HF 20 Ton Fixes & Mods

A few weeks ago I picked up a 20 ton shop press to replace my 12 ton press. I had been satisfied with the 12 ton press other than a little slop in the jack support. I was hoping the 20 ton would be an improvement. Sadly it was not. I'm pretty sure it was welded by a blind guy on a Friday. Nothing is true or square and the fit of the parts is horrible. I thought about exchanging it for another but figured it would be just a waste of my time for no improvement so I fixed the worst of it and may fix the rest later if I have any issues. For a $130 you can't complain too much but it would be nice if they would try a little harder with the quality. I'd bet money if the factory had some half decent jigs and fixtures they could make them faster and truer.

By far the worst part is the jack support. As it comes from the factory I consider the press to be dangerous with such a poor fit of the jack support to the side frames. The excessively over sized jack retainer ring on the underside of the head press plate and the visibly crooked ram. Just too much slop to be safe to use. First order of business was to toss the jack support and make a new one. I had some 3/8" x 2-1/2 hot rolled that was out on the side yard so I cleaned that up to use for the jack support frame along with other misc pieces of scrap and hardware I had on hand.

To eliminate any roll in the jack support I added delrin rollers that run on the front and back of the side frames. I also added a roller on each side that rides on the inside of each side frame so there is no side to side play. After the frame was welded I trued the top of the jack support frame to the ram by clamping the ram in the mill with a v-block and milling the top where the jack support plate goes before welding it on.

I did my best to keep the new jack support frame as square as possible but things move a little when welded. To do the final truing adjustment I varied the diameters of the delrin rollers. For the top of the jack I turned a steel spacer to take up the slack at the head. The retaining ring has an inner diameter of 2-1/8" and the head of the jack is 1.8". Big difference which allows the jack to tilt side to side.. Once everything was fit true and square to the side frames I marked and drilled the support plate for the cap screws that hold the jack.





I also upped the ram size from 1-1/2" to 2" and counter bored the bottom with a 1" diameter x 1" deep hole so it will accept custom made rams, punches etc..



The custom rams are pocketed for rare earth magnets to hold it in place vs using a set screw. The magnets are 1/2" x 1/4" or 1/2" x 3/8" depending on the weight of the ram. Theses are ready to have the magnets epoxied in.



I also picked up a hand winch to raise and lower the table. Apparently I grabbed the wrong box and ended up with a web strap model. I decided to use it anyway. The mounting plated for the winch and roller are held in place by a jacking screw that wedges a steel tongue welded to the bottom of the mounting plate up against the head frame bolts. I did have to extend and shorten the crank handle. Works great though. So nice to be able to quickly raise and lower the table without having to remove everything.







And finally the whole reason for the 20 ton press, the press brake.




The last thing that should be fixed is the head assembly. It is too wide for the side frames, the press plate is not welded on flat to the C-channels, the c-channels are not true to each other and the rods that retain the upper end of the return springs are no where close to true, square or placed correctly. To be done right it needs to be cut apart and re-welded.

Nice job improving some bad design aspects and terrible manufacturing. I recently purchased the same press, SKU 60603 and so have my own version of the issues. I do not have the material to make a new press bar. I do like the one you made.

I like the web strap, that worked pretty slick
I've heard the press plates they include are cast and can crack- any problems with yours?
M

markba633csi said:

I like the web strap, that worked pretty slick
I've heard the press plates they include are cast and can crack- any problems with yours?
M

Click to expand...

I also like the web strap.

My SKU 60603 has plates which are steel, look to have been plasma cut out of plate. I machined the surfaces to get these flat and parallel. I milled the edges for better contact when pressing.

I have a local machinist friend with SKU 32879 which I think has cast arbor plates.

I do not know if my box is a one-off or whether the SKU 60603 always has steel arbor plates.

markba633csi said:

I like the web strap, that worked pretty slick
I've heard the press plates they include are cast and can crack- any problems with yours?
M

Click to expand...

Mine are steel. Edges are a little rough but should cleanup fine.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I really like the rebuild , the web strap makes it look great with all the rollers I bet it's smooth as silk. NICE JOB ,, IN MY FUTURE I HOPE TO DO THE SAME.

I must have been lucky. I bought one about a month ago. Mine is different though with a one piece welded frame. The welds are decent. No bolts holding the main components together. Bought it on sale for $149. For the price I'm happy. Could it be a little better? Sure, but very usable the way it was out of the box and I've made no repairs to it, only making some custom ends like you did with rare earth magnets in them. I didn't like how low it was though and made up a platform with 12" cement blocks and 2 by's to raise it up to a nice comfortable working height.

For the money they are hard to beat IMO.

Ted

I have the same press and managed to bend the flange on one side of the table, though not exactly sure how I did it. I removed it from the press and straightened it out then added some gusset plates. Should be quite a bit stronger now.

One piece welded frames now? Hmmm that's an interesting change for HF- sounds like a long-needed improvement

markba633csi said:

One piece welded frames now? Hmmm that's an interesting change for HF- sounds like a long-needed improvement

Click to expand...

HF have two SKU's. The web site shows the same picture for both, but the manuals show the different designs.

SKU 32879 is a one piece welded frame. Header and vertical channels are welded. This comes in 3 packages, marked 1 of 3 etc.

SKU 60603 is different design. The header assembly bolts to the vertical channels, but there is a large gap. I had to use large washers to fill the gap. This comes in 2 packages marked 1 of 2 etc.

I have the SKU 60603. In my purchase I got package 1 of 2 which was the header and vertical channels, then package 2 of 3 and 3 of 3. When I went back to the local HF store, this caused a lot of confusion. At first the person claimed I had no issue, since the SKU's were the same. Finally a person admitted I had a hiccup. The SKU 60603 was meant to be 2 packages, but they did not have the second package and I should return the item. I had already tweaked the bottle jack to make the bottom flat. I kept the purchase and bought new hardware and made it work.