Just assembled the HF 20 ton press and...

[kornjulio]

...the jack plate that the bottle jack bolts to is a good inch out of position to the left. Jack ram hits the donut ring on the top crossbar smack in the center


It is not useable until I cut the welds that hold the plate, re-position, and re-weld.

I exclusively buy American tools; and this is why. But I rarely need a press, so I took a chance & got burned. I'll fix this with the help of my neighbor who has a welder & make it work; but never again. Harbor Freight & cheep Chinese tools can kiss my ***.

 

[930dreamer]

Just take it back and hope you find a usable one.

 

[csp]

x2 take it back. I've seen a number of these that fit like they should.

 

[Hotrod Addiction]

That's the thing with Chinese tools. In my experience it's really hit or miss.

 

[kornjulio]

Eff that. It's already assembled in my shed & and it's an hour round trip to the store. I'll cut the shi-tay welds, paint grind, & reposition it in a few minutes; while enjoying a few barley pops.

 

[Ruger_556]

I've not had good luck with their presses...

 

[C96]

I here this all the time with the Chinese junk, tools, equipment, machinery, you name it.
It makes you wonder how in the Hell these people build, fix, or repair anything in their country with all the junk they produce.

Do you think they actually use their own crappy tools, or import good quality?

 

[Ruger_556]

I here this all the time with the Chinese junk, tools, equipment, machinery, you name it.
It makes you wonder how in the Hell these people build, fix, or repair anything in their country with all the junk they produce.

Do you think they actually use their own crappy tools, or import good quality?

They do have some good tools... They're just not sold by HF

 

[Jswain]

I here this all the time with the Chinese junk, tools, equipment, machinery, you name it.
It makes you wonder how in the Hell these people build, fix, or repair anything in their country with all the junk they produce.

Do you think they actually use their own crappy tools, or import good quality?

For the price of steel you MIGHT be able to build one yourself for the same price....actually probably not even close when you add up the time spent/consumables/electricity/bottle jack/paint. So if you get the press pre-made(even if its not the best QC) and then have to fix a weld here or there...spend an hour and you are good to go, where is the complaint??? It's not like they charge a fortune for them and you get stiffed with a crappy tool

 

[Skin]

I here this all the time with the Chinese junk, tools, equipment, machinery, you name it.
It makes you wonder how in the Hell these people build, fix, or repair anything in their country with all the junk they produce.

Do you think they actually use their own crappy tools, or import good quality?

They own a lot of manufacturing equipment from the US, EU, and Russia from times when everyone else offshored production. They can produce some very good quality products and truth be told life in the rest of the world would probably come to a halt without Chinese exports. There is no day you dont encounter products or raw materials coming from there. If anyone is to blame its the consumers buying this "****" outside of China because they're the ones demanding "cheaper! cheaper! cheaper!".


This is merely a get what you pay for example. What does the thing cost, about a tenth of a press made in the western world? An example of bad QC should not be a surprise.

Dont ever buy anything at HF that could either fail and cause you bodily harm or anything you're going to depend on.

 

[c39er]

I hate this kind of chinese ****. I have to deal with it a lot now days. It's every where. It's all **** **** ****!!!! And most americans don't seem to know the quality difference either.

 

[RCStocker]

Those things are made in jigs. My bet is you have it assembled improperly.
Try turning the pieces around. I am betting on it being right. The drawings are almost always wrong on Chines imports. Some of them are done on a computer then finished by a hand sketch. They are a ****** mess. LOL

 

[Provincial]

I here this all the time with the Chinese junk, tools, equipment, machinery, you name it.
It makes you wonder how in the Hell these people build, fix, or repair anything in their country with all the junk they produce.

Do you think they actually use their own crappy tools, or import good quality?

They import good tooling to make things, but also use their own stuff to make the export goods. They only use the best of their domestic tools for their production, and export the lesser (and defective) tools.

I recall seeing photos of a Taiwanese manufacturing plant in the 1970's. It was a shed in a residential district and they were using very simple drill presses, small lathes, and mill-drills to make machine tools. This was before CNC became widely used. Now even low-wage countries use CNC equipment.

The big problem I see now is communication between the design phase and production phase. Language barriers are compounded by unskilled workers who don't understand the drawings. Mistakes happen when converting US standards to metric measurements, engineering formulas, and other technical processes. Lax (or incompetent) quality control fails to catch the bad stuff, and they rely on the fact that cheap price will sell bad quality.

Is your press a #32879 or 60603? I see they have a $145.00 off coupon for these two models. Perhaps they are dumping a bad batch at nearly 50% off.

