Hydraulic shop press as a clicker press for cutting dies

[chapelstone]

I had not thought about the stops but it makes good sense. Should they be equal to the hieght of the die? Or a little less 

[JLSleather]

tad less, yeah?  just enough to set the die barely a smidge into the cutting board.  If you use a bolt, say like a 16 thread pitch, then maybe make a mark on the bolt head with some nail polish, then you know that each full turn of the bolt will run it 1/16" deeper .. easy math ...

 

[chapelstone]

Thanks 

[bruce johnson]

I used a 20 ton shop press for several years. My dies were all smaller things - headstall pieces, bucking roll parts, latigo carriers, spur straps etc.  I used a piece of cold roll steel set on the rails for the base, LDPE or clicker pad, leather, die, covered that with another piece of cold roll big enough to cover the die, and centered it under the ram. Crank it on down. After a few tries you will learn to hear and feel the die cut through the leather. back off the jack just enough to slide the top plate, die and leather out, reposition, and 3-4 cranks on mine and your were through the next piece. 

I got one of the Weaver bench top presses with an air over hydraulic jack. That is fat city! Press the button and it putt putt putts through and sort of stops on it's own once it goes through.  

[JLSleather]

Well, there's the thing.. a shop press travels slowly enough you'd have to be trying pretty hard to "bottom out" with it.

Still, it's a decent compromise even though slow.  Still much faster than cutting everything with a knife, and far cheaper than a swing arm, so ...

I don't have any "stops" on mine, nor do I have any issue with warping or burying dies .. I do replace a cutting surface occasionally, but you'll have that regardless.

Harbor Freight has these currently for $150 (20 ton) - in my email this morning.  Also a $54 drill press ...

 

Edited July 7, 2017 by JLSleather

[WoodsHollowLeather]

Just finished mine up last night. $150 for the press, $110 for the plates, $90 air jack, $200 for the welding. $15 cutting board. I am getting an air compressor from Santa, so add $150 for a bigger tank model. $700 all in for a 20” x 12” cutting area. 

Weavers mighty Wonders are easier to use but the 4 ton is a smaller cutting area for $995 + shipping at their wholesale price. The 8 Ton is a similar cutting area as the shop press but costs $1,995 + shipping. 

All that’s savings will allow me to afford all of the dies I’ll need to get. Let’s just hope she works ok!

 

 

[Anubis78]

On 12/10/2017 at 11:57 AM, WoodsHollowLeather said:

Just finished mine up last night. $150 for the press, $110 for the plates, $90 air jack, $200 for the welding. $15 cutting board. I am getting an air compressor from Santa, so add $150 for a bigger tank model. $700 all in for a 20” x 12” cutting area. 

Weavers mighty Wonders are easier to use but the 4 ton is a smaller cutting area for $995 + shipping at their wholesale price. The 8 Ton is a similar cutting area as the shop press but costs $1,995 + shipping. 

All that’s savings will allow me to afford all of the dies I’ll need to get. Let’s just hope she works ok!

 

 

If only I knew how to weld...

I'm revisiting this as I'm designing items where using dies would be ideal.   How is it working for you? 

[RockyAussie]

On 11/12/2017 at 2:57 AM, WoodsHollowLeather said:

Just finished mine up last night. $150 for the press, $110 for the plates, $90 air jack, $200 for the welding. $15 cutting board. I am getting an air compressor from Santa, so add $150 for a bigger tank model. $700 all in for a 20” x 12” cutting area. 

Weavers mighty Wonders are easier to use but the 4 ton is a smaller cutting area for $995 + shipping at their wholesale price. The 8 Ton is a similar cutting area as the shop press but costs $1,995 + shipping. 

All that’s savings will allow me to afford all of the dies I’ll need to get. Let’s just hope she works ok!

 

 

Nice looking idea. Knowing how heavy clicker presses work and how even massively webbed top plates warp I have to say that you will need a lot of webbing added front and back. I would be surprised that you do not have an upward tilt a little already at the edges from where you have welded already. Honestly I would be tempted to cut a v groove about 1/8" deep right up the middle from left to right on the bottom and then weld the full length back in. This should make the plate come down a bit front and back. This I would do before adding any webbing as I would be trying to keep a little of that bow for as long as possible. May sound crazy now but you will see why later. Note also that as your top deforms up so do your long cutting knives until they become banana shaped useless. Another idea if you prefer is to put 4 heavy wall box pieces on top of your channel and put some bolts into the ends in order to be able to screw them down tighter at the edge ends occasionally. This should allow an occasional re straightening. Regards Brian

[WoodsHollowLeather]

On 12/16/2017 at 3:22 AM, Anubis78 said:

If only I knew how to weld...

I'm revisiting this as I'm designing items where using dies would be ideal.   How is it working for you? 

I don’t weld. But I’m sure someone in your area does. I don’t have dies made yet, so we will see..,

[Bustedmp77]

I bought some steel rule and made a few dies for myself. I use my HF 12 ton press with them. For 2 cases of beer, the welding instructor at the local tech school cut me out 3 12"x12"x 1" thick steel plates. I use two on the base with a 12x12 piece of 3/4 mdf as a cutting surface. Leather, die, 3/4 mdf, and then the other steel plate on top. Works great, and the mdf is $35 for a 4'x8' sheet which gives me 32 12x12 pieces. I did add a pressure gauge to the jack. When I here the pop and pressure drops, my leather is  cut.