It has been a while since we checked in on the fun at the Hydraulic Press Channel. As it tuns out, they are still squashing stuff to great acclaim and we had plenty of stuff to pick from in terms of the fresh videos that they have posted. The channel has evolved to show a lot of testing style videos now, which we think are cool. Not just wrecking stuff, but seeing how much force it gets different structures and materials to squash brings a level of entertainment to the whole program. That’s exactly what this video is about.
Here, our wacky accented hero tested different materials for their crush resistance. We’re talking about carbon fiber, aluminum, stainless steel, and structural steel. All of the pieces are about the same size and they are all hollow sections of square pipe.
Like in any sort of testing there are some surprises here. The carbon fiber is not as near as good as we expected, the aluminum is way better than we expected, and the steel? Well you’ll just have to see that for yourself. The dude that runs this channel is brilliant. Why do we say that? The guy is clearly making a good living with his little shop and this press just getting creative on things to squish and test.
If flattening things for fun, making simple videos about it and laughing the whole way while making money isn’t brilliant, we don’t know what is.
Carbon fiber is weakest in compression, even compared to steel. Tensile is it’s main strength. It was one of our concerns when we built carbon fiber pushrods and rockers for pro stock about 14 years ago, but it turned out to not be an issue due to how we wound the parts. Good thing NHRA outlawed them to keep the cost of pro stock from getting to high, right?
The stainless made the most attractive shape in the end; a real Work of Art!