Another Harbor Freight 20 Ton Upfit

Janderso

Janderso

Jeff Anderson
H-M Platinum Supporter
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
8,407
The first thing I noticed about this press is the lack of vertical stability. I welded on some triangular plates once squared.
I am also replacing the press mounting plate. The one that it comes with is loose and tilts plus they used very thin metal.
I am going to weld on two plates with bored holes for the press shaft/pin. I plan on making different size adapters that can be installed/removed by a simple set screw.
Stay tuned.

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welded.jpg
 
I didn't get too carried away but it sure is much better.
With the braces welded on the floor legs and the new home made jack support, it is awesome.
I have found the most useful thing is to gather up a bunch of parallels, adapters, cones, bushings etc.
I also drilled holes in the plates so they wouldn't fall on my foot. I drilled and pinned the adjustment pins as well.
Just trying to make it more usable. My God, these things are scary right out of the box.

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Someday I'll buy one and come back to this post and copy your modifications. They look like they strengthen the press considerably.
 
I also purchased one of the 12 ton presses and am pretty pleased with it for what it cost. I did some upgrades to mine also to help with loose fitting pieces and I did make different press adaptors that are interchangeable as well mine use set screw to hold in place. When I made my adaptors I also cut the welded pin a bit shorter because it was way to long. I really like the idea of those pins in the plates if you don't mind I am going to copy that. Another thing I just did a week ago was raise the press up off the floor about 12 inches I was always on my knees to work with the press just got old. The other thing I did was make an inexpensive lift for the press plate it was all done with stuff I had on hand. Thanks for the plate idea. !!!:)
 
An idea I stole from someone is to use rare earth magnets in adapters to hold them in place. Works great! I ordered some 1/2" dia x 1/8" thk magnets (if I remember correctly) from eBay and so far have three different adapters that "snap" into place and stay there tight.

Ted
 
Technical Ted said:
An idea I stole from someone is to use rare earth magnets in adapters to hold them in place. Works great! I ordered some 1/2" dia x 1/8" thk magnets (if I remember correctly) from eBay and so far have three different adapters that "snap" into place and stay there tight.

Ted
Click to expand...

Ted,
Speaking of magnets, I had 3 small squares, 3/8" square. They came with my Bridgeport Mill vice. Those little suckers are amazing.
Super strong magnets. I use them to hold a piece of paper to keep chips/swarf off my DRO on the mill table.
My next project is to make shields for the DRO. I don't have a way of bending sheet metal.
(It's my thread, I can go a different direction right?)
 
Google bending brake for a press and I'm sure you'll get some ideas. I've seen them where they use heavy gauge angle iron to make a small break. They will actually bend some fairly heavy stuff too... You can buy them too, but I think I'll make my own some day.

Ted
 
i Built a nice one for mine. They work very well and versatile. One thing you should consider is a segmented upper die. Just like a finger brake. I actually just got a pallet of upper and lower dies from a auction. Gooseneck, deep upper dies all different lowers. I have a lot of different lengths up to 5’. All you’d need to do is build the receiver parts for dies out of plain bar stock.
 
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