Shop Press Project

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I've been scavenging a bunch of usable steel from a local fab shops dumpster over the last couple months and have some good pieces to make a shop press from. All the steel you see in the first pic came from the dumpster, both foreground and background. I took the dimensions of the pieces and built a model of what the finished product is going to look like in Sketchup. Before I put the first weld bead down I want to get opinions on what I'm doing to make the uprights. I have 4 pieces of 6"x6"x1/4" square tubes that measure 32" long. I plan to join them together to make 2 pairs 64" long and want feedback if I'm doing this right. I beveled the edges back about 3/8" on each one (too much or too little?) and the bevel goes all the way to the inside of the tube. I plan to make a small root pass around the tubes with a bead just big enough to seal the gap. Then I'll make a second pass over the root that should fill about 2/3 of the bevel. After the second pass I expect to make a third and fourth pass on each side of the second to fill the bevel. Once that is complete I'll probably need to grind the weld flush to allow the horizontal tray to pass over it. I plan to weld this all up with my MM180 with .035 solid wire. Those with a keen eye will see in the fourth pic, between the fridge and the blue bench the top of a Hobart 225 AC buzz box. Am I better off to stick weld this together? Although I have it, I don't have near the experience with it as I do with my mig welders. Also any better recommendations for aligning the tubes? I'm using 2 pieces of angle and the straps. Attached Images
Reply:It's doable like that, but unless you are really-really-really good (and even if you are) doing a one-sided structural weld there is not such a good plan.One key word for you.  Backing.Want it in two words?  Backing strips.Take one of your proposed upright tubes and tack weld some appropriately sized strips to span across the joint.  Put strips on as much of the joint as possible, maybe also putting two strips on one piece of tube and two strips on the mating tube.  Check alignment, then weld the strips well into the tube(s).  Then assemble the two tubes together, align things, and put some plug welds in to hold the backing strips to the tube that they are not yet welded to.  After all that is done, -then- start welding the joint.  Make sure your root pass fuses well into the backing strips.Why all the fuss?  Because 50 tons is not something to sneeze at.  That's just a wee bit o' oooomph there!btw, nice Sketchup pic.  also btw, if you put 50 tons on the press and your table pins are 1.5 inch diameter (pretty beefy you think), you would put 66,666 psi of stress on each pin/column contact.  That is failure level stress for plain mild steel and waaay past the yield point of plain mild steel.  And that is with no safety factors applied. (50 tons x 2000 lb/ton ) / (4 pins x 1.5 inch diameter/pin x 1/4 inch wall thickness on column ) = 66,666 psi where pin pushes on column wallThat says to me "Not strong enough".  In big BOLD letters actually.2 inch diameter pins?  100 ksi / (2 inch x .25 inch x 4) = 50,000 psi compressive on the tube walls where the pins go through.  Still NG.3 inch diameter pins?  100 ksi / (3 inch x .25 inch x 4) = 33,333 psi Barely OK, but no real safety factor.  See where this is going yet?  50 tons needs some beef.You can make the pins out of hardened alloy/carbon steel and get OK shear stress levels on them, but the plain mild steel columns are just 1/4 inch thick.Those 2 6x6 tubes come out as just about OK for a 50 ton tensile load on a quick check. (50 tons x 2000 lbs/ton ) / ( 2 posts x 23 inches perimeter x 0.25 inch wall thickness) = 8700 psibtw, next time don't bevel so wide/shallow.  The bevel is just needed to ensure that the electrode/filler/arc can reach deep enough into the joint to make sure that there is complete penetration of the weld.  Making the bevel too wide/shallow just means that you have more to fill in later.  Especially if you are using some 'skinny' MIG wire you don't need to make such a wide bevel.  Remember that for say a 60 deg bevel (total), you only need to do each side at 30 degrees.    The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:MoonRise: ?  You are calculating the psi stress on the pins and then later on the 6x6" mild steel columns.  In the first ex you use the diameter of the pin (1.5-3") in the later U use the perimeter of the square tubing?   I'm just trying to grasp the math/units... and then you compare answer in psi to a safe tensile load  for 6x6x1/4"  tubes from a chart somewhere?   Reason I ask, the fella has collected a lot of nice parts, like I might do, so the press should maybe be a 20-30 ton instead? not a 50? IF U use these parts.Lincoln Power MIG 215Lincoln WeldPak 3200HDLincon ProCut 25Lincoln WeldanPower 225 AC/DCIf all else fails... buy more tools
Reply:Thanks moonrise, please keep the commentary coming... I need the help. Your suggestion of backing strips is exactly what I needed to hear and they will help align the tubes for plumb-ness. I am using 1.5" pins (they are left overs from an old dump truck project) so I'll plan to reduce the tonnage to 30 ton?? I haven't bought the bottle jack yet so now is the time to learn how much I can put in there.I began drilling the holes for the pins today and had to "invent" a process for doing it. My drill press only has 3 inches of stroke, so to get the holes on opposite sides of the tube plumb I first drilled with a regular bit for the first hole, then changed to a long bit to get the second hole. I setup a jig on the press to keep everything consistent as I did both tubes. After I had 1/4" holes drilled I go back and use a hole saw to finish. I did 2 holes so far which means I have 30 more to do  I'm glad I thought to drill out the holes before welding the tubes together, made it much more manageable. Attached Images
Reply:Just a thought:  with that many holes to drill, would it be worth renting a magnetic drill?  I admit that some of my thoughts are not that good though.  I put it down to "smoke damage"...(Retired) Professional firefighter, amateur everything else I try to do...Oh yeah:  Go Big Red!   (You know: one of the 12 members of the Big 10 cuz we left the 10 members of the Big 12...)
