What press are you using in your shop?

[Tom Boyd]

I am updating my garage to be more self sufficient. Giving people a six pack and/or delaying a project is no longer reasonable every time I need to press a bearing or anything else.

I am looking for a H-frame floor model. I don't mind a bottle-jack drive with return springs, but I would like at least a 5 ton.

Whatevyagot, and was it woth the cost? Thanks

[PTSchram]

I somehow broke my 12-ton press. The upper horizontal bar was square tubing that collapsed and the jack rides on another piece of tubing that bends.

Make sure you get one with sturdy channel for the upper bar and the same for the movable ram.

Mine is now much stronger than originally, but what did I expect for <$100?

[frankenfab]

I have this one:
(It kind of, in a way, almost, sort of, somehow, half ass works.)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33497



I'd get this one:
(I have seen one, and it appears that it isn't as sloppy)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=52837

[Brandon]

I got the 20 ton HF model but I gotta fill and bleed the friggin pump every time I use it! I need to swap that thing out..

I don't know how I ever got by before without a press though! 5 ton? Are you pressing erasers into pencils or what? LOL

[MossMan]

Originally Posted by frankenfab

I have this one:
(It kind of, in a way, almost, sort of, somehow, half ass works.)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33497

This is what I've been using, not mine but a buddy's, and it works fine.

[morpheus]

Originally Posted by frankenfab

I have this one:
(It kind of, in a way, almost, sort of, somehow, half ass works.)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33497

I have the same press, got it on sale for $79 or $89 and it works about like yours does in other words it shakes like a mobile home in a tornado ...

[Tom Boyd]

Originally Posted by frankenfab

I have this one:
(It kind of, in a way, almost, sort of, somehow, half ass works.)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33497

Yeah, that is the one I have been using at a friends shop.

Originally Posted by frankenfab

I'd get this one:
(I have seen one, and it appears that it isn't as sloppy)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=52837

This one looks good for $199, the best part is free shipping!

Thanks for the imput guys. I really don't know what was in my head when I was typing 5 tons Brandon. :imaretard:

[PTSchram]

So far, the only thing I have not been able to separate with my 12 ton was a sliding joint in a driveshaft go figure, I bend mine up trying to separate something that is supposed to move smoothly.

Even for suspension bushings where the mfgr states 20 tons in necessary, the 12 works just fine.

Being something of a safety nerd (both from pastprofession and more importantly from hurting myself), I have a whole range of tools for use with the press, instead of using sockets. Keeps parts from flying out of the press as well as not mangling my sockets. I have a hole in the drywall in the shop from a trailing arm that came out of the press. They can be real dangerous (as can many tools).

[speedo]

I have a 30t H frame that I built myself. I built the frame to handle a 50t ram so that any future upgrades could be added.

Gus

[D60]

I've been seriously considering the 50T unit from Harbor Freight. Been eyeing it for a long time, and in a recent catalog it came down from $800 to $700. Someone once started a thread about this press, but no one had actually used it..........most replies were either people who had the 20T HF unit, or people just making blanket statements to avoid Harbor Freight altogether.

I've found it's difficult to find places to buy presses aside from Northern and Harbor Freight. I have no local suppliers and an auction is just not possible around here.

The 40T Arcan is $600 plus $200 shipping from Northern, or I can get the HF unit for $700 and free shipping. I'm definitely leaning toward the latter, I'd have to think it will work fine in a "shadetree" shop

[jerseyzuks]

Just purchased a 12 ton from Harbor Freight. Came in 3 boxes.

While the associate was taking the boxes from the warehouse, I noticed one box said 20 Ton.

The associate explained that some of the pieces were the same from the 12 ton to the 20 ton. I asked her to check again. She looked at her little sheet of paper, and assured me that it was correct.

When I got home (3 hour drive later), I found that the pieces were definately not interchangable.

[unimogken]

Does anyone use a press that has a guage as to how much pressure is being applied?

I have seen them around but you don't see them on the presses that use the "bottle jack" style jack.

[stunnin650]

i got a 50 ton i got from a shop going out of business, 50 bucks, better than any hf, i'm makeing a press brake for it, going to try to make a tubing bender with it, the only problem is if it can't move it it will explode it, so i got a peice of 12inch round peice of steel pipe to put around things when i'm pressing, mainly bearings, saved my ass many times

[speedo]

Originally Posted by unimogken

Does anyone use a press that has a guage as to how much pressure is being applied?

I have seen them around but you don't see them on the presses that use the "bottle jack" style jack.

