws in the areas you can't see are as bad or worse. I doubt they have a code or standard they are welding to. If they were then they'd be doing MT or PT inspections, VT at the minimum. By the looks of those welds they most likely aren't even using a welding procedure, proper base material prep, or a welder that can tell when he's not properly wetted out.
 
They acknowledged lack of "finish quality" of the welds - I received 2% (yes, "two percent") off which they believed was fair. This was unsatisfactorily resolved, but it is not the end of the world and I am not going to cause anymore noise to them about it.
 
The 2% would be fair, AFTER they paid a welder to come and rework those welds. They will NEED reworking for sure. Hard to imagine any company allowing welding like that out of shop.

I note you said 1800 rpm motor - bet the pump is rated for 3500 rpm motor for full flow. Those two 5" cylinders will need a pretty high volume pump for decent speed, perhaps a 30 GPM pump at low pressure?
 
2% off is a joke. Not only all the welding repairs but will need a new paint job after the welding repair. As a welding/fabrication/sandblast/painting business owner, I'd never let something out of shop this way. If it happened to get away I'd go over and above to rectify the problem. Definitely would not recommend someone to buy from this company.
 
Ken H> said:
The 2% would be fair, AFTER they paid a welder to come and rework those welds. They will NEED reworking for sure. Hard to imagine any company allowing welding like that out of shop.

I note you said 1800 rpm motor - bet the pump is rated for 3500 rpm motor for full flow. Those two 5" cylinders will need a pretty high volume pump for decent speed, perhaps a 30 GPM pump at low pressure?
Click to expand...
NO !
They should send him a new one ,cover all costs for that , give him some spare dies for free and APOLOGIZE !!!
 
I have one of their 100 Pound hammers and the fabrication is excellent. Good fit up and the welding is top notch. It seems their quality control is not functioning very well these days. Success sometimes ruins a company.
Fred
 
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First off, that is an outstanding review, thank you!
Those welds... I can't believe they think 2% is satisfactory!
I have worked for a fabrication shop for 30yrs and I couldn't imagine one of our customers pointing something like out and offering a "lets make it right 2% back" offer! I do not think we would be in business much longer!
We would end up picking it up, blasting EVERY WELD to see what else was hidden, grinding what we could and air arc the remainder, plus welding, painting, delivery, apologies ect... 2%???????????????
It is one thing to make a mistake, its another thing to own it and make it right!
Very disappointing Big Blu, I would be embarrassed.
Thad
 
Thanks for the review. This is a company I won't even consider for any future business until I hear that they replaced this machine.
I'd be afraid to use this machine, and definitely wouldn't even try forging pieces that might need the 50-tons.
 
Show me it is your first day welding without saying it is your first day welding.

That is shoddy workmanship and a real shame.
 
Why, I heard recently somewhere here in Shop Talk that it only costs $300 to have a super pro come and weld up a huge hydraulic press! 😆

In my opinion it's not appropriate to weld heavy steel with a GMAW (MIG) welder, and you can see why. It's a cooler process with weak penetration, perfect for sheet metal and thinner plate but not thick sections. I once worked at a welding shop where the boss had us running big MIG welders at some wildly high settings to get around it and fabricate with heavier steel, spraying molten electrode all over the place. I suggested he get some dual-shield welders, which elicited quite a colorful response, as I'm sure you all can imagine. 😁

I'd recommend the same to the Big Blu guys, but DevinT already said it above.

Went back to visit that old fab shop a year after I'd moved on, and lo' and behold! The boss had gotten dual shield welding machines. I was told they were well worth it and increased productivity and quality a lot. Really good penetration, clean, fast, hot. Perfect for heavy steel.
 
I remember a time when I was 17, and I wanted to build an angle iron frame for a heavy piece of equipment at work.

I carefully cut up the steel, making sure all my pieces lined up and were square to each fitment spot.

I MIG welded that puppy up, fitted a sheet metal top, and gave it a nice paint job. I was especially proud of a few areas of welds that stacked up nice, and how I ground off any splatter.

Being pretty satisfied with my work, I called a co-worker over who was much older and more experienced than me to check out my fancy table.

He grunted, grabbed a three pound hammer, and proceeded to knock each and every length of steel apart with ease.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. Steel ain't cheap, and penetration and going slow is the name of the game.

In more ways than one.

😁
 
Couple updates/mods made to the Big Blu:

1. To shorten the open distance between the upper and lower die's when using the limit switches, I drilled secondary holes for the top limit switch to push it back. You can see in the photo below that the OEM set up has the wires interfere with each other....by pushing the top back, you can get them a bit tighter. This coupled with adjusting the arms allowed me to get a tighter open and close setting.

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2. I added an extended scale shield to the back and fabricated one for the front as well to keep the scale off the rams.

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