Reply:Just as a caution, the tip of a long bit (heck even short ones) can walk somewhat when drilling through like that unless you already have a pilot hole on the other side for it to hit, which one usually doesn't. That's the reason for drilling through, so you don't have to mark and pilot both sides independently  The small bits will flex enough that you won't notice the creep.  It's best to flip it over and verify accuracy with a few measurements before you get too far down the road."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:PapaLion,Yes on the calculations.  I just did a quick check on the stress where the pins go through the columns and then did a different quick check on the columns themselves.  The quick check says to me that the 6x6 1/4 inch wall mild steel columns seem OK for a 50 ton tensile load.But the pins going through the columns will rip the columns even if the pins hold up.  Because the 50 tons is going through just the area where the pins push on the columns.  My quick check showed that using two 3 inch pins (thus the pins contact the columns at four places) was barely adequate for 50 tons but with no real factor of safety.  No way is the press safe for 50 tons using two 1.5 inch diameter pins.Hmmmm, but if you put -two- 1.5 inch pins in each column you then have 4 pins to share the load and 8 contact areas from pin to column and the same bearing area as using one 3 inch pin in each column.    More drilling to do though.Oops, you already started drilling holes in the middle of the columns.Using two 1.5 inch pins going through the 1/4 inch wall columns gives 4 areas of contact.  4 contacts x 1.5 inch diameter per pin x 1/4 inch wall thickness = 1.5 in^2 bearing areaPlain mild steel yield point is about 36 ksi. (standard A36 steel)36,000 psi x 1.5 in^2 = 54,000 lbs load to yield point based on pin bearing on column walls with no safety factor.That gives about a 'safe' press tonnage limit of about 20 tons (40,000 pounds) with a slight safety factor.If the pins aren't a hardened steel that is 'stronger' than plain mild steel, then the shear on the pins could also be a consideration in figuring the safe allowable load of the press.btw, what's with the funny notch on the end of the column piece there?  It wasn't there in the first set of pics with the 'raw' posts or even the beveled posts.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:[QUOTE= I admit that some of my thoughts are not that good though.  I put it down to "smoke damage"...[/QUOTE]HA HA HA. Being from British Columbia, "smoke damage" means something else up here, then I saw you're a retired fireman. 200amp Air Liquide MIG, Hypertherm Plasma, Harris torches, Optrel helmet, Makita angle grinders, Pre-China Delta chop saw and belt sander, Miller leathers, shop made jigs etc, North- welders backpack.
Reply:Ok, here's where I'm at.. poised and ready to pull the trigger on the mig. I drilled all the holes this morning including the 8 for the plug welds of the backing plates. Considering the process I used and the low quality drill press the holes align great. I plumbed the two lower sections of the columns to each other and the pins slide through from one side to the other perfectly. I also measured with a tape measure from the bottom of the tube to the bottom of each hole, on each side of the tube and they are darn close to perfect. Not machine shop tolerances, but as hard as I looked I couldn't see as much as a 1/32" difference.The first pic is what I'm about to weld up. My plan is to weld two backing plates on the top sections first, welding to the 2.5" plug holes I drilled. I can clamp the backing plates to the top sections only before putting the top and lower sections together, after I can clamp the backing plates to the lower sections by going through the holes for the pins. I also plan to add two small back plates on the other two sides before putting the sections together. In the first pic the lower sections is upside down to show what the notches are for, the horizontal legs for the casters get welded in there (also seen in the third pic).I'll put the sections back together using the angle and straps as seen in the first set of pics in this thread but this time I'll put an 1/8" gap so I can run the root pass deep into the backing plates. Then I'll follow the weld up procedure I outlined earlier.The second pic is taking into consideration the tonnage issue. Moonrise's last comments about more than 1 pin gave me an idea. Excluding the first to second pin hole all the rest run down the tubes at 4" O.C. so I could make an "adapter" to place on the press (seen in dark gray) that would rest on a second set of pins and support the upper tray. In reality I will seldom need to go beyond 20 tons, but when the needs arises I can add a second support under the first.The third pic is just the alignment of the two lower sections with a pin slid through. Attached Images
Reply:That's it for today. I got all 4 tube ends prepped to be welded up and even tried to get one started. I put a straight edge against and it's out about 3/16" from end to end on 2 sides. I'll cut the tack welds apart tomorrow and take a different approach to truing them up. I used the angle and straps again but that isn't quite getting it. Any suggestions are welcomed Here's a couple more pics of where I'm at. Attached Images
Reply:How wide is your press going to be?  That makes a huge difference on how strong the table needs to be.My name's not Jim....
