Do It Yourself Tobacco Press?

[joe912]

Try an arbor press, no hydraulics to leak.

 

[tokerpipes]

Been doing some reading on c clamp pressure exertion and as long as its not a cast iron clamp and its a steal clamp it should exert up to 3200 lbs of pressure on the serface of the materials being pressed. Of coarse it differs for each manufacturers blend of hard metals. Armstrong claims the strongest, they have a torque compression c clamp that you use a torque wrench to clamp it down.
So, scientificly speeking you can use a c clamp to press tobacco. The biggest variabl is as the tobacco cures in the press it will need to be tightedned to keep the constant pressure needed for the flaking process.

 

[spartan]

For my specific purposes I think some sort of simple clamp mechanism will work perfectly for me.
For those that are going to try to turn their tobacco into a flake I wish you the best of luck and can't wait to see the results.

 

[tokerpipes]

I am just going to do a small amount to quicken the process. plus it will be a small sheet rather than a huge block that needs cutting...I am just doing this because I am inquisitive.

 

[jpberg]

I made an open top box out of 1/4 inch stainless, and sheared a piece of 1/2 stainless that just fit in the box. In each of the four corners I tacked 1" stainless threaded rod and punched appropriate holes in the plate. A two inch coupling welded to the center of the plate accomodates the ram head of a 20 ton press. I leave it under pressure for a while, then run nuts down the rod to maintain pressure for a month or so.
I've tried the setup at home with a 10 ton bottle jack, there is a considerable difference using the larger press.

 

[nmbigfoot02]

Keep in mind that the area over which you exert the force is just as important as the force itself. Also, the C clamp that can exert(and more importantly hold) 3200 lbs is going to be beefy and expensive.

 

[tokerpipes]

Yeah the one I was referring to by Armstrong is $250 retail. So I am approching this from a different angle.

 

[jaysin]

C&d is a modified barring press. can get a cheep one at autozone or something for 100 to 200 bucks.

 

[terry]

This is a very interesting thread, I hope you guys will keep us posted on your results..I may have to jump on board and give this a try.

 

[nmbigfoot02]

I actually have one of those 12 ton presses. What the hell...I might just give this a go too to see what happens.

 

[spartan]

Lol Nice bigfoot,
You have one of these babies and havn't tried to make a flake tobacco yourself?
I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Good luck!

 

[nmbigfoot02]

Lol Nice bigfoot,
You have one of these babies and havn't tried to make a flake tobacco yourself?

I bought it for building AKs, but I don't use it all that often anymore. Honestly just never thought of it.

 

[nsfisher]

Place 4x8 sheet of plywood on floor. Put baccy on it. Place other 4x8 sheet of plywood on top. Rent 2 actors from "My 600lb life". Have them sit on it for 3 days while feeding them heavy chocolate, milk, bonbons etc.

 

[tokerpipes]

@nsfisher

You may not have too many friends after that one bro.
I will have to say it really depends on how much tobacco you want to press based on the size press you use. Obviously the big bous can compress large amounts of tobacco if you just want to do like a lb then maybe not so much effort is needed to flake the tobacco.

 

[ffmurray]

Sorry to bring back a dead thread, but so many ideas and so many people saying they were going to try something and...........
How did it work out?

 

[drwatson]

How bout a large table vice?

 

[ffmurray]

oh snap a car

I once tried to make Apple cider using my truck as weight, I learned cars are not as heavy as one would think, at least not able to put as much force as a heavy duty screw jack. But it's probably more than a C clamp and people have had success with that. I'd love to see what your flake or kake looks like darjones, what did you put in it?

 

[ffmurray]

I just made a small press made with a tin and a C clamp. I took the pressure off after 3 hours and had a look.

I decided it needed more pressure so I put it back in and this time used a "big" pipe wrench (26", I thought the 48" would be overkill) I'll take a look tomorrow after work and see how it's going.

 

[ffmurray]

Hmmm image didn't seem to work, it's public so following the link should work. Is there a size limit for what shows or some other trick that I should know, thanks all for the help

 

[cortezattic]

I don't think the 48" wrench is too much ...and you should wait at least a month, unless you merely want

to smash everything together without merging the flavors. Of course, everybody plays with their toys differently. :D