Upgrades for a HF A frame press

[Darby9]

Please don't tell anybody but I went to THAT store in an emergency and bought the worst hydraulic press possible. I needed a press for a very last minute job, don't have room for a big one, and they sold me the floor model, missing a handle, pins, and press plates, for $50 because they pitied me (discontinued model, website claimed it was in-stock, drive 90 minutes, didn't have any...).

It did the job to emboss some copper parts, customer is happy, job paid $1600. Everybody wins.

Now, what to do with it? It's all kinds of crooked and I've never seen an "A frame" design. Six ton capability, fits under the workbench w/o taking it apart. Can I ditch the A frame top and make a regular square one from steel channel (maybe reinforce this one?), or is there something special/beneficial to that design? Looks like a cost shortcut to me, but I'm judgey.

I usually have access to heavier presses, so this is mostly for stamping/embossing/bending copper and aluminum sheet. I do prototype runs of 50-100's of parts at a time, so I'll add some fixture plate system to locate parts repeatably, plus a handle on the release valve.

 

[GeoBruin]

The jack is pushing just as hard on the top of the frame as it is on the bottom, so either the top needs to be just as beefy, or it needs to be a shorter span. By being shorter, it can use less material and is lighter which certainly does have a cost savings but also makes it lighter and more compact which has advantages.

You could rebuild it but it wouldn't offer any advantage that I can see. The work area would remain the same unless you chose to increase the spacing between the uprights but then you would likely need to reinforce the bottom crossmember and you just ending up starting from scratch.

I would leave it and either sell it if you really need a bigger press or if it works for what you're doing and it stores out of the way, keep it and make the single best update possible which is to swap the jack with an air hydraulic jack. If you're making 50 to 100 of something, the time saved will pay you back almost instantly.

Harbor Freight sells those too...

Good luck.

 

[bwringer]

Good gravy, you can see the wonky from outer space.

Still, turd-polishing can be kinda fun, in a sick way...

HF's smallest air-powered bottle jack is 12 tons. Would it even fit into this one? You could probably make it fit, and it could speed things up.

 

[txvwnut]

If you have a known flat surface you can clamp it to, loosen all of the bolts that hold it together and clamp it down and re-tighten all of the bolts or if you have the ability weld it all up. I did this with one of the orange HF presses. I did find that none of the holes actually lined up correctly which is why it got welded.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Like GeoBruin said for that price if it works keep it, I had a HF press for years & can't say a bad word about it for the price.

 

[kyrbz]

Good gravy, you can see the wonky from outer space.

Still, turd-polishing can be kinda fun, in a sick way...

HF's smallest air-powered bottle jack is 12 tons. Would it even fit into this one? You could probably make it fit, and it could speed things up.

I’ll second the air powered jack. Best improvement you can make to HF frame presses. The anvil was welded crooked on my 12t, so I also remade the entire piece out of heavy channel steel and made it so it has interchangeable anvils

 

[bwringer]

... if you have the ability weld it all up. ...

Given the Tormach in the background, I strongly suspect there's a welder lurking somewhere.

 

[Darby9]

Thanks for all the feedback. Geobruin--hadn't thought about the short span on the top w/ the A frame, and that makes sense. Obvious, now that I think about it.

Good gravy, you can see the wonky from outer space.

Still, turd-polishing can be kinda fun, in a sick way...

HF's smallest air-powered bottle jack is 12 tons. Would it even fit into this one? You could probably make it fit, and it could speed things up.

It's pretty bad. It can be un-wonkified if I loosened everything up and squared it, but I was in a hurry to use it at first, so I shimmed and clamped and used it as-received. I suspect some holes are misaligned, and the 1/8" strap uprights are just wimpy looking. They didn't even paint the angle iron for the base .


I have polished many a turd tool, and I'd be wiser to work a few extra hours and go buy a real Dake bench top press for $550 and write it off. That's what I would have done if I'd anticipated better...



But I'm not very wise, and the Dake can't be broken down into two pieces as easily. This will live under the workbench for 95% of its life.

I’ll second the air powered jack. Best improvement you can make to HF frame presses. The anvil was welded crooked on my 12t, so I also remade the entire piece out of heavy channel steel and made it so it has interchangeable anvils

Nice rework. I like that anvil. I don't think I'll spring for the air assist though--I don't do much deep draw or press out long shafts, and I have use of a bigger press if I plan ahead. First use for this was stamping a 0.030" dish into copper parts. I banged thru 90 of them in about 90 minutes, once I got done screwing around with shims and squares.

Given the Tormach in the background, I strongly suspect there's a welder lurking somewhere.

Yes, there's a MIG beside the mill, and I can use it just as well as the dude who made this press. Which is to say: questionably.

 

[laser3kw]

Good gravy, you can see the wonky from outer space.

Still, turd-polishing can be kinda fun, in a sick way...

HF's smallest air-powered bottle jack is 12 tons. Would it even fit into this one? You could probably make it fit, and it could speed things up.

I’ll second the air powered jack. Best improvement you can make to HF frame presses. The anvil was welded crooked on my 12t, so I also remade the entire piece out of heavy channel steel and made it so it has interchangeable anvils

I just did the air/hydraulic conversion on my engine crane and 20ton press. well worth it

 

[Steve_P]

I have a 20-25 year old 12T HF press, it's free standing, about 5' tall, and has a similar "A-frame" top. No issues with it at all, and I've maxed it out. I actually like that design better than the current 20T as the A-frame fits together and tightens up nicely; unlike my current 20T with 2-3 mm gaps everywhere that I had to stuff flat washers into.

 

[B_Bimmer]

Personally I'd buy that dake one and forget this in a second.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

off topic, but what are those tt's attached to?

 

[Darby9]

1966 Sport Fury Convertible aka The Yellow Albatross

 

[Darby9]

Finally wrapped this one up:

• Replaced the various pieces of angle iron with two pieces of 3x3" square tube
• Made a ram guide from hollow Al rod (inside the top 3" tube). HF design was two pieces of 1/8" steel w/ huge clearance holes...
• Shortened the A frame bars slightly, made a new pusher piece with channel and 1" ram to replace the flat plate and 3/8" rod
• EBay fixture plate with two locating pins
• Handle made from pipe, plus a $3 foam grip from McMaster
• Release knob made from an Al knob, magnet glued inside.

Some design compromised based on what I had in the scrap bin.

Please don't zoom in on my welds if there are children present or if you have a weak stomach. Haven't welded in years and the gas line kept pulling out of the welder. I'm a **** welder anyway, but this is particularly bad.

It's probably a little less functional for general use w/ this arrangement, but it's good for the stamping/embossing work I need it for--I was able to hold stamping depth w/in 0.002" across 60 parts, and that's what matters. Last pic is a typical part--simple tool steel die, laser cut 0.040" copper blanks, then countersink the holes and stamp the dish.