Hydraulic press for large disc cutter

[Nathon]

Sick of my moaning about the cost of copper discs, my wife bought me one of Durston's lovely 76mm disc cutters for Christmas.

Now, using a 2.5lb copper hammer I have been able to cut a few discs of my usual 1mm copper. However, it is very hard going. We're talking 10+ strong blows each time, which is not only leading to jagged edges and more noise than is fair to anyone in earshot but, over time, will probably both damage the cutter and my fingers.

As such I'm looking into buying a hydraulic press, but (having never used one) I'm not sure if the 8-tonne version available on Cookson would be suitable?

Does anyone know if that would that be strong enough to power through a 76mm sheet of 1mm thickness copper? Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, I just don't want to shell out £200+ on something that isn't actually going to work

Thanks!

[josef1]

Maybe call Cooksons and ask them, they have been really helpful also allowing me to demo tools in Birmingham. I would guess it will cut what you require though

[Dennis]

Hello Nathon,
I will talk around the subject, somewhat negatively, as I do, in the hope that something wil be of help.

You seem to propose spending an extraordinary amount of money just to bring down the cost of disks.
Just how many do you need to make?
Will you be doing this for life, or will you move on?
Can't you pass on the cost?
Have you done the maths?

The sticking point seems to be the copper hammer, which defeats your efforts by absorbing much of the force.
I have never needed many disks, but always used a steel hammer with success. Even with an inexpensive disk set this worked for me.

The problem with a hydraulic press is that it takes much longer to do the job. By the time the metal is arranged in the tool the tool inserted into the press, the press pumped up, then let down again, etc. just for one disk, you might well loose patience.

When I tried it there was no positive signal to stop, so I managed to jam the cutting punch permanently.
Admittedly mine is a Bonnie Doon Type press with a 20 ton bottle jack, which is way over the top for this, but I would regard 8 tons a bit feeble, and if buying would go for at least 12tons.

As josef has said, there is no way to be sure until you try it, but do head the one review offered. Dennis.

[Nathon]

Thanks for the tip - used their Live Chat and they've said they'll look into it for me. V helpful!

[Nathon]

This is great advice, thank you very much for your time.

I have done some back-of-a-fag-packet maths and a reasonable cost outlay now should, eventually, pay for itself. I've been paying c. £3-4 a disc from Chinese suppliers, which I can bring down to more like £2-3 a disc by purchasing copper sheet from UK suppliers and cutting the discs myself. This is what I used to do with saws and shears but, as you can imagine, the process was slow/tedious and the results not as good.

I cut and use a disc most days, so we're talking of a need for hundreds of the stupid things. There's no opportunity to pass on cost because I'm not selling anything (much to the chagrin of my wife).

If I'm honest, I think the main driver for me isn't really the cost but rather just stubbornness. I need discs. I have a nice disc cutter. One way or another, I want to make said disc cutter work like I hoped it would!

I did try a steel hammer but it left a dirty big dent in the cutter, which I took as a bad sign. Durston recommended using one of their 2lb brass hammers, which I did until it snapped (another bad sign). The slightly heavier copper one I've now got is doing the best so far, but it's still hard going and I have elderly neighbours to think about re. the incredible levels of noise produced.

That said, it sounds like a hydraulic press may just be a different kind of hard work. The YouTube clips (etc.) that I've looked at did make it look a bit faffy...your post confirms that.

And, yes, the review on that particular press offered by Cookson has also rung some alarm bells. Very similar-looking models are available elsewhere (e.g. Etsy) and similar comments about workmanship have been made.

Food for thought. Thanks again!

[china]

I have a 20T Press and it will cut 1mm Disks with a Disk Cutter, however as Dennis said it it too much bother. I use a brass hammer ( appr. 1kg ) my Disk cutters are all custom made and properly heat treated unlike some of the commercial ones hence the dent in yours.

[Dennis]

I woke up this morning to realise that a small fly press would do this perfectly in one pass.
Surprisingly they don't seem to be available any more, except as very old and damaged antiques.
Maybe they cracked too many heads.

[Nathon]

I woke up this morning to realise that a small fly press would do this perfectly in one pass.
Surprisingly they don't seem to be available any more, except as very old and damaged antiques.
Maybe they cracked too many heads.

I did wonder about a fly press, and there are a few places you can get them from it seems. But I think - following everyone's advice here - that I'll persevere with hammers for now.

Cookson's support team actually did get back to me and recommended the Durston Planishing Press, but I'm not sure its £360 cost helps the economic case here...

[nicks creative stuff]

I’ve used a fly press in my day job for many years. A fabulous tool that is very versatile, easy to make tooling for and set up for production work. However the power to weight ratio is not good and would not suit most workshops. The one I’ve had a lot of experienced with is classed as having 8 tons of power with a good swing. This tool weighs nearly 1 ton and has to have a robust dedicated stand. There are models that are a lot smaller with a capacity of 1-2 tons although they will still weigh 150-250kgs.

I would guess the 8 ton press you were looking at would easily pop a large hole in thin copper sheet. Have you thought about making something? You could probably pick up a 10 ton bottle jack for less than £50 and then you just need a strong metal frame to put it in. You could find materials needed to make something like this at a scrapyard for say £20. Then all you need is a friendly welder to fabricate something suitable.

Small engineering companies often keep offcuts and scrap around for recycling when making small projects. I would suggest approaching the back door of a small friendly metal workers shop and showing them your punch and explaining the idea of a bottle jack and frame set up and asking if they could cheaply weld something suitable. A large capacity bottle jack is relatively cheap you just need something to push against. Check out machinemart for prices.

If it was me I would probably just buy a sledgehammer and give it a good smack … good luck with your endeavours … Nick.

[nicks creative stuff]

One more thought … some machinemart stores have display models in stock and a traditional mechanics hydraulic benchpress might be worth looking at. It may be possible to test one if you take in your cutter and a bit of copper and see if it will cut under a 4 ton model like this https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clar...c-bench-press/ … N