I have the tweleve, wish it was the twenty.ak'sr4me said:I have the 12 ton press from them and it will do anything you want it to do, but if you can afford it, I would go with the 20 ton. It has a sturdier frame and will hold up a lot better. My 12 ton is real sloppy in its movement but it does work. ak'sr4me
Are you folding any receivers?mbadboyz said:I have the 12 ton press from HF and have used it on 3 flats now. It works great! One thing though.......it would be best to put some extra welds on it to beef it up a tad. I'm also going to beef up the floor support with stronger angle iron.
12 ton is plenty of power for the pressing.
Exactly,Chiroone said:AS I have stated before, I have the 20 ton. Because it has a welded frame it is more stable than the 12 ton. Which is not to say it is perfect. The moving portion of the press does have a little bit of play on the track. I think i will fit a piece of 18 gauge or so sheet stock of either mild steel or brass to act as a sort of shim to prevent the side to side play.
BTW I have seen a 12 ton Harbor Freight press welded up and it worked much better. Just make sure the the thing is square before you do it however.
My 20 ton press had so much slop, I had to attach guide rods with sleeves to get it to press straght.yosuthnmasa said:Exactly,
I too have the 20 ton press and have noticed at times it can be a bit unsturdy. Your idea sounds like a good one too.
Sorry to veer off subject here, but how do you guys ensure that the ram is pushing perpendicular to the area that the plates sit on? Sometimes I wonder if I am truly pushing at a 90 to the plates. When I first set it up, I tried to make sure the bar that the ram is on sat parallel by using a level and increasing or decreasing the length of the springs. However, after time I think it gets off again. Any suggestions on how to make sure the ram stays pushing perpendicular to the plates and will stay this way?