[acannell]

I am in the process of building a clamprite style for my 40 taper Haas. Since this is more less a hobby machine I cant justify spending that much on the tool. I am planing to use this as my ram...

10 Ton Hydraulic Short Body Ram

coupled to this...

5000 PSI Filled Gauge

and turn the threads off a thru coolant pull stud. Weld on a extended shank that will attach to a A frame style clamp that this piston will go in at the bottom of a 1 inch holder. this should work perfectly as I can preload the pull stud by screwing it into the clamp and the flange of the pull stud will be sitting on top of the holder just as it would normally. I will have to post some pics when I finish it.

AH-HA! a short stroke hydraulic actuator! and the gauge!!! nice find!!

so the drawbar pulling up will compress the ram via the frame/clamp you will be making right? can you link to a pic of what the clamp will look like? i cant seem to find one. crap i think i may go buy those parts and give this a shot...

i dont think this will be a big issue, but how do you fill the ram and the gauge with hydraulic fluid and bleed it of air? maybe the bleeding isnt needed because the preload can compress the air to nothing?

hmm i think you should start a separate thread dedicated to this project..alot of people will probably follow in your footsteps..including me if it looks like it will work lol

btw some good news on the strain gages for anyone interested in that:

from what ive read online, some strain gages can be bonded using just super glue. it depends on the backing material and the strain required. and Omega offers a $10 kit with bonding agent..so its not hundreds of dollars. there are also youtube videos showing strain gage bonding procedures..so this is all very inexpensive and accessible. omegas adhesives are here:

http://www.omega.com/pptst/Strain_Gage_Adhesives.html

and, i found lots of inexpensive strain gages on ebay, including a 45 degree rosette that will allow torsion and shear stress measurements, and its only $7.50 shipped for a single one! the average price for linear singles and rosettes is about $40 shipped for qty 5..


Budd Strain Gage Rosettes C12 111 R3A 120 Ohm Gage Factor 2 01 NOS Qty of 1 | eBay

the 45 degree one is really not meant for tension measurements..in fact i think its specfically designed to null out non torsional/shear forces. but it was so cheap i figure if i can get it to work then ill by the tension style ones. like this 2 gage rosette 5-pack for $35 shipped!

5 New Vishay mm WK 00 250TB 10c Precision Strain Gage 1000? ±0 4 w Opt W | eBay

so i bought the 45 degree rosette and im going to try bonding it to something and getting some kind of meaningful measurement, maybe some kind of torque wrench verifier lol. i have a differential amp with a 7 segment display from a different project so I think I should be able to measure the output, although I may need to make a bridge of some kind.

there is a very small chance that i may end up attempting to use it in a drawbar force gauge somehow..but it looks like DaOne's items up there would be perfect.