I am a high school tech/engineering teacher who is not very familiar with press breaks. We do have a shop press (without a gauge) that we used to break concrete cylinder and beam test specimens with, but it failed this year so I am looking to upgrade. My ideal product would be this: shop press that can be used to test concrete beams and cylinders (so the top/bottom surfaces for the specimen have to be flat), with a gauge, it can also be used as a press break, is a CNC machine so I can use governmental funding to help pay for it, is no more than $8,000, and is not too complicated so that it requires extensive training to use. It looks like the Titan 25T might fit my requirements, but can it be used as a regular shop press so that we can also break our concrete?
I don’t think so. It’s a very specialized unit.
I think it would depend on the specifics our your concrete testing setup and requirements. Keep in mind that there will be a long lead time on the Titan 25T for a while.
Excerpt from draft manual:
I can’t imagine how you could utilize this machine for anything besides its intended purpose.
You don’t use a scapel to cut steak.
Your best bet is to contact some concrete paving companies or local testing labs and see if they will sell one that is still good, or fix the one you have.
Wish you would have asked this question 4 months ago. My employer just threw out 3 of them.
How good is the press that failed? (cheap offshore)
What failed?
How many tons is it?
I don’t think the Titan would be the way to go, I think you would damage it over a short period of time.
Maybe repair the press you have and still purchase the Titan?
For doing cylinder and beam breaks, it is very specific as to the how, thus the equipment is also very specialized if they are for official pass/fail and maturity testing.
I thought for sure did they listed rosin press modes when the Titan was first advertised?
I can’t find the heated dies and punches now.
@dataproto @bigdaddy2166
Thanks for this information! I will look into it a bit more.
@Sticks
Thanks for the response. I am not just looking to replace the press. Ideally, I would like to have the functionality of both pieces of equipment in one - I don’t have room in my workshop for both. We have separate 3D printers, CNC mills, and a laser engraver. They now make machines that do all of that with one piece of equipment - perhaps not perfectly, but to a level needed for high school students. Having machines that combine tasks frees up space for different equipment. I don’t have much familiarity with press breaks, and the expertise of the members of this forum was very helpful before for me, so I thought I’d check here to see if anyone knew of something that would do both adequately. We are not following ASTM testing for our cylinder and beam breaks, I’m just trying to give the students an example of some hands-on engineering testing to show them the effect of differing water content in the cylinders and the use or lack of steel reinforcement in a beam.
@Knick
The old bottle jack on the press began leaking fluid. The information on the jack has worn off over time, so I don’t know much about it, but it has broken our cylinders after a 2-day cure with no problems for years, do I’m guessing maybe 4 tons. This time we had to have a 3-day cure, and I guess it couldn’t handle the extra day. I can get a new bottle jack without little cost and still use our press, or spend some money and get a new press with a gauge, or make our big purchase for the year with a press break (that will also break concrete, if possible)… I’m just trying to figure out what our options are.
One option would be to fix the old press. Find someone to fix the pump or buy new (harbor freight has a pretty big selection)
Then buy a press brake.
That way you can continue to break concrete and make parts of the press brake. Once you have the press brake and can see it, touch it, then you can decide if it could be converted over.
This is just my 2 cents, as I see breaking concrete on a new press brake, like standing on the hood of my car to get something out of my garage. 
Sounds like you have the opportunity for a good hands on exercise.
Start with the actual press, and help the students analyze each component, select a reasonable safety factor and then buy an appropriately sized jack.
I suppose you could then determine the max amount of day cure you could break with your setup based on each mix design… of coarse there is still quite a bit of variability in strength.
I think you need to post a pic of your old press and how you were using it…
That would help a lot to figure if this piece of equipment could do the same thing and more. It will display the tonnage of force applied to the rams, so that would apparently help for your use case. The bed is 33" wide and has American style die holder.
The press brake capabilities work hand in hand if you are designing and cutting metal parts, so that could be a game changer for your school/ classes.
I would thing a Harbor freight press with a 20 ton air cylinder would be great for testing concrete. They can also be used with Press Brake attachments if you want to bend metal up to 12" wide. They can be mounted on wheels and moved around if you are tight on space. They are easy to use and much safer than a Press brake.
Great suggestion - a picture’s worth 1,000 words.
The beam above is 4"x4"x14". The cylinder below is 3" in diameter and 6" tall.
Looks like that operation could be dangerous to the operator. Flying concrete?
Thanks - I will look into that!
We don’t let the concrete cure to the point that the concrete flies when it breaks, but it would be good to put some sides on it.
We used to use a flat piece of mabye 16 ga sheet that had a handle on it that we would hold up when pressing axle brgs off. that worked fine
Thanks for the idea, but I am having a hard time visualizing that.
I think Knick is suggesting a piece of metal with a handle on it that you hold as a shield
It would certainly be better than safety glasses. People just need to get past the idea that they need to visually see the moment things burst. They will not be as fast with their reaction to beat the speed of the bits of rock, sand and cement coming their way.