For nearly a century, we have manufactured more than 4,500 custom hydraulic presses for rubber molding, composite molding, laminating, forming, bonding and various additional applications.
Hydraulic presses are a large part of our company’s core product and service offering. We’ve seen it all, and have been thought leaders in the production of innovative hydraulic presses since the beginning. In fact, some customers are still using our hydraulic presses built in the 1930s and 1940s that perform reliably today – which goes to show the superior value that comes with working with our team. Our commitment to quality and service is evident by our industry-leading three-year warranty and our ISO certification. The heavy-duty construction of French and TMP brand hydraulic presses guarantees superior value, giving you many years of consistent operation with minimum downtime – and our engineers are constantly challenging themselves to build even more rugged machines that last even longer.
Custom Hydraulic Presses
Our team designs, manufactures, and supports hydraulic presses that general range from 25 tons, to 1,000 tons, all the way up to as much as 2,000 tons with various advanced features such as:
- heated platens
- advanced control systems
- temperature (cooling) control
- various construction styles
- automation
If you want the right press designed for your molding, bonding or thermoforming application and a hydraulic press you can rely on to keep you up and running, it’s important to consider your requirements when constructing a custom hydraulic press.
To start you off, we’ve compiled a list of our custom capabilities for hydraulic presses – you can choose from a full range of premium standard features and pre-engineered options to get the exact press you need.
Hydraulic Press Standard Features
- Thick precision ground headblock provides exceptional rigidity, low deflection (normally 0.001” per foot), and superior parts.
- Heavy-duty, precision ground moving platen that is significantly thicker than typical presses, helps yield low deflection (normally 0.001” per foot) and superior parts.
- Patented taper keys this exclusive French design forms a pre-stressed, rigid joint between sideplates and the headblock/cylinder; which eliminates small movements in the joint and the possible wear associated with the movement, therefore extending the life of the machine.
- Allen Bradley microprocessor controls regulate temperatures, pressures, operational sequences, timers, pumps and motors.
- Durable cylinder packing and glands provide bronze bushings for better alignment and prevention of ram wear.
- Three levels of insulation function to retain heat in molds, keeping it out of oil and cylinders.
- Fast close cylinders provide rapid part cycling and mold separation in applications.
- Prefill valves used in conjunction with fast close cylinder work to rapidly fill the main cylinder.
- Platen guidance system for sideplate hydraulic compression molding presses and transfer presses permits thermal press expansion and contraction while maintaining smooth, parallel platen movement.
- Energy-efficient hydraulic system variable volume piston pumps to pump only enough oil to maintain desired pressure.
Optional Hydraulic Press Features
- Platen heating/cooling choices of electric, steam or oil heat, air or water-cooled or Isoplaten® that allows uniformities to +/- 5 °F over 90% of the platen surface with single zone control.
- Microprocessor choices, data acquisition and SPC reporting are available.
- Hydraulic monitoring system of the hydraulic oil helps provide predictive maintenance.
- Tilting platen and upper booking platen tilts for easy, efficient mold cleaning without operator strain.
- Mechanical platen stop provides a positive position lock in addition to typical hydraulic counterbalance or check valves. This is often supplied as part of our downacting compression molding presses.
- Electrical guards help interlocked gates stop hydraulic press operation when gates are opened.
- Rack and pinion synchronization system provide accurate timing device for simultaneous opening/closing of upper and lower molds in double-deck press to ensure uniform heat history of material.
- Custom mounting holes and T-slots are bored to customer requirements, usually at no additional cost.
- Part knockout system are a productivity-improving option to remove parts from molds. Automated and manual molding and material handling systems available.
- Vacuum chamber prevents air entrapment inside molds to reduce scrapped parts and reduce cycle times.
- Multiple daylight designs are available to fit your production requirements.
- Auxiliary equipment including powered loader and unloader with optional “shark fin” boom arm, pre-vacuum accumulators, and walkie stacker units.
Hydraulic Press Repair Services
We also offer a wide range of press repair, rebuild, retrofit and productivity improvement solutions for your existing hydraulic presses. Services range from machining and partial refurbishments to complete press rebuilds.
Contact us to learn more about French hydraulic presses and automated systems designed to match your unique application requirements.
Learn more by checking out our list of Custom Hydraulic Presses Resources or by visiting our Hydraulic Presses page.