 

[kornjulio]

Those things are made in jigs. My bet is you have it assembled improperly.
Try turning the pieces around. I am betting on it being right. LOL

Ummm...no. I assembled it right. I can handle bolting what amounts to a square box together. The press has a centerline; and the **** that does the work should be down that centerline. The plate that holds the bottle jack is not. Flip it around and it's still wrong.

I cut the welds tonight & got it where it needs to be. Tomorrow my neighbor will re-weld it.

 

[Jim C.]

Those things are made in jigs. My bet is you have it assembled improperly.
Try turning the pieces around. I am betting on it being right. The drawings are almost always wrong on Chines imports. Some of them are done on a computer then finished by a hand sketch. They are a ****** mess. LOL

This one is an absolute winner!!! ^^^^^^ Way to go for the insult right off the bat. Of course you're right! You're ALWAYS right. How do you know so much about "Chine" imports? How do you know so much about everything? Amazing. Another gem for sure.

Jim C.

 

[JBradley500]

Is this the gray or orange press? I ask because the bolt together gray one can get quite out of square and possibly misalign the Jack? Just thinking outloud.

 

[carterbeauford]

built by a 6 year old Chinese kid. same logic as an American car built on a Friday at quitting time. Fridays are probably irrelevant in sweatshops but you see my point. you can't buy a 20 ton shop press for $170. Arcan presses are nice but are priced in line with what a 20 ton shop press should actually cost.

 

[Roady94]

- I'm not looking to kick a hornet's nest, only to share my experience.

I just picked up the gray version of the HF 20 ton press. My jack plate was misaligned by a similar amount - until I realized I had installed the moving crossbar 180 degrees out.

Turning the crossbar 180 degrees solved the problem. The jack mounting plate is offset from the center of the crossbar because the base of the jack is offset from the center of the piston. I'm not suggesting anybody else did this, just sharing my experience.

The jack mounting plate was welded flat on the crossbar, but the front and back edges were deflected downwards about 1/8". Others here have faced this problem, and addressed it as I did, with a few strikes from a 2lb hammer.

Aside from the jack mounting plate, the rest of the fit and finish was just fine. All hardware was included, all mounting holes were properly located, and the thing went together without issue. Obviously it needed to be aligned square before final torquing.

I don't know if it puts out a true 20 tons, but my son and I used it to simultaneously press a bearing and retainer ring onto a Jeep rear axle without issue.

I got the recommendation for this unit on this site, used the 25% off coupon someone posted on this site, and picked it up at the local HF store to avoid the shipping cost. $150 plus tax, out the door. I couldn't be happier with it.

Much thanks to those that take the time to share opinions and coupons!

 

[laser3kw]

I treat HF equipment as "starter kits".
Assembly always required and rework normally needed.
Keeping that in mind, I have always had the expected results from my HF purchase.
Currently I have been waiting 6 weeks for the ultra rare HF welding table to show up. They have a display model, but cannot get floor stock. I have a rain check for the price of $56.00!
some assembly required..........

 

[panknuckshovel]

I here this all the time with the Chinese junk, tools, equipment, machinery, you name it.
It makes you wonder how in the Hell these people build, fix, or repair anything in their country with all the junk they produce.

Do you think they actually use their own crappy tools, or import good quality?

Think back a few years to chinese drywall. They were exporting this at a time when they were buying every building material they could to finish building for the olympics and the three gorges dam.

 

[JoeFin]

...the jack plate that the bottle jack bolts to is a good inch out of position to the left. Jack ram hits the donut ring on the top crossbar smack in the center


It is not useable until I cut the welds that hold the plate, re-position, and re-weld.

I exclusively buy American tools; and this is why. But I rarely need a press, so I took a chance & got burned. I'll fix this with the help of my neighbor who has a welder & make it work; but never again. Harbor Freight & cheep Chinese tools can kiss my ***.

What exactly did you think you would get shopping at Happy Fart (Harbor Freight)

 

[SteveCh]

...the jack plate that the bottle jack bolts to is a good inch out of position to the left. Jack ram hits the donut ring on the top crossbar smack in the center


It is not useable until I cut the welds that hold the plate, re-position, and re-weld.

I exclusively buy American tools; and this is why. But I rarely need a press, so I took a chance & got burned. I'll fix this with the help of my neighbor who has a welder & make it work; but never again. Harbor Freight & cheep Chinese tools can kiss my ***.

I realize it's been a while, hope this got worked out. Hate it when this sort of thing throws a hassle into one's day. But I'll tell you, you can have 500,000 people go buy something at someplace like HF and get junk. Soon as possible, thousands more people will slam their way to HF and buy some more junk stuff.

But, like I said, sincerely hope this all worked out ok. Junk or not, tools should work.