How To Modify A Shop Press Into A Clicker Press

[azrider]

There is a thead where this is covered, but all of the pictures are gone. I wasn't able to find it on the web either. I purchased a 12 ton hydrylic shop press today, and want to make it into a clicker/ leather press. I have a friend with a welder willing to help, but I want to make sure I understand what needs to be modified before I start changing things. I belive I need to add a 1 inch thick steel plate under the press, and replace the single ram with a heavy piece of square or rectangular tubing to make a straight press. Is the top piece usually welded on? I ask because the springs are on eyelet bolts, and I wouldn't be able to get to those if I weld a top plate as well. Any pictures of diy clickers? Thanks all.

[bruce johnson]

I left the ram on mine to still be able to use it as a shop press if needed. I use a piece of steel large enough to cover the die and center it under the ram. That works for what I need to use it for. Texas Custom Dies has a shop press with a top plate, but I am not seeing a picture of it on their website. Weaver makes a benchtop one also with a top plate that bolts onto the ram.

[LNLeather]

HI

I am not sure what Shop Press you have, but I got these instructions from DUCKCREEKTRADERS

on how to use a shop press as an emboss press. If you go to their ebay auction, you will see

everything they have for sale with samples of what can be done with the emboss plates

that they have done with this Shop Press.

Seems like this would also work for a cutting die as well. Using the metal plate on the top and the bottom.

Then under your leather you would want to have a piece of plastic like a cutting board. This will keep your

cutting die from pressing into the bottom metal plate and getting very dull very fast. Tippmann sells a piece

of this material fitted for their Clicker presses.

You can see the Cutting Bed Material here

Cutting bed material

Tippmann also makes and sellsl custom cutting dies that are well made for a really good price.

Hope this helps

Edited October 23, 2011 by LNLeather

[CitizenKate]

... I purchased a 12 ton hydrylic shop press today, and want to make it into a clicker/ leather press. I have a friend with a welder willing to help, but I want to make sure I understand what needs to be modified before I start changing things. I belive I need to add a 1 inch thick steel plate under the press, and replace the single ram with a heavy piece of square or rectangular tubing to make a straight press. Is the top piece usually welded on? I ask because the springs are on eyelet bolts, and I wouldn't be able to get to those if I weld a top plate as well. Any pictures of diy clickers? ...

Did you check with Deb and Royce? I think they did something like this for a press that Deb uses.

Kate

[azrider]

I was going to give Deb a call this week, so can ask about this too.

[jdwintx]

Maybe these will help with the visuals

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1074199/clicker-dies-on-a-budget (shows the press and how it is structured)

Hydraulic_Cutting_Press_ShoeSchool.pdf

[RunningRoan]

I modified a shop press (Harbor Freight special) into a clicker press with the help of my dad the super-welder. We cut off the ram. Added a large steel plate to the bottom that I set my cutting board on. Also added a steel plate where the ram was. I think it's 3/8" or 1/2" cold rolled steel. I got these suggestions from Heather at TX Custom Dies

To solve the problem of the eye bolts, we welded nuts to the top of the beam that the cylinder sits on. Instead of the eye bolts going through that beam, they just screw into the nuts. Been working great!

[azrider]

So far I am just using the press with the ram, and a few plates of steel. Running Roan, could you post a picture of yours?

[RunningRoan]

So far I am just using the press with the ram, and a few plates of steel. Running Roan, could you post a picture of yours?

Sure can!

I've attached a picture of the press before modifications and two pictures of it after modifications. There is a piece of steel under that dark red cutting board.

What I wish I would have done is used a larger piece of steel under the bottle jack. It should have been as wide as the span of the press. Oh well though, not a huge deal. I just have to do a little bit of hand cutting every once in a while on the ends of my long dies (like for breast collars) because they stick out underneath that top plate. This is a 20T press and I wouldn't go any smaller.

As you can see, it took some work to turn this press into a clicker but you can't beat the price. If memory serves, the press was around $175 at Harbor Freight on sale, I spent about $30 or $40 or so on the steel plates and I can't recall just what the cutting board cost....but the whole set up was pretty cheap and has been a real time saver. I kicked myself to not setting it up sooner...I originally balked at the cost of buying the press, dies, etc...but its been worth every penny!

