# H Frame press



## Tin Falcon (Aug 22, 2012)

I have been thinking about getting one of these for a few months now. 
My son has been doing a bit of work on his ford ranger pressing out/in ball joints and such. and I can thing of few creative hobby uses so we picked one up today. Easy to transport in just about any vehicle it fit in the trunk of my midsize for sedan. It comes in three cartons. and assembled in I am geuseing a half hour. My son  put it to use popping out a ball joint.  he is chipping in on the cost of it. 






12 Ton Shop Press
Central Hydraulics - Item#33497
Photo link to Harbor freight tools. 
tin


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## Herbiev (Aug 22, 2012)

Tin. You will wonder how you ever got by without one.


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## idahoan (Aug 22, 2012)

Hi Tin

If you got the press plates with it be careful with them as they are most likely cast and will break. I built my own press some years ago and had a friend burn me a pair out of 1" A36 plate from my own design. He was working for a company that built refinery equipment at the time and they had a CNC plasma table that would eat 1" steel plate for lunch.

Dave


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## pineyfolks (Sep 7, 2012)

You'll be using it for alot more than pressing things once you make some dies you can bend all sorts of brackets, it will save alot of hammering. You can't hardly build it for the price.


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 2, 2013)

One of my metal working hobbies is building shelves for gifts . This is scroll work  . The shelf brackets are 1" x 1/8  flat that i need to put a 90 degree bend in . my little bender does not go this wide so I needed a better faster way to make the bend. So since I also have this H frame press I finally got around to making some down and dirty bending dies the top die is a pipe cap with a piece of  3/4 angle welded to it the bottom die is a 4 x4 x 1/8 piece of steel with two 3- 1/2 in long pieces of angle welded to it.  needs some set up and tweaking but it works. 
Tin


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## rodw (Jun 2, 2013)

Tin Falcon said:


> One of my metal working hobbies is building shelves for gifts . This is scroll work  . The shelf brackets are 1" x 1/8  flat that i need to put a 90 degree bend in . my little bender does not go this wide so I needed a better faster way to make the bend. So since I also have this H frame press I finally got around to making some down and dirty bending dies the top die is a pipe cap with a piece of  3/4 angle welded to it the bottom die is a 4 x4 x 1/8 piece of steel with two 3- 1/2 in long pieces of angle welded to it.  needs some set up and tweaking but it works.
> Tin



Tin, that bender is a great idea. I was looking at it and thought if you made another one, you could drill some holes in the mounting plate and plug weld the valley from behind so you would not need to grind and file.

I managed to squeeze in a small 6 ton benchtop one in my shed and it has been handy. I thought about building one but this only cost me $100 and I could not find a jack for less than $65.

I had to drill some extra holes lower down and make a shorter press rod for it to get enough room in the throat to press on spindle bearings on my last lathe. It is small enough to store behind my mill and pull it out when required which proves you don't need to miss out if you don't have much room.






So a question now. can you use a press like this for broaching a keyway?


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 2, 2013)

T





> in, that bender is a great idea. I was looking at it and thought if you made another one, you could drill some holes in the mounting plate and plug weld the valley from behind so you would not need to grind and file.



thanks I did probably spend too much grind time on this In retrospect should have beveled the edges .  I am open to suggestions  ideally I would want a top die and bottom die aligned with rods and held apart with springs that is down the road this was a relative quickie.

Ideas for improvements and other die sets welcome. 
Tin


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## rodw (Jun 2, 2013)

Maybe modify a vice press brake??

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/V052

I've had my eye on these for a while but had not thought of using them with my press so thanks for the idea.

Yeh, I know in Australia but surely you can get them for half the price over there.

The same supplier has a range of punches and dies with dimensions so you might be able to draw some inspiration to make your own.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Punch-and-Dies


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 2, 2013)

You may be interested in this book. Oberlin Smith founded the faracute machine works, A metal press company his presses  were purchased by the like of Henry ford the US Mint and Frankfort arsenal in Philadelphia to name a few. 

