Strength Questions in building a homemade press

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hey, so got my hands on some warehouse steel (home depot/lowes racking essentially). cut the beams down to 24" wide and hammered in a 2" pc of black pipe through the beam and am about to weld the other end on. my question is, is it worth filling the air gaps with dry sand to stop the beam from deforming around the inner black pipe?
Reply:you should fill inside the pipe as well if you're going to go that way.There are no problems. There are only solutions. It's your duty to determine the right one.Hobart Handler 210Airco 225 Amp MSM Stinger
Reply:You are trying to use that as the platform (cross-beam) or the top-beam/bar for a home-built hydraulic press?Not strong enough for anything other than a very low-tonnage press.Filling the air space with sand won't really do all that much, you just don't have enough steel in there.Try again with some heavier-wall and 'bigger' cross-section steel I-beam or channel stuff.Look around and see what other shop-presses use and do something similar.http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-...p-presses.htmlhttp://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_14133.jpg  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:thanks for the replies... the pic is of the cross piece, it is on its side. i plan on reenforcing the the beam with some heavy "L" steel probably 1/4". i was just curious if the addition of sand would be of any benefit before i weld on the other cap. sorry should have given that detail.
Reply:What pressure does this have to stand up to? I don't think sand will do any good.
Reply:dont bother with sand. look at an engineered product and copy it..
Reply:well only bottle jack i have is an air assisted rated at 20ton but its really only for an occasional wheel bearing or bushing so hopefully i'll never need the full 20. main reason i liked the pre-made steel is the ability to easily take it apart and store it in a corner when i didn't need it. ive got a another piece of 1-1/2" black pipe that slides into the 2" fairly snug plus i have some heavy "L" shaped steel to reenforce. just trying to do it on the cheap because obviously the HF press isn't that expensive but takes up too much room for twice a year kinda use.
Reply:The thing with sand is it will never hold something in it's present shape. I've seen folks use sand to "mandrel" bend pipe. Find some heavier steel and copy a design or buy the HF.I wouldn't expect the example in the photo to hold up to much at all and you'll have trouble gauging how much pressure is being used for each application. Go big or go home.
Reply:X2 on not using sand filler.Subie...FYI, the "L"-shaped steel is called angle iron.
Reply:Pallet racking is not strong enough to build any kind of press with unless all you are trying to do is squash beer cans.Look at some engineered/manufactured presses and copy their design, buy or find the correct steel shapes to build it properly.Good luck with your project."The reason we are here is that we are not all there"SA 200Idealarc TM 300 300MM 200MM 25130a SpoolgunPrecision Tig 375Invertec V350 ProSC-32 CS 12 Wire FeederOxweld/Purox O/AArcAirHypertherm Powermax 85LN25
Reply:If your bent on using this, (to each his own), I would fill it with hydraulic cement. Fill the pipe also. This will give you some additional stiffness.
Reply:oh yeah angle iron, i've heard of that stuff. well i've got zero dollars invested, just my time, which unfortunately not worth all that much . so i'll finish it and start with some low pressure projects. thanks for the help with my redneck engineering.
Reply:I think this borders on a waste of your time and free material.  I would guess that even a 2 ton jack will deform those pieces.  You'd be better off with a purchased bench top model if size is a concern.My name's not Jim....
Reply:I don't see that idea holding up to more then 3-4 tons of pressure, You might get up to 5 ton, if it is no more then 2ft wide. I  used 8" channel for the platform and the top of my homade press and 4"x 5/16 for the uprights. this deflects a little under the full 30 tons of pressure my bottle jack is supposed to be capable of. The material you have might work for uprights/ posts but you might have to stack several to get enough structure to withstand any amount of pressure. This is only my opinion though.
Reply:Originally Posted by subie101oh yeah angle iron, i've heard of that stuff. well i've got zero dollars invested, just my time, which unfortunately not worth all that much . so i'll finish it and start with some low pressure projects. thanks for the help with my redneck engineering.