# 12 ton press



## billb2011 (Nov 6, 2014)

My most recentproject was a 12 ton bench top press. I did more welding on this project thananything else so I thought I would post it in this section. I didn’t take anypictures of the process but here are some finished pictures.

I bought the jack a while ago with plans to build it out of 5"x2" rectanglebox tubing. After I checked on the steel prices I put the project on hold. Icould have bought a nice one for what I was going to have in it if I built itthe way I wanted to.

Well the front axle went bad on my daughter’s car and in the process ofchanging it I found out the wheel bearing was bad too. Now I am the type ofperson who doesn’t like taking stuff to the shop if I can help it so I thoughtwell this is a good time to build that press!

Instead of buying the steel and making it how I had planned I decided to usewhat I already had laying around, which was mostly 3"x 5/8" angle.This is heavy stuff but I knew it just wasn’t going to look as"pretty" as if I used the box, oh well!

I used a piece of 6"x5/8 thick "C" channel for the base, and theangle for the sides and top. For the bar that the jack is attached to I used4"x1 1/4" solid bar. The only things I bought for it was the bottlejack from harbor freight on sale for $17.99 and the two retracting springs forabout 5 bucks.

It took me about 6 hours to make it and I had the old bearing pressed out andthe new one in in about 5 minutes, worked like a charm and now I have a goodpress in my shop! (I must say here that before I decided to make the press Ihad pounded on the bearing using the "vise and big hammer" method forabout an hour first)

I also made a kit with various size rounds and flats for pressing bearings andsuch out of scrap pipe and round bar I had laying around.



And the finished product:


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## 12bolts (Nov 6, 2014)

Looks nice Bill, Always good to make something rather than buy it

Cheers Phil


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## billb2011 (Nov 6, 2014)

Thanks Phil, your right its much better to build your own if you have the means to do it right. Gives you the satisfaction and you can brag about it too :bannana:


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