I need a shop press, been looking at the harbor Freight 20 ton and the Northern tool 20 ton. NT is much more $$$. Harbor Freight is dirt cheap, but suffers from the Harbor Freight stigma.
I know both of these are make in China pieces of crap, but is the Northern Tool one less of a piece o' junk, or just an over priced piece the is equal to the Harbor Frieght one?
Experience with either, thoughts? Let me know. Oh...link to both below.
i got that same exact arcan one, its really beef compared to the HF 20 ton crap. my arcan has been used and abused. Plus the frame seem stronger than most 20 ton presses.
I have the HF one. They were sold outta jacks when I got mine so they gave me a 40 ton or something stupid big. It works great, and does all I ask of it.Can't complain. I got mine on sale , and with 15% off. Turned out to be $70 or something like that.
2X on the buy as much as you can afford. The 20 ton is about as big as I'll be able to justify given space constraints (Currently operating out of my buddies garage, dicey at best)
A press brake is something I've considered. Hammering on stuff in the vise/on an anvil/heating and bending gets old. Plus, stuff looks ******* and cobbled. not that thats bad.
Grizzly? Wow, uber cheap, with shipping. I know that after I'm charged shipping on anything like this my sphincter will be roughly the size of a tunafish can.
Any experience with that thing?
Any of these cheap shop presses will require continous fixin, already resigned myself to that fact. It's just that 1000 bucks right off the bat for something that will get only minimal use for the most part (With some spats of heavy use), I just can't do it.
If it was a chainsaw and I was using it every day, hard. I'd spend what I had to.
i have the 20 ton HF and it has undoubtedly paid for itself numberous times.
however. the plates it came with are fucking retarded and not the same height, so they are basically trash
i also think the throat is to small, width and depth. and the "feet" or whatever you call them are tiny and gay.
i on the other hand have never used a press that worked "idealy" press tooling is very, very, let me say it again, very important.
fighting parts to fit and press correctly in the thing can be a huge time burner.
No matter what shop press you get unless you are spending 1k+ for a quality unit you WILL find ways you want to improve it.
I`ve already steadied the base, and added casters to my HF unit. I also have plans to add gussets to the top, and tray as they are slightly bent already from minor usage.
If you have scrap to upgrade cheaply go cheap if not you`ll spend as much $ in steel so go stronger/wider from the get-go.
The most reasonable on shipping for anything like this will almost surely be HF. If you're near a retail store they should be able to order in whatever you want, even if it's not regularly stocked.
I know you were mentioning size constraints, and I'm not sure how much you're *willing* to spend, but HF also has a new air-over 35T unit. Looks like a mini version of their 50T which I have and like very much. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95865
At $500 it's more than anything else you're considering, but w a claimed weight of 374lbs it should be a better unit. Doesn't look like it has the winch system for bed height adjustment like my 50T It does look to have the 2 speed pump, and the air over is really nice.
for about 8 yrs with a couple of problems and great customer service.
It is / was Cummins tools. When I first got it home the pump leaked. I called looking for a seal kit, they sent me a brand new pump.
Just recently the seals started leaking on the cyl. so I called for a seal kit. For 50 bux to my door they sent me a whole new cyl. !
Shipping to me in CO was about $78; I didn't select the liftgate service option during checkout.
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