Shop press

[Mad Mackie]

Before there were any HF stores around here, a friend bought a 12 ton A frame model mail-order and brought it to me to assemble for him. When I checked the punched hole alignment in the pieces I was shocked to see how misaligned they were, but I assembled it for him. We tried some pressing on it and as the pressure increased, the entire frame twisted and leaned forward slightly.
I disassembled the press, measured the amount of misalignment of the bolt holes, put the pieces on my milling machine, realigned using an endmill and made the holes slightly larger to accept the next size of SAE hardware. This press worked fine until the 12 ton rated bottle jack started to leak. He was able to find an old USA made 12 ton bottle jack to use on the press. Not long ago he stopped by with a pressing project for me and he admitted that the USA 12 ton bottle jack was too strong for his 12 ton press and trying to press this job, the cross support got bent. I did his pressing job on my press very easily and I offered to cut and weld up a new cross support for him which he didn't want me to do as he had lost confidence in this press. He scrapped the press and now comes here to use my press plus the fact that I have a great assortment of tooling and I'm OK with this.
Even the highest quality presses can get messed up if not correctly aligned with the pieces before pressure is applied, I've seen it happen too many times and I most always make my feelings known. I'm the one with machining, milling, welding and fabricating experience and I usually ended up repairing the equipment most time bringing pieces home to work on. Somewhere I was tagged with the name "Mad Mackie" by some of my co-workers, they may have had good reason, especially if I found out who screwed up the shop equipment!!!! LOL
Mad Mackie in CT :laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[motoman]

Sorry to hear about the HF shortage. Way back (25 years) I belonged to the "inside track" at HF and some real bargains were to be had. Gradually the "club" became a real flea market so I dropped it about 10 years back. The shop press came via inside track. Then I discovered that the retail stores had most of the catalog items, and (depending upon the store manager) they were MUCH better to deal with than long distant clerks without a clue. In your example , Reynoldson, I believe a retail store would simply give you the missing bag of hardware, no questions. A shame you must travel so far. Next visit get the fasteners and store 'em-metric , I think.

I have not experienced the trouble Mackie describes with the A frame stype press. But my typical use is with the short handle on the bottle jack. The highest force required over the years has been breaking rusted A arm bushings loose and installing certain transmission bearings. I WAS at the end of the long handle on those. Like other HF equipment my press is not the best , but adequate.

Edit: Oh yeah, Straightening shafts too. Ideally you need some V blocks. Check out the youtube videos . A little black magic perhaps and spring back is to be mastered. The heating and quenching part is kinda trade secret stuff. But the potential is there and can start with a simple dial gauge set up.

 

[Bison]

I build this 40 ton hydr press from pieces of track rail out of an old dozer about 12 years ago.
It has a 7" dia cylinder with a 2 1/2" dia ram, travel is 14 inches.

 

[reynoldston]

For 2.50 I bought the hardware and set the press up and using it. For that much money its not worth any trouble going to a HF store or giving it a second thought. What little I have used the press I think I will be very happy with it.

 

[motoman]

Pics. The bushings removed. Many people burn out the centers and leave the outer metal shell because they cannot get them out. With your press you can, but not easy.

 

[Mad Mackie]

Hi motorman,
I see you have done some mods, your press looks a lot heftier than my friends. You are as bad as I am with saving anything that can be used to facilitate pressing. My policy has been to not throw anything away unless I ate it first!!! Now retired and doing more smaller work and carpentry, I have lightened up on this policy some however!!!
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing:

 

[Mad Mackie]

A few years I did a pressing job for a guy, I don't recall what the pieces were, but when separated, one part had a much higher scrap value. He had about 50 pieces for me to separate. Doing this took about 75-80% of my presses capacity I think. When the pieces separated it was quick and dramatic, with me pressing and him holding two high flow propane torches warming up the piece and the press would jump and move, he brought the torches. I cut several pieces of 2 by 4s and put them under the feet which absorbed the shock and reduced the jumping movement of the press which had started to concern me.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing:

 

[motoman]

Mackie, The mods are pieces I could not get HF to send me. As noted I finally ended up with an extra press minus the unpainted parts. I have often felt as a hopeless tinkerer I have saved $$$ over the years by throwing nothing away. Nothing escapes. Everythling is dismantled and ....sooner or later it saves me the $2.99 of a bubble pak hanging in Lowes. And with the price runup of steel caused by the chinese even ordinary rebar is unbelievably hi. It hurts to see a relative who continually buys material (and tools) already on hand in the garage, but misplaced and forgotten.

Bison, I like your press. What is it used for?

 

[Bison]

Mackie, The mods are pieces I could not get HF to send me. As noted I finally ended up with an extra press minus the unpainted parts. I have often felt as a hopeless tinkerer I have saved $$$ over the years by throwing nothing away. Nothing escapes. Everythling is dismantled and ....sooner or later it saves me the $2.99 of a bubble pak hanging in Lowes. And with the price runup of steel caused by the chinese even ordinary rebar is unbelievably hi. It hurts to see a relative who continually buys material (and tools) already on hand in the garage, but misplaced and forgotten.

Bison, I like your press. What is it used for?

I use it for anything that needs straitening or bending, R&R gears, bearings, bushings ,engine cylinder sleeves etc etc.
It is 4 feet between the legs and i can pull as well as push.
I had intended to use a smaller cylinder for smaller jobs in the open extension on the right side but i guess it never happened.
I don't know how i ever lived without it.

When i was looking to rebuild a Dodge transmission that had all pressed on gears and required a 20 ton press for R&R I looked at a couple cheap presses like you guys use but they looked to flimsy to me for the rated tonnage.
The heavy commercial presses were to expensive to my liking so i decided to build my own.
I had most pieces on hand and the only out of pocket money was for the remote control and a 2 way hydr solenoid valve,..about $300 in all.
It paid for itself 5 times over on the first time i used it.