I took some digital pictures of my new “beast”, for those who asked (I think it needs a name. I don’t really have a name for him / her / it.)

For size comparison scale: the aluminum side plates are 3/4″ (18mm) thick, and are 6″ (150mm) high. The bed length is 34″ (87 cm), and the “inside” bed width is 24″ (61 cm).

There are some resemblences to Doug Forsythe’s press here, but some important differences:

1) The rollers are of the compound construction I described earlier in this thread.

2) Note that the supports for the upper roller are machined into the sides of the press. That is, I cut “mortises” and “tenons”. This was a lot of extra work. However, it means that (a) the claimed width of the bed is indeed the width of the bed, and (b) no “stops” were required. The platen rides about 0.275″ below the top level of the sides; that 0.275″ is plenty to keep the platen where it belongs!

– Don

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Chain drive “outrigger” and bearings. Note that the position for the lower roller and the geometry of the “outrigger” were built so that the sprockets (and drive gear ratio) could later be changed, after experimentation, without changing anything in the construction of the machine. Those bolts holding the “outrigger” are grade 5 1/2-13, and they run through aluminum cylinders 1″ in diameter which were bored. They are not “going anywhere”, so to speak!

The bearings are in compensating cast iron mountings.

That crank (you can only see the top) is also cut from 3/4″ aluminum, and
has a rotating steel handle at the other end.

Overall. Note I designed things such that there are essentially no “nuts” used in the construction (to get lost later). All the lengths of screws and bolts are calibrated to “come out even”, so there are no protrusions of bolt ends anywhere.

From the right side

Mountings of rollers, gears, “superstructure”. The castellated nuts in the upper roller mountings are bushed, so it is just as smooth to raise the upper roller as it is to lower it. The range of motion of the upper roller is over 3″. The upper “spreaders” are 5/8″ tool steel, mounted with grade 8 bolts. The lower “spreaders” are 5/8″ 5051 aluminum rod. The “bearings” for the platen are machined UMHW (“ultra high molecular weight polyethylene”, sort of similar to delrin in behavior. They are positioned with shaft collars.

Diane,

Thanks for the nice reaction!!

It IS pretty big, indeed. I had to build the cart it is sitting on “just for the occasion”, as nothing easily / commercially available was available (to say nothing of “at a reasonable price”). The top of the cart is 36″ x 26″!

Nearly a year ago, when I first obtained the material for those side panels, the package was so large and heavy that I was certain I had lost my mind …

By the way: someone asked in this thread “how much did it cost to build?”. If I really give an answer, the answer is misleading, because I did 100% of the labor. To do that, one requires a milling machine, a good sized lathe, a floor-mounted drill press, and a metal-cutting bandsaw at least. Without those tools, you will necessarily have work done “outside”.

All that said, my direct cost of materials-only has been something like $500.

If one would need to purchase outside machining services, I would guesstimate a minimum of an additional $750 to $1000. This depends very much on where you are; the price of machinists varies quite a lot depending on “supply and demand”. Andrew could answer this question better than I, as he is in the middle of the process.

This guesstimate would make sense in terms of list prices for similar “production” machines, which would be in the $3000+ range, I suspect. That makes their “cost” in the area of, perhaps, $1200-ish.

– Don