Reply:The I-Beam is 45" and cut plumb on a band saw so I don't plan on trying to shorten it since I'll only make a mess out of it. The beam is 4"x12", the web is 1/4" and the flange is 7/16" which I believe is plenty for the top of the frame. So the plan right now is to be 45" between the uprights. In the sketchup picture I drew 6" channel for the tray with a web of .314". Finding the channel as a "free-bee" is unlikely but I did find a possible substitute. I have a 60" section of 5" square tube with a 3/8" wall that I pulled from the same dumpster  . I am thinking of cutting the tube in half the long way to make 2 pieces of channel out of it to use as the tray. I have read somewhere on this board that cutting box tubing open like that doesn't work because the steel "springs open" and doesn't hold the expected shape. If I box the ends closed before cutting in half will it hold it's shape? If the 5" tube isn't going to work then I may have to spend a few dollars for material
Reply:A W4x13 beam spanning 4 ft and "simply supported" (like the table/platen resting on the pins would be)  is NOT-NOT-NOT safe or adequate for a 50 ton load in the center.  Sorry.That beam over that distance for that 50 ton load in the center will:- deflect about 0.7 inches (doesn't sound -all- that bad there, but ...) ;- is inadequate by about 10x in bending;- is inadequate by about 3x in shear.50 tons is not a little load.    The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:MoonRise is correct.  Your table ain't gonna cut it.  Here is a press I made at work a few years back.The table was originally 50" between uprights and made of 4 pieces of 1-1/2" x 5" solid.  2 pieces outside the uprights, and 2 pieces inside the uprights.  They deflected with less than 50 tons so I beefed them up by sandwiching  pieces of 15"x 1-1/2" x 48" plate  between the pairs of 1-1/2"x 5".  I also cut some 1-1/2" plates to lay on top to spread out the load.  I had to add ribs to the underside of those plates also.  I wish I had better pics, but here's a few to show you how massive stuff has to get to stay flat. Attached ImagesLast edited by Boostinjdm; 04-23-2010 at 03:00 PM.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Ok. I'm convinced to back down the tonnage on this thing to 20 tons max. Given 20 tons, I have two I-beams I can use for the over head support, well I presume I can use either but we see where all this presumption has gotten me so far Moonrise, I looked up the number you stated of a W4x13 beam from this site and it doesn't match the dimensions of the one I have. According to that site I have a 45 inch section of a W12x22 beam. I'm "presuming" you were referencing the I-beam I'm going to use as the overhead support in your last comments? I also have a 31 inch sections of a W8x15 beam that might be the better option for a 20 ton press, or is it too undersized? If I can use the smaller beam then I'll be 31 inches between the uprights and I'll have an easier time building a tray that can support the 20 ton rating. Even if I have to stick with the larger beam I should still have an easier time building a tray to support 20 tons (was that laughter I just heard).Also I found the solution for aligning the tubes for welding. I used the 60 inch section of 5" tube plus some other long square tubes on the sides with the straps and it was straight and true after heavy tack welding. I'll weld it all up tight tomorrow so I'll let you know if they keep their straightness. Attached Images
Reply:I understand that nobody really wants to scar up a nice big chunk of iron, especially when you want to end up with a good looking end prduct. I empathize with that, really, but when lacking the right sized clamps you're often better off tacking (welding) your strong backs and restraints right to the piece you're working on rather than all kinds of straps. I'll even weld them right to the table at rare times. You can do a partial weld, cut one section of strong back loose, move it, tack it and weld some more.  When you're all done grind and flap the tacks down nice and smooth. A short stocky piece like you've got there is going to real difficult to hold straight while putting down substantial beads and all. Just a thought.Looking great so far. It'll be nice when your done."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:Originally Posted by MoonRisePapaLion,Yes on the calculations.  I just did a quick check on the stress where the pins go through the columns and then did a different quick check on the columns themselves.  The quick check says to me that the 6x6 1/4 inch wall mild steel columns seem OK for a 50 ton tensile load.But the pins going through the columns will rip the columns even if the pins hold up.  Because the 50 tons is going through just the area where the pins push on the columns.  My quick check showed that using two 3 inch pins (thus the pins contact the columns at four places) was barely adequate for 50 tons but with no real factor of safety.  No way is the press safe for 50 tons using two 1.5 inch diameter pins.Hmmmm, but if you put -two- 1.5 inch pins in each column you then have 4 pins to share the load