By E. S. Harris

OR fitting bushings into con-necting rods, forcing gears on

shafts, removing axles from smallwheels and similar work in thegarage, service station or shop, ahydraulic press like the one illus-trated will do the job quickly andefficiently. It consists of a hydrau-lic auto jack, some pipe and pipefittings and a frame made fromodds and ends of scrap iron usual-

F

ly available at garages and machine shops.Four pieces of angle iron forming the

base are bolted to the workbench, and theuprights are attached with ½-in. bolts.Four spacers, shown in Fig. 1, are drilledand tapped for ½-in. bolts which hold themto the uprights. The top of the press ismade from two lengths of angle iron whichare bolted to the spacers. A notch is cut ineach piece of angle iron through which thejack will be inserted later, and two steelretaining blocks, similarly notched asshown in the circular detail of Fig. 2, aredrilled and tapped for two ½-in. bolts oneach side and on the underside to receivea similar bolt extending through the slotwhere the pieces of angle iron butt togeth-er. The adjustable rests are supported atany one of four positions by bars placedthrough ½-in. holes spaced at 3-in. inter-vals in the uprights, and are held togethertightly by four studs running through sec-tions of iron pipe.

The cylinder and pistonof the hydraulic jack areremoved as a unit, and apiece of round bar stock of the same diam-eter and length as the cylinder is substi-tuted. A hole is drilled through it length-wise for the passage of fluid, and the endsare threaded, one end to screw into thebase of the jack housing, the other to takea nut and pipe reducer into which the feedpipe is to be fitted. After the bar is screwedinto the housing, a washer is placed overit and the nut turned down tightly to pre-vent loss of fluid. It may be necessary toput a gasket under the washer as a seal.Instead of using a reducer, the feed pipecan be threaded and fitted into a counter-bored, tapped hole in the bar.

Next, make a housing for the cylinderand piston. This is made from a length of1¾-in. iron pipe about half as long as thecylinder, welded to a metal base which isthreaded like the jack housing to receivethe cylinder, and is drilled for the passageof fluid. A nut is welded to the base and afeed-pipe coupling screwed into it. Thecylinder and piston in the substitute hous-ing are mounted on the frame as shown inthe upper detail of Fig. 2, with the end ofthe housing resting on the angle iron andthe cylinder shoulder butting up againstthe underside of the angle iron. The hous-

ing is clamped securely between theretaining blocks. In this position, thepiston will press down on the workwhen fluid is pumped into the cylinder.The feed pipe is attached by couplingsand elbows, and the jack is supported

by a brace at the side of the frame. Coilsprings, attached to the frame spacers byeye bolts, pull up the piston and force thefluid back when the valve is released.