Shop Press

[ColJim]

Getting ready to try to talk the owners into buying a press so we can rebuild our own gear boxes ; is a 20 or 25 ton big enough to do the job or do we need something bigger?

[Popeye]

20 ton will be perfect. You might want to invest in a hydrolic puller too.

[ColJim]

Any recommendations on the puller?

[Marty Murphy]

I have one of these (sort of, a little older style) from Harborfreight.com - http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-...ler-66657.html and it works great, will pull the brass gear off the 4 to 1 without a problem.
As for the press a 20 ton will do. I have been looking on here but cant find it but Steve Stafford had pics of a table he made that goes on a 20 ton press that works great for doing gearbox assemblies. A standard press table will give you some problems because the standard table doesnt have the inside clearance for the big stuff. I had one made like Steves, and a few other have also.
Hopefully he sees this and can point you to the pictures of it.

Marty - Pro Bowl West

[speir01]

Marty, I just got the 12 ton gear puller, and it works great. I disassembled a 1:1 the other day with no problem. I also have a 12 ton hydraulic press from harbor freight. Price was right. get the 20 if you can, but 12 should be sufficient. IMO

[Steve Stafford (JBEES)]

12 ton will have issues from time to time pulling spur gears from the shafts. If you go with a 12 ton...be sure you have a oxy-acetylene torch setup. With the torch...any difficult gears will pop right off once heated.

Here are a few pics of the setup I had for a 12 ton. The same idea applies to the 20 ton setup I have...the I beams are just a bit larger.

[Kanga (James)]

Have a 12 here...barely gets the job done. The 20's at the other centres have never let me down.

[Popeye]

Have a 12 here...barely gets the job done. The 20's at the other centres have never let me down.

I had a similar experience here. My press originally had a 12 ton but I switched it to a 20 ton. I used to have to pull much harder on the crank handle with the 12 but now the 20 powers through everything!

[speir01]

when I have a stubborn gear with my 12 ton, I hit the top of the press-arm (arbor?) with a hammer, after you hear the POP, it presses off without a problem. I havent had anything yet not come off. Im sure i will run into something in the future where it will be inefficient for the job, but for now, with a center with a budget, it gets the job done.

[Marty Murphy]

I think a little heat would be better than hitting the press arm. I was pulling a 1 to 1 gear off with the 12 ton puller and it wouldnt go any farther, hit it with a heat gun and after a minute or two, POP (scares me every time too !)

Marty - Pro Bowl West

[Popeye]

I think a little heat would be better than hitting the press arm. I was pulling a 1 to 1 gear off with the 12 ton puller and it wouldnt go any farther, hit it with a heat gun and after a minute or two, POP (scares me every time too !)

Marty - Pro Bowl West

I know just the feeling!

[speir01]

I should explain.. I dont go crazy wild with a hammer. a few good THWAPS, if it doesn't go, i go to a plan B. even though, depending on the day, there are a lot of things I would like to go crazy on with a hammer, with a few choice words of course

[Roscoe]

Wait tell you try to pull the gear off of a pre 5000# two to one. Have actually seen the gear bow when trying to pull on the big gear. I only pull on the smaller gear since those days. A little heat is the best answer for stubborn gears,a driving shock on the top of the pressing apparatus, while sometimes effective, is never the less, dangerous. I use a twenty ton press that is equipped with a two/three jaw holding fixture. Stay safe and always use adequate eye protection, a 5 ton press is quite capable of sending an errant missile thru an ordinary pair of seeing glasses, as is any hammer and punch combination. A good rule of thumb is, if its a hammer in your hand or if its a power tool, put the saftey glasses on. Since loosing one of my eyes 45 years ago to a peice of metal from a hammer, I cannot tell you how frightening it is to walk by a tree and have a twig poke me close to my only remaining eye, or a bug fly into it. You think you have two chances, but you soon realize that one of them is gone, the next is lights out. Presses and hammers are dangerous, as is our chosen profession.
Stay safe, my friends.
Roscoe

[Kanga (James)]

It was your first mention of your accident many, many years ago that got me changing my ways, and the ways of the people I work with... Thank you again for sharing your story Roscoe.

[Hman_Chicopee]

Just a little FYI...

I just picked up that 12 ton hydraulic gear puller from Harbor Freight. It is fantastic for pulling the gears on a 2:1

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-...ler-66657.html

It is on sale for about 80 bucks, but because the clerk hung up on me by mistake while confirming it was in stock she gave me a sweet discount when I picked it up -- and included a 2 year replacement warranty for less than the sale price...

With the puller, you can have a 2:1 apart in about 15 minutes. Super happy with it!