Let's See Your Homemade Press!

[NewfoundlandLaw]

Hey All

 

So, it will be a about 1-2 years til I can get the Hydraulic Press I want, (TechSew TS-12), as I'm currently building a new home with a 1,100 square foot "hobby room" in the basement. I don't have room in my current 92 square foot leather room.  (Plus I don't want to bother wiring a 220v outlet to my current room when the new place is under construction.)   Seriously, I bet I have less than 30 square feet of unused space in there  

I have a little Tandy Press for small jobs, but want to be able to use larger handbag sized dies.  Shipping a Weaver Press to where I live is prohibitively expensive, so I decided to make my own out of a hydraulic Shop Press.  
 

I picked up a bench-top press today for $200 on sale and am now looking at a table to mount it to.  I have a pair of 1/4" thick AR500 plates and a 3/4" HDPE cutting sheet ordered.  (All are 23"x23" to take advantage of the full width of the press.)

I see a lot of people have built their own presses.  Would anyone like to share their builds or have any advise on how to build a good homemade press?

 

Here is the Press I have and lower cabinet I plan on using  (The cabinet will have feet instead of wheels.)

 

[Heather Face]

I'm considering buying the 12 ton shop press from harbor freight and then buying saltydawgleather_and_wood (Instagram) press plate mod for it. Might even eventually swap out the bottle jack for a hydraulic one. Just need the $ to put it all together!