Laycock 1551 Garage Press

If you trip over two let me know.I have a long list of people looking for one.They can fetch good money.I have one sitting waiting on a leadscrew getting made.I bought it with only three leadscrews and nuts. I`m not sure who actually made them but suspect Churchill.You also see them branded Tecalemit. Mark.

There appears to be one for sale here:

There appears to be one for sale here:

When I saw the dealers name I thought that`ll be expensive.They usually go for about =A31200 for a nice one.

Mark.

I took a look at it and thought that for non-business use, one could make a press of the same specification for about £600.

Mark Rand RTFM

Yes I spoke to Rondean the day I initially posted - they won't budge on the price, and it's way over budget for me. I've considered making one - a suitable cylinder is really the only issue as the rest is basic fabrication. The racking up and down as per the 1551 is a luxuary, many just use a hand winch.

AWEM

You can get a 50 ton bopttle jack fairly easily

Charles

I supose with a bottle jack upside down the issue is returning it to square one - external springs I suppose

...or a second bottle jack?

Regards, Tony

Rondean seem to be like that. They've Still got the Russian Toolroom mill that they had had for a year or more when I was looking for a mill several years ago. Its not got any cheaper, and it still hasnt sold...

Dave

Quick release fittings and longer hoses for a JCB cylinder??

:-)

Mark Rand RTFM

I know that's tongue in cheek, but I think enven the bigger cross section cylinders don't have a 60 ton push on the JCB - I'd have to do some measurement and calcs

AWEM

Depends on the cylinder/piston diameter and the operating pressure, but I've got an '8 ton' ram on my Chinese 2 ton engine lift, and a 'proper' ram at home which is working at 2000 psi on a 2.5" bore by memory, so that's about 4.3 tons and I'd know which one I'd prefer to use!

The presses use a squat cylinder with fairly large diameter to give the working pressure.

West point had a 60 ton Laycock on their advert flyer for some time, see that it sold for £1750 plus VAT:

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Rushden, UK snipped-for-privacy@prepair.co.uk

I wonder if Govt. surplus would provide a solution, in particular large bottle jacks used to jack aircraft bogies. I used to use them and IIRC the one we had for main gears on 767 type aircraft was 60 tons, it was light(ish) weight alloy and could be held (just) with one hand. We even had a ''posh'' one with a little pneumatic motor operated pump and a line that clipped onto the tyre valve - so that air from the wheel being swapped was used to raise the bogie.

As you say, the rest of a press is just a matter of simple fabrication.

Julian

I made a press rather like this

years ago using a bottle jack. Fortunately I had a 50T one at work to copy and managed to scrounge the steel and fasteners for nowt. I used a 30T bottle jack as that's all I need but the frame will take a lot more. Use the bottle jack the right way up. If you invert them, the oil port to the pump is above the oil so it suck air. That is unless you get an all position jack but they're expensive and not needed for my press. I bought a cheap new jack for =A330. That was the only cost. Use a couple of springs to return the jack piston and take it's weight. I used garage door springs. The jack sits on a cross beam that slides inside the verticals with a socket welded on it's base. This is bored about 30mm with a side screw to hold a push bar. As the bar's only plain steel, I can turn the end to whatever diameter I need according to the job. Also, weld a piece of plate with a hole in it to locate the jack piston on the top beam and stop it kicking out. If that happens, it hurts! It's not as chunky or as robust as the one you're after but it certainly works. The only real downsides are the lack of pressure guage and, being a manual pump, it's quite slow. Well worth =A330 though.

John

The only real downsides are the lack of pressure

I'd not worry too much, you should be able to approximate the amount of pressure based on how much your arm is bending when you pump :-)

Julian.

Is 60T really enough to press a garage...?

Regards, Tony