Will flywheel press work for forging Damascus with pictures

DanGraves

DanGraves

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
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I can get this flywheel press. Am trying to find out if it will work for making Damascus. They told me it is used as a punch. That you set the hieght and it goes to that height hell or high water. Here are the spec's on it and some pictures. Can it be modified or is there a way to work with it? The foot control just makes it do its punch or press at one height and 30 tons of pressure. Can it be modified to have control on the amount of pressure?
30 TON PRESS-RITE O.B.I. PUNCH PRESSModel No. 30; Air clutch & brake; Flywheel type
Stroke: 2-1/2"
Slide adjustment: 1-3/4"
Shut height S.D.A.U.: 10" to top of bed
Area of bed: 24" L-R x 14" F-B
Bolster thickness: 2"
Area of slide: 10" L-R x 8" F-B
Shank hole diameter: 2"
Throat depth: 7-1/2"
Opening through back: 11"
Floor to top of bed: 31"
S.P.M. approx.: 120
EQUIPPED WITH: Dual palm buttons for run with
emergency stop button
Electric foot switch
Pushbuttons for start-stop &
top stop button
Selector switches for inch-single-
continuous-hand & foot
Inclining mechanism
Knockout slot in slide
Production counter
3 HP 1145 RPM 220/440/3/60 Motor
Weight approx. 3500#
Overall dimensions approx. 55" L-R x 48" F-B x 80" H
Serial No. 2497
Stock No. 23633

 
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I hope it will work out for you Dan!!!
That sure is a monster of a press!!!
 
No! You do NOT want to use a mechanical punch press as a power hammer. See, the thing about a mechanical punch press is that it cannot stop mid-stroke, and the strokes are set for a specific depth of stroke. So, if things go bad, they go VERY bad.

A friend of mine tried to make damascus 25 or so years ago using a punch press. Now, there were several things wrong with what he did, but suffice it to say that when the punch press hit the hot billet, it sent molten steel flying in all directions, including inside his apron and down his side. Then they still had to put out the fires they started up to 75 feet away. He'll always carry the scars from that one.

Had it been a power hammer, the weld wouldn't have worked, there may have been a few feet of splatter of hot steel and a few puckered sphincters. Since it was a punch press, it HAD to continue through and finish the stroke which is what caused the severe havoc.

In short, leave punch presses to punching holes in cold stock. That's what they're for.

-d
 
As deker said, you do NOT want to use a punch press for forge welding. A punch press can have its uses in a blacksmith shop with tools and jigs for things like hot punching and tenoning, but not for damascus.

Now if that was a Fly Press, or a Screw Press (same thing, two names), then sure, you can use it for forging damascus, but that's not a fly press it's a punch press.
 
I guess there is no modification to make these work for our purpose? I can get a heck of a deal on it.
 
Their great for making Mosaic. You can punch out patterns all-day with those things fill em with powdered material and forge weld
 
DanGraves said:
I guess there is no modification to make these work for our purpose? I can get a heck of a deal on it.
Click to expand...

Not really. The big flywheel uses it's mass and inertia to rotate the eccentric for one cycle per triggering. As I said before, there's no way to interrupt that cycle once it's begun. A flypress can rebound from the work and "un-screw" if it hits too much resistance, and you'll notice that all mechanical power hammers have a spring in there somewhere for the same purpose. Unfortunately that one's a punch press and there's not much to do about it. However, Rusty points out an excellent point on using a punch press to make pieces for mosaic layups if you have the expertise to make the die sets for it.

-d
 
I inherited one of these when my uncle died a few years back and when I was just starting to make knives damascus I thought the same you did, but luckily one of my friends knew enough about these and basically said the same thing as Deker. While it won't work as a power hammer I plan on converting mine into a rolling mill. I stripped it down to just the frame and all I should have to do is fabricate the lower roller assembly that moves up and down. The top roller assembly is already built. You'll have to look at yours carefully to see if you can feed a piece of steel through the back though. Do you see what I mean how it could be turned into a rolling mill?
 
***I have no knowledge about presses***
Just thinking out loud. Can you set it to say end it's stroke at 1" (one inch) and use it to hammer stock that is 1-1/8" (one and an eighth inches)? Like plaining a board only squishing instead of shaving?
 
gga357 said:
***I have no knowledge about presses***
Just thinking out loud. Can you set it to say end it's stroke at 1" (one inch) and use it to hammer stock that is 1-1/8" (one and an eighth inches)? Like plaining a board only squishing instead of shaving?
Click to expand...

I'd strongly suggest you re-read my posts above...trust me, it's really not worth the risk involved...Also, forging down billets of pattern weld does require a good bit of adaptability while the forging is going on. Sometimes you need a little more force, sometimes less. A single, huge amount of energy all the time wouldn't work well. There's also the issue of adjustment. You'd spend WAY more time adjusting the machine than you would forging....It would be terribly inefficient even if it wasn't dangerous as can be.

-d
 
Anybody close to Shreveport can get one. There are 4 and could probably get all 4 for 1,500.00 or less. Or one for 400.00. I am going to let them go as all I want is a press for Damascus. I have a power hammer and am happy with it.
 
deker said:
I'd strongly suggest you re-read my posts above...trust me, it's really not worth the risk involved...Also, forging down billets of pattern weld does require a good bit of adaptability while the forging is going on. Sometimes you need a little more force, sometimes less. A single, huge amount of energy all the time wouldn't work well. There's also the issue of adjustment. You'd spend WAY more time adjusting the machine than you would forging....It would be terribly inefficient even if it wasn't dangerous as can be.

-d
Click to expand...

Understand. Like I said just thinking out loud.
 
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