Harbor Freight 20 Ton Press questions...

DO NOT USE THE ARBOR PLATES THAT COME WITH THE HF PRESS! They will explode under pressure and hurt you very badly!

I bought a set from Swag Offroad. Or you can just get some scrap mild steel plates....
 
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I guess its 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other then?

NO. Just dont use anything as an arbor plate that is made from cast iron it fractures into huge chunks that shoot across the room faster than you can react. Steel, Brass, and aluminum will just bend and not kill you. A 20 ton press can be an extremely dangerous tool, never stand in front on it when applying pressure to anything.

Take those arbor plates that come with it and throw them at the ground they will shatter..... Scrap them. Other then that the HF press is a great tool I love mine I have the bolted version and I stuck a 20 ton air jack on it with a foot pedal.
 
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I bought the bolted version a couple of weeks ago. Thought I'd weld it if needed. For now I hammered the sh*t out of the bolts with an air impact (and they didn't strip!). It was on clearance sale for $140 or something like that but the new sales clerk applied my 20% coupon (I had for other stuff) to the press so it ended up costing me about $120. I didn't say anything - just loaded it up and left!
 
So the differences in the presses are where they are made. When a product has multiple part numbers, they are from different factories.

The welded one comes with the cheaper arbor plates I believe. The bolt together one comes with the solid steel ones.
 
Can’t say if the cast iron plates are related to welded or bolted, I just bought the set that was in the local store. I welded more struts on it anyway. I had some arbor plates, 1-1/4 steel cut with openings that I thought would be useful , and I don’t think you could really go wrong with any of them for the money and a few mods, like any HF stuff
 
Can’t say if the cast iron plates are related to welded or bolted, I just bought the set that was in the local store. I welded more struts on it anyway. I had some arbor plates, 1-1/4 steel cut with openings that I thought would be useful , and I don’t think you could really go wrong with any of them for the money and a few mods, like any HF stuff
I would have thought with all the feedback and potential/possible accidents caused by the cast plates all versions would have switched to steel
 
Well I ended up buying the Bolted Model today. I talked to the manager and he told me the following...The Cast plates are all being switched to Steel regardless of which model you purchase. He confirmed that there have been a few incidents of shattering cast plates. I then inquired about the Welded Frames vs the Bolted and he said .."I got one and I chose the bolted model" and he said he had to leave it at that, so make of that what you will. Good prices on this right now... 137.99 until Sunday I guess.
 
So the differences in the presses are where they are made. When a product has multiple part numbers, they are from different factories.

The welded one comes with the cheaper arbor plates I believe. The bolt together one comes with the solid steel ones.

I believe they are both now being shipped with steel plates. I'm sure there is a supply of them with the cheap plates in inventories out there though. When I looked at the two of them I thought the bolted model was a bit better built...The manager in a round about way told me the same....or maybe he was just trying to get rid of the bolted models ..LOL!!
 
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