Shop Press upgrades

architard

Active User
Registered
Joined
Jul 6, 2012
Messages
133
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.
20140420_203803.jpg

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.

20140420_203730.jpg20140420_203738.jpg

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.
20140420_203750.jpg

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.

20140420_203803.jpg 20140420_203730.jpg 20140420_203738.jpg 20140420_203750.jpg
 
Fantastic Kent!

This'll be great! Thank for posting here... I'll post mine here too..


Bernie
 
Looks great. I may have to try the gliders you made.

Out of curiosity, are they the older HF cast iron press plates. I don't have first hand experience, but I've read that they explode when under heavy load.

Chris
 
I have the same press. Great ideas. I like the adapter idea.

The one mod I'm doing first is making it taller. It's too damn short for me.
 
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.

Those are nice improvements you've made, I have the use of a friends press when I need a large one and his certainly could benefit from these upgrades, Christ it's hard to get things lined up straight on it, most times you need an extra set of hands.

Shop Press.jpg

This is my shop press I made over 20 years ago, and it's one of the handiest things I've ever made, original I made it for pressing bearings into small nitro RC engines, but as it turns out it's been useful for so many other small jobs as well.

Shop Press.jpg
 
Yes the older orange model has cheap cast iron press plates. They have been known to explode under great pressure. Swag Offroad makes replacement plates but they are a bit costly when you could cheaply make them yourselves. They also have a testimonial and picture from a guy that had them explode on them.

http://www.swagoffroad.com/Arbor-Press-Plates_p_7.html

They also have some other great products.


aztoyman I agree. Mines stuffed into the corner of my closet sized shop so I haven't worried about it being the perfect height. I've thought about putting it up on some 6x6 cribbing to remedy the situation.
 
I have posted these pics in various threads but I thought I'd stick them together here. I made a simple pointer next to the jack and a scale attached with magnets for making repeat bends. Rollers were added for smooth ram movement. A collar drilled & tapped bellow the jack lets me swap out tools and punches. Various bending dies, plates, and v-blocks. Hope you get some ideas or give me more for mine.

100_8500.JPG 100_8489.JPG 100_8512.JPG depth gauge.jpg
 
I have posted these pics in various threads but I thought I'd stick them together here. I made a simple pointer next to the jack and a scale attached with magnets for making repeat bends. Rollers were added for smooth ram movement. A collar drilled & tapped bellow the jack lets me swap out tools and punches. Various bending dies, plates, and v-blocks. Hope you get some ideas or give me more for mine.

That's a well thought out setup, nicely done..!
 
pineyfolks, care to elaborate on your table winch? I have been thinking about adding that upgrade to mine but I haven't really figured out how to do it yet. As I've noted mines stuffed into a tiny corner of my tiny shop and I have a bear of a time moving that table up and down. A winch upgrade would be great.
 
Back
Top