Homemade die clicker with hydraulic press?

[leathersmith]

I have an industrial swing arm die clicker in my workshop, but I need another simple clicker press in my home office for testing out dies before bringing them into the workshop.

I was thinking revamping an inexpensive hand operated hydraulic press by mounting a steel plate for the top platen and metal base (with a cutting pad on top).

I just had a few questions for any experts out there:

1) Can a hydraulic press be feasibly adapted to be used as a leather clicker press?

2) Would a simple 6-ton press be sufficient for cutting small shapes or would I be better advised to go with a 12-ton model?

Thanks in advance.

[mc_n_g]

We have a hydraulic operated press which has a 5ft bed by about 3.5ft deep. So yes hydraulics can operate a clicker press. The hydraulic rams are at least 6" diameter if not 8". They look like overgrown 1 gal paint cans. The stop mechanism is a complex chain mechanism which controls the depth of strike. If you are off by a few thousanths it 'embeds' the steel rule in the top striker plate. Sometimes it gets a little touchy by itself as if the stop did not react fast enough.
Your biggest problem will be stopping the hyrdraulic piston at the right location (if you automate it). Hand pumping it will be a pain!
Overall, yes hydraulic units can be used but they need to be controlled carefully. We also have the swingarm style. Ours seem to adjust very well without many problems considering their age.

mc_n_g

[txcowdog]

I've been in the leather business 30 years and the best advice I can give you is move your office closer to the workshop. It would be easier to walk to the workshop and test your dies than it would be to put a hydraulic press in your office. Probably a lot cheaper also.

[leathersmith]

It would certainly make more sense for me to move my office closer to my workshop. Only problem is that my workshop is in Italy. When doing prototyping and the like with my designers here in the U.S., it would be extremely useful to have some sort of die cutting device. I can get a hand operated 6-ton hydraulic press for under $100, so I thought I would give it a try. The other option, I suppose would be to find a leather shop in the U.S. to contract out the work. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find leather manufacturers in the USA these days -- everything has moved offshore.

[mc_n_g]

Used surplus machines are readily available. If you really need one, I would search the surplus machinery sites.
mc_n_g

[machinbird]

I've had some exposure to the leather and fabric cutting business. If you can, get yourself an actual clicker press like a Sandt. Your cutting surface should be a hard plastic pad mounted on a wood base, not cutting against a steel surface. Otherwise your dies won't last. If you just have to have a kiss cut on steel type press using steel rule dies, go with a Thomson clamshell press, but they will be more expensive and there will be a much steeper learning curve if you want to keep your fingers.

[llewellyna]

I have been a clicker die manufacturer for about 45years and at one stage we did make a hydraulic 15t jack clicker press -- it was a real disappointment -- painfully slow to operate -- and painfully slow to release.
This lead us to eventually manufacture the M A Series III bench top 5t clicker -- this machine will do exactly what you were wanting to do at home.
Just look up lucris in google-- or bench top clicker.