My "home made press" utilizes an OTC ram and pump and it has a gauge that reads in applied pressure.

Gus

[DRM]

it's the 12 ton HF one like a ton of other people have, but with the 20 ton jack in it. Yes, it is sloppy, and I still need to square everything up and weld it together and try to shim some of the slop out of it for good.

[bulletproof]

Originally Posted by frankenfab

I have this one:
(It kind of, in a way, almost, sort of, somehow, half ass works.)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33497



I'd get this one:
(I have seen one, and it appears that it isn't as sloppy)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=52837

i've used the one in the first pic and it was sloppy as hell and the bar bends real easily.


i ended up buying the same one in the second pic for like 100 bucks when it went on sale once. it is way better than the first one and tight. i would recomend it for the money.

[Grim Reaper]

12 ton HF. Does what I need. Rebuilt my W56 using it and it will press wheel bearings off the shaft if you get creative.

Fram is sloppy and I am going to sleve the top where it bolts together and put a cross brace on ti with some scrap to keep it square.

[lsloth]

There is a great write up in the newest edition of Home Machinest this month. Its a 30/50 ton press. The instruction are great but you will need a welder, lathe and mill to build it.

[Toyoda]

Is the 12 ton($125) the one I should think about getting, or spend the extra and get the 20 ton(on sale for $200)?

[DRM]

Originally Posted by Toyoda

Is the 12 ton($125) the one I should think about getting, or spend the extra and get the 20 ton(on sale for $200)?

I don't see the benfit of the 20 ton over the 12... like I said, I have the 20 ton HF jack *in* my 12 ton unit, and no problems so far.

[tsm1mt]

I have a 20T unit from Homier, the traveling tool Gypsies.

$100. No freight. Unlike the HF unit, it's black.

Can't say I've done much with it.. finally put it together last week.. made shock bushings a breeze.. LOL.


update: pics




.

[K2Orion]

How much could it cost to build something similair to the HF models posted?

Buy a big bottle jack, abunch of C-channel and square tubing, a few garage sprins for return springs. Build your own and paint it whatever color you want.

Unless you're a hack it should turn out better than the HF stuff that others have said needs some "tweaking" anyway.

So has anybody built ther own, other than the one that requires a lathe posted above?

[Blazerman1]

I'm using this one :

Amrox 20 ton, bought it at the local J&L picked it up for $50.00 because the table was 1/4" out of square.

[D60]

Originally Posted by K2Orion

How much could it cost to build something similair to the HF models posted?

Buy a big bottle jack, abunch of C-channel and square tubing, a few garage sprins for return springs.

With current steel prices, more than you think!

But yes, several on the board have built their own. There were a couple private individuals as well as Scott@Rockstomper and Steve G?erstner? with ? custom? diffs? or something. My memory fails me.

There have been a couple of threads in Gen4x4, search 'em out (I'm too lazy right now) and maybe Camo will move them over here.

But basically I've just seen pics of a couple of custom ones, dimensions and instructions would be nice (even tho it seems simple), also would help to calc ultimate cost if we had dimensions.

If you're talking bigger, like 40T+, you might be able to build your own for less. But I'd nearly bet there's no way you could build an equivalent of the Harbor Freight 20T unit for the $170 that it regularly goes on sale for.

[Dangling_Dave]

The hardest part would be getting the holes in the side of the C channel the same on both sides. I have several different ideas of ways around this but nothing down on paper yet. Also if I were to build my own I would probably get a ram from surpluscenter.com and either use a hand pump or rig up a 120v pump.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the HF press that I used to own was the opening on the press table. I always had something that was a little bigger than the opening, forcing me to stack blocks of whatever was handy to hold up my workpeices. I can see where if you built your own you could work around their design.

However that being said I think that scoring one or two of their 12 ton presses and engineering them into one might be a way to go. At least their steel is inexpensive and the holes in the channel are already punched.

dc

Originally Posted by D60

With current steel prices, more than you think!

But yes, several on the board have built their own. There were a couple private individuals as well as Scott@Rockstomper and Steve G?erstner? with ? custom? diffs? or something. My memory fails me.

There have been a couple of threads in Gen4x4, search 'em out (I'm too lazy right now) and maybe Camo will move them over here.

But basically I've just seen pics of a couple of custom ones, dimensions and instructions would be nice (even tho it seems simple), also would help to calc ultimate cost if we had dimensions.

If you're talking bigger, like 40T+, you might be able to build your own for less. But I'd nearly bet there's no way you could build an equivalent of the Harbor Freight 20T unit for the $170 that it regularly goes on sale for.