Design and Fabrication of a Manually Operated Hydraulic Press

Abstract

The paper presents the development of a manually operated hydraulic press which encompasses the design, fabrication and performance evaluation of the press. The components parts of the machine were designed using various design equations. The design results were used to select materials for various components. The detailed drawing of the developed machine was done using Pro E software. In fabricating the machine, mild steel was used as the locally sourced material. The use of mild steel is due to the fact that its strength, rigidity and machinability falls within the design specifications. Some components of the machine developed include; the frame, cylinder mounting table, press pin, working table/bed, hydraulic tank, and hand lever. Some of the bought out parts include: ram assembly, pressure hose, pressure indicator and hydraulic pump. In evaluating the performance of the machine developed, mild steel plate of length 220 mm, breadth 70 mm and thickness 20 mm was put on the machine working table. This piece of material was bent after pressing the hand lever. The pressure at which bending took place was read to be 50 bar as indicated on the pressure gauge. The machine developed was also used to press a sleeve of internal diameter of 85 mm and external diameter of 89 mm into the cylinder of an engine block at a pressure of 15 bar. The cost of the machine as at the time of fabrication is N398,440.