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Beware the HF press plates

14K views 42 replies 26 participants last post by  Totalled 
#1 ·
well that was fucking scary :eek: I was dimple dieing gussets for my cage build with my dimple set I purchased from Billy at Hellfire Fab. Happy as can be using my HF 20T press (converted to air over hydro) pimping out little dimples of happiness and then.





BOOM !!!!!!
:mad:
I have had these press plates for like 8 years with no issues. Nothing like having a 5lb hunk of chicom shit fly past your face to wake you up.


Guess I will be calling up SWAG when i get some cash to upgrade to some cut steel ones like I should have. Safety glasses or not if that would have tagged me I would not be typing right now. The half that missed me landed 5' from the press.

Luckily I had some leftover 1" plate and could finish.


just a warning to keep your eye on.....ok maybe not ON ...but aware of how powerfull your press can be.
 
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#7 ·
what, cage around the press?
Lots of previous mention of this. You shoulda thrown them away from day 1. The 50T press comes with arbor plates that look to be mild steel, not cast.
mostly its been "recent" ones. These have been with me for a while, so now we can just say ALL of the 20T press plates. :laughing:
 
#11 ·
Yeah I'm just not sure guards for a home shop are necessary or practical. If you have employees, that's another matter.

In reality you'd be better served -and more likely to use - by fitting an air-over jack so you can stand off to the side. Chuck guards, chip shields, and even all the guards that come on ironworkers these days................they just hinder productivity, visibility, or the work envelope of the machine - - as a guard on a shop press would do.
 
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#14 ·
I had no idea that the HF presses where like that...sux big time...and here I had thought that for $150 bucks it was worth the investment...nadda chance now. I'll see bout some steel locally!


I am considering a press purchase...but it's a bit pricey for me right now...

500 bucks 50 ton...air/hyd system so I'm told...not sure waiting on more info.

Will post pics if I get it...

Sure be nice to get though and then do some press brake stuff for cage and so forth for truck.

Should likely get a decent mig too one day considering the POS I have...
 
#15 ·
wow, talk about missing the topic :laughing:

The press it self kicks ass. The press itself with a HF 20T air/hydro jack kicks even more ass.

The PRESS PLATES that come with it are SHIT! thats what broke, not the press itself.
 
#23 ·
The tabs look pretty thick to be dimple dieing. How thick are they? That could be part of it. I'm not saying that the plates aren't junk, but the force to dimple 3/16 or so steel is pretty high.


V
 
#24 ·
this has happened SOO many times yet HF just keeps pumping out the jap crap ! I got 8 stitches nearly 1/2" from my eye when one of these let go.. there needs to be a stick in the tool section on this issue !!
 
#30 · (Edited)
Being a machinist I have seen some crazy accidents in shops. Presses are and can be soooo freakin dangerous. I have seen three explosions on presses. One was as I explained earlier about my buds HF plates exploding. Another time at work a guy was pressing something using a precision 1-2-3 block underneath the part he was pressing. Unfortunately it was the kind with the 1/2 holes in it. It exploded and sounded like a shot gun going off. Shrapenel went everywhere sticking in walls and ricocheting off equipment. No one got hurt.

Another time a guy was trying to get a bar of aluminum to a spicific bend using an 85 ton press. Was one pump away from it being just right and BOOM!!! the piece snapped in helf, no shrapenel, but the snapping sounded just like a shot guy going off too. No one hurt there either. Presses are nothing to fuck around with for damn sure.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Not only are they crap castings, the HF plates have a nasty design flaw: both of the triangular notches on each side line up, concentrating stress quite nicely. If you cut new ones out of plate, offset the triangles.

I had a trailer hub split in half once trying to press races out... same chocolate rain feeling.
 
#35 ·
I just sold off my orange 20 ton and picked up the new silver 20 ton. It has steel plates, and the press is actually quite a bit nicer than the old orange one. I was surprised to not see a thread about this updated press considering their popularity here. By the way, my SWAG brake fits perfectly in the new version. I'll go take some pics quick.
 
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