If it aint broke, fix it

[Eyerelief]

I've had my 20 HF press since around 2002. It has never given me any trouble. Having said that, I always noticed the ram was crooked which made pressing straight a little challenging. The plates were cast and I never trusted them. After reading on a few websites about plates breaking, my suspicions were confirmed. I posted another thread about carbide taps showing what I did for replacing the plates.
I thought I would take a stab at upgrading the old press. The goal was to not weaken the high stress points of the press with heat or holes.
First off was straighten the ram. I cut the welds that add stability. I used the slitting saw on the mill because it removes such a small amount of metal.

Then pounded on the ram with a sledge and a block of wood to find straight:

Welded over the cuts. I bolted it to the mill table and took about .005 off the end of the ram to square it up. Painted up the weld area:

Turned down and threaded some 7/8" delrin to make bushings, 4 on each side to stabilize movement of the ram.

Put a small winch on top to raise and lower the table. Added hairpins to the round bars with caps. This way I can raise / lower from the front. I made the pulleys from some 2.5" al and pressed in some tired bearings I replaced out of a drill press.

Added a knob to the jack release and put wheels on it. The ram sits pretty true over the table now:

I dont have a good idea yet for the air hose, not sure I want a foot pedal. I am planning an expanded metal tray for it next that will ride in the two bottom holes. A place to store rams, dies and punches.

 

[Larry$]

The plates were cast and I never trusted them

Eye, I've got an older version of the HF 20 ton. quite a bit different but rather sloppily made. It came with 1" hot roll work supports that had just been sheared on the ends, complete with big burs. When I got my mill I fixed them. The push pin is welded on crooked and has a larger bar that slips over it with a bolt to hold it on. The outer bar can be interchanged as needed. But it didn't come with any others. Easy enough to make on the lathe. I like your winch, will have to add that. I need do several improvements. I don't have an arbor press, jacking broaches thru multiple times is tedious! Am considering adding the air operated hydraulic system that HF sells. Has anyone done that?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Very nice attention to detail
The press will be waaay better than OEM spec

 

[Eyerelief]

Larry, I was in HF yesterday and noticed that they had an air over hydraulic jack. I think it should just set into your press. My jack is not HF but all I had to do was add a washer in the socket at the top of the jack because I opted to leave the springs on my jack. I have 4 return springs which arent needed but thought that if I ever wanted to use the jack for something else I would certainly have lost the springs by then.

That reads a little fuzzy. The washer is inside the orange "socket" on the press over the ram cap on the bottle jack.

Again, I would not have needed it if I had removed the black bracket and the springs from the bottle jack. I tried just threading out the ram a little bit, but every time I turned around it was turned all the way in and hitting the black bracket. My shop gremlins never rest.

 

[Norseman C.B.]

Eye, I've got an older version of the HF 20 ton. quite a bit different but rather sloppily made. It came with 1" hot roll work supports that had just been sheared on the ends, complete with big burs. When I got my mill I fixed them. The push pin is welded on crooked and has a larger bar that slips over it with a bolt to hold it on. The outer bar can be interchanged as needed. But it didn't come with any others. Easy enough to make on the lathe. I like your winch, will have to add that. I need do several improvements. I don't have an arbor press, jacking broaches thru multiple times is tedious! Am considering adding the air operated hydraulic system that HF sells. Has anyone done that?

Adding the air op is a pretty common thing, Utube will show you some conversions..........

 

[jwmay]

Well done!