Press working of metal:Oberlin Smith 

I should read my copy LOL

Tin


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 2, 2013)

I think the challenge will be to align the top and bottom dies without losing to much accessibility but in reality probably will not  punch anything too wide.




> So a question now. can you use a press like this for broaching a keyway?



I think you need a bigger press like I have. 

Tin


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## Wizard69 (Jun 3, 2013)

Tin Falcon said:


> T
> 
> thanks I did probably spend too much grind time on this In retrospect should have beveled the edges .  I am open to suggestions  ideally I would want a top die and bottom die aligned with rods and held apart with springs that is down the road this was a relative quickie.
> 
> ...



One thing to consider is making a support bar for the top punch so that the top punch is aligned by the vertical bars.   In other words a bar long enough to fit between the metal vertical supports of the press.   Thus you press itself keeps the punch aligned.  This is more useful on presses where the ram can rotate.    The bottom or die plate then needs to be aligned and bolted or clamped in place.  This leaves you a lot of working room, quick installation and fairly good repeatability.  

I suspect that on the press you have, if what I see in the picture is correct, this isn't absolutely required as the press itself keeps the RAM somewhat aligned.    However on these cheaper presses you have a lot of wobble to deal with, fitted right this would greatly reduce that wobble.  

Your other option is a more traditional die set.   That is two plates with guide pins, springs and the whole works.  This has its own benefits but is a more involved project.  

Either way you have to do your layout / design work to et all you clearance right so that 90 degree bends are done without interference.  

All this being said there is one issue you run into with these sorts of benders.   That is the need to keep the work centered to prevent twisting.   For one. Inch or so stock you might want to consider building a Hossfeld style bender or something similar.   These sorts of benders are far more flexible for the type of metal work you are doing.


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## MachineTom (Jun 3, 2013)

A 6 ton press has all the power needed, the issue is height. A size C broach is 11 inches long plus the work height, Size B half that. If you need to broach wider that 3/16" or longer than 5/8 you would need to fit the C size broach.


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## rodw (Jun 3, 2013)

MachineTom said:


> A 6 ton press has all the power needed, the issue is height. A size C broach is 11 inches long plus the work height, Size B half that. If you need to broach wider that 3/16" or longer than 5/8 you would need to fit the C size broach.



Yeh, Tom, I figured 6 tonne would do the job. With my modifications I think I have 13" or so.

Tin, It must be your fault because I now have a bending project for my lathe stand. :hDe:

Here is a device to do this on a press. Check this link out and watch the video.

http://www.swagoffroad.com/20-TON-Press-Brake-DIY-Builder-Kit_p_40.html

It looks simple enough to make for guys like me overseas where 56 pound parcels would be a bit of a problem! It  has a back gauge so you can do repeatable bends.


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## Tin Falcon (Jun 3, 2013)

rod thanks for the link . I may study it more and build one.  some assembly required in this case means they sell you the materials kit for $130 and you have to build it . 
I do have a little grizzly press brake 3 -1 but do not want o try 1/8 in on it. 
tin


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## rodw (Jun 3, 2013)

Tin Falcon said:


> rod thanks for the link . I may study it more and build one.  some assembly required in this case means they sell you the materials kit for $130 and you have to build it .
> I do have a little grizzly press brake 3 -1 but do not want o try 1/8 in on it.
> tin



No worries, I thought it looked good. Digging deeper on their web site and they have one with removable fingers for interrupted bending. 

I ordered some aluminium sheeting cut to size today for the bottom shelf of my lathe stand. I had to take the rest of the sheet and of course the piece I needed is 3" longer than a half sheet  

It would be nice if I could fold  a piece 90 degrees to enclose the coolant tank. The material in stock was 3mm which is beyond manual press brake capacity. The link that led me to this site said to bend 3mm ally you need 10 tonne per metre so this gadget will handle a sheet wider than the throat of my 6 tonne mini press. Maybe the bottom former could be a piece of angle iron sitting in a piece of channel iron.


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