Thatone Report post Posted May 23, 2017 Hey guys, so I finally gave in and figured I'd better get one of those fancy presses for my stamping. Now, which one do i get? I am pretty set on 1ton press, but most of them seem little toys. Any recommendations? Much appreciated! M. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alpha2 Report post Posted May 24, 2017 I just got the Harbor Freight 1 ton press. I've spent some time in the last two days doing the upgrades to make it work well. Drilled the ram for stamp adapters, drilled and tapped for a locking screw to hold said adapters in. Ground off the bottom two teeth so I can ratchet the ram for most effective angle on the lever. It's all on You tube. However, there are a couple of things to watch for. If your drilled/tapped hole for the lock screw isn't RIGHT AT the bottom of the ram, you have to grind a bit off of the third tooth up from the bottom of the ram to allow the ram to ratchet. My press also rocks on the table, the bottom of the casting isn't flat. When I mount it to a board hopefully I can address that with wood instead of iron! I also found that I can't use the nice lockscrew with the big knob. It hits the press at the top, and can hit the bottom support when all the way down. Getting a longer one would help with the top conflict,but not the bottom one. Now I know why all the ones on youtube had a simple screw and use a screwdriver or allen key. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bikermutt07 Report post Posted May 25, 2017 The palmgren press has a 3\8" hole already drilled. It's available on Amazon. The .5 ton has done fine for me with stamps and snaps. I wasn't aware of the ratchet mod though. I will check into that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