[miss v]

my 2 cents, i see this thread is old now,

http://www.bonnydoonengineering.com/Products/Presses/presses.html

I use this kind of setup, its designed for making hollow forms out of metal, but works great for clicking the leather.

Drawback is the limited size of die you can use. I have a delrin board that i can take on-and-off the bottom steel plate.

[Parceiro]

Anybody know a good place online to buy cold rolled steel plates? Heather from texas custom dies suggested speedymetals.com to me, but they seem to only carry hot rolled.

[justken]

I put a 20 ton air over hydraulic jack on mine,works great! Have it hooked up to a contractor air compressor.Was concerned it would cut to deep but you can hear/feel when it cuts through. Sure beats using that hand jack..

[NewYorkerInSydney]

Can someone please tell me what would be the largest size die cutter I could use with a 12 ton shop press? Thank you!

[GuardianConcealment]

Sorry to hit on an old post...

Just got a 20 ton hf shop press and was wondering if it being a little out of level on the bottom support is a big deal?

I know you get what you pay for and all but the price was all I could afford.

I have some half in cold rolled and will cut off the ram, weld to bottom and top, also add new spring bolts.

My question is can it have some flex in the frame and still get a good cut?

I will be using Texas custom dies

Ankhs for your help

[billymac814]

My press twists like a pretzel under pressure. It still works fine. The only problem I run into is it sometimes sinks the die to far into the board on one side before cutting the other.

That problem doesn't happen with the real heavy beveled steel dies like you'd get at Texas custom dies because the steel gets so thick it prevents it from going in the cutting board. . I make my own with steel rule dies which are a lot thinner and its easier to sink them into the board, it doesn't happen often though so its not a big deal.

[Texas Leash Co]

I bought the same shop press a couple weeks ago and modified it for clicking. The support crossbeam on mine was not level as well. You can level the table by having your welder or you place a small piece of steel under the crossmember that rest on the support pins. This will level the table and give you a flush fit between the plates. Look at my post that I made last week:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=45798

I don't have any pictures of the inserted piece of steel that I used to level the table but I can post one if you want it.

[GuardianConcealment]

Thanks for your help guys...I have a welder friend that is going to weld it up for me and that should make it more stable. Excited to get my die, next week or so

[Tempestleather]

I know this is kind of an old thread... But can someone explain why cold rolled steel is preferred vs. hot rolled steel when making a die clicker?

[Ken G]

After looking at this: http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/steelprop.htm%C2'> I would guess cold rolled is harder and stronger than hot rolled. But then again I'm not an engineer.

[Texas Leash Co]

It really is not going to matter much if you get plate the that is thick. I used 1" as you can see in the video I posted a couple years ago. The critical things to consider is: be sure that the plates are parallel and be sure to keep the pressure even across the material you are pressing. By keeping the material centered the pressure is applied evenly. If you are using multiple dies per press, keep them balanced so the plates stay even when the pressure is being applied. I used a common vinyl cutting board as my base, under the leather. A large one can be found at Sams Club. I think it is roughly 3/4' thick. A restaurant supply store would have a thicker one. This press will drive the die down through the board so be careful.

The biggest challenge is knowing when to stop applying pressure. Also, try not to over think the simple machine. The design in the clicker press I built was based on what I saw that others made and then I improved upon it. Have fun!

CORRECTION:

It really is not going to matter much, as long you get plate the that is thick. I used 1" as you can see in the video I posted a couple years ago. The critical things to consider is: be sure that the plates are parallel and be sure to keep the pressure even across the material you are pressing. By keeping the material centered the pressure is applied evenly. If you are using multiple dies per press, keep them balanced so the plates stay even when the pressure is being applied. I used a common vinyl cutting board as my base, under the leather. A large one can be found at Sams Club. I think it is roughly 3/4' thick. A restaurant supply store would have a thicker one. This press will drive the die down through the board so be careful.

The biggest challenge is knowing when to stop applying pressure. Also, try not to over think the simple machine. The design in the clicker press I built was based on what I saw that others made and then I improved upon it. Have fun!

[Tempestleather]

Thanks Ken G and Texas Leash Co. for chiming in on this! I ended up buying two 3/4" thick cold rolled steel plates. I have one large die which is 23" long and 4" wide so I ended up going 1X6X24 on the dimensions. It wasn't cheap, but it's better than buying a die cutter and then getting a rotary phase converter. Thanks.