100 ton Hydraulic glue press

I keep getting jobs that need glue up from thicker stock.  Until I made this press everything could be done with clamps but as soon as the press was available I started getting orders that couldn't be done without it.  Shown is the blank for an 8' baseball bat from 12/4 ash.  Each of the jacks are 12 ton capacity.  Tightbond recommends no more than 200 lbs per square inch clamping pressure.  That turns out to be 12 tons per square foot.    I used 1" cold roll steel for the adjustable bottom cross bar.  This was not strong enough and they bend.  I am going to replace them with hardened steel.  If you are going to use cold rolled steel then I recommend going to at least 1 1/2". 

The top pieces are 1" by 2" stock and even they flex under load.  The side pieces are 1/4" by 3"  and the same material was used under the top pieces as a bearing surface for the jacks.  I am happy to report that none of my welds have broken.

Below is my original version.  The threaded rod just didn't give me enough pressure and the bed was too low to be comfortable.

I needed to be able to glue up solid posts up to 10'.  The big  challenge is to be sure that the glue up is straight so it needs to be clamped to a straight surface.  The glue press bed is made from .25" by 12" cold rolled plate with 3" by .25" channel between the plates.  Bolts were made from 3/8" all thread with a nut welded on one end.  Holes were drilled and threaded every 9".  I use a air wrench at 100 lbs air pressure to tighten the bolts.  I have started using a 1/2" variable speed drill to tighten the bolts because it is faster.  I used 8" steel wheel casters because the press will sit outside most of the time and I didn't want to worry about flat tires.  The hole thing weighs about 500 lbs.  I use shrink wrap under the wood to keep glue off the press.