Hand Press Die Cutter?

[Tazer58]

I am in the process of putting a Clicker Press together out of a 20 ton Shop Press. I have read the several topics on them and think I have it all down except for the steel plate piece.

What type of steel plate do I need to use, I plan on getting 1" thick plates for the top and bottom. I read somewhere, but can't find it now that stated what type of steel.

Thanks in advance

[Hide in the Sound]

I am in the process of putting a Clicker Press together out of a 20 ton Shop Press. I have read the several topics on them and think I have it all down except for the steel plate piece.

What type of steel plate do I need to use, I plan on getting 1" thick plates for the top and bottom. I read somewhere, but can't find it now that stated what type of steel.

Thanks in advance

At the local steel shop they have both A36 and A572 carbon steel. I think they used A36 for my plates, which are a 1/2" plate on the bottom and two 1/4" plates on top. So far the press is working much better now that I have a 1/2" on the bottom rather than the 1/4" I started with. I am sure if you use 1" you'll have a good set up.

If you're getting one of those Harbor Freight presses (orange, made in China), which is the kind I bought, there is one other thing you may want to plan on. The press comes with a two-piece jack arm, which you insert into the jack and pump up and down. Well, the two-piece is quite short and has very little leverage. I bought a 1" steel pipe that is about 2.5' long and put one piece of the jack arm inside of the pipe and use that to operate the jack. My die is a steel rule die with rubber inserts and is quite large, which requires a lot of force to press out the leather, even though it is quite thin for my work. So, if you're die cutting will require a lot of force, you may want to plan on some method of increasing your leverage with the jack arm. The leverage comes in handy on the last couple pumps.

[Tazer58]

At the local steel shop they have both A36 and A572 carbon steel. I think they used A36 for my plates, which are a 1/2" plate on the bottom and two 1/4" plates on top. So far the press is working much better now that I have a 1/2" on the bottom rather than the 1/4" I started with. I am sure if you use 1" you'll have a good set up.

If you're getting one of those Harbor Freight presses (orange, made in China), which is the kind I bought, there is one other thing you may want to plan on. The press comes with a two-piece jack arm, which you insert into the jack and pump up and down. Well, the two-piece is quite short and has very little leverage. I bought a 1" steel pipe that is about 2.5' long and put one piece of the jack arm inside of the pipe and use that to operate the jack. My die is a steel rule die with rubber inserts and is quite large, which requires a lot of force to press out the leather, even though it is quite thin for my work. So, if you're die cutting will require a lot of force, you may want to plan on some method of increasing your leverage with the jack arm. The leverage comes in handy on the last couple pumps.

Yep it is the Orange one "Made in China", The stock jack is put away, I ordered a 20ton Air one the other day to replace it. So hopefully I won't have any issues with increasing the pressure when needed.

Thanks for the reply.

[billymac814]

Does anyone else use the 20 ton harbor freight press? I bought the 12 ton because I was originally just going to be using it to form the holsters. The 12 ton flexes quite a bit though and sometimes this cause a corner of the die to sink farther than the rest. The 20 ton version looks pretty stout compared to the 12. I'm wondering if it would be a worthwhile upgrade, it would also give me a little more room in between the risers.