Hey everyone,
It was suggested by itsme_Bernie to start a thread dedicated to upgrades/tooling folks have made to their shop presses. By no means should this be limited to a particular size or model since almost all H frame shop presses are similar in construction. Feel free to add your own upgrades to the thread to give others some good ideas.
Mine is an older Harbor Freight (Orange) 20 ton model. I should have inspected it before I took it home. The ram on the jack plate was not welded on square and the entire frame was pretty catty-wompus. However it still worked for what I needed and after purchasing this tool I've found it to be an indispensable shop accessory.
My first improvement was something I had seen others do, a T handle for the bottle jack release. I simply drove out the stock pin that was in the screw and then used a set screw to attach the T handle.
The second round of improvements came when I bought the HF 20 ton air over hydraulic bottle jack to replace the manual jack. This thing is awesome. Not quite like a fully powered hydraulic ram but the next best thing. No more pumping up and down on the jack. I'd like to eventually add a foot actuated switch so I can keep both hands free for positioning things on the press.
When I got this jack I decided to address the fact that the jack plate and ram wobble all over the place making it hard to get the ram to press square on the work. I did this by grinding some welds free on the ram so I could heat it up and whack it into plumb. I also cut off the small bits of angle iron that act as guides for the ram. I fabricated new guides out of angle iron and spaced them wider than the originals as well as added some holes. These holes are used to mount pieces of UHMW plastic to each face of the guides. It was simple to size these removable pieces so that there is no slop in the jack plate now. It rides amazingly smooth and plumb now.
While I had the plate off the machine I also welded on some small angle iron tabs that locate the bottle jack on the plate. The stock press just had the jack sitting on the plate and it also contributed to things sliding all around while trying to use the press.
Finally I added a collar over the stock ram that has a 1" receiving hole with a set screw. I plan on making interchangeable rams of different sizes as well as some punching dies.
I'm planning on replacing the stock cast iron plates with some steel plates. The cast ones are known to shatter under large loads. As I do some more mods I'll add them to this thread.
It was suggested by itsme_Bernie to start a thread dedicated to upgrades/tooling folks have made to their shop presses. By no means should this be limited to a particular size or model since almost all H frame shop presses are similar in construction. Feel free to add your own upgrades to the thread to give others some good ideas.
Mine is an older Harbor Freight (Orange) 20 ton model. I should have inspected it before I took it home. The ram on the jack plate was not welded on square and the entire frame was pretty catty-wompus. However it still worked for what I needed and after purchasing this tool I've found it to be an indispensable shop accessory.
My first improvement was something I had seen others do, a T handle for the bottle jack release. I simply drove out the stock pin that was in the screw and then used a set screw to attach the T handle.
The second round of improvements came when I bought the HF 20 ton air over hydraulic bottle jack to replace the manual jack. This thing is awesome. Not quite like a fully powered hydraulic ram but the next best thing. No more pumping up and down on the jack. I'd like to eventually add a foot actuated switch so I can keep both hands free for positioning things on the press.
When I got this jack I decided to address the fact that the jack plate and ram wobble all over the place making it hard to get the ram to press square on the work. I did this by grinding some welds free on the ram so I could heat it up and whack it into plumb. I also cut off the small bits of angle iron that act as guides for the ram. I fabricated new guides out of angle iron and spaced them wider than the originals as well as added some holes. These holes are used to mount pieces of UHMW plastic to each face of the guides. It was simple to size these removable pieces so that there is no slop in the jack plate now. It rides amazingly smooth and plumb now.
While I had the plate off the machine I also welded on some small angle iron tabs that locate the bottle jack on the plate. The stock press just had the jack sitting on the plate and it also contributed to things sliding all around while trying to use the press.
Finally I added a collar over the stock ram that has a 1" receiving hole with a set screw. I plan on making interchangeable rams of different sizes as well as some punching dies.
I'm planning on replacing the stock cast iron plates with some steel plates. The cast ones are known to shatter under large loads. As I do some more mods I'll add them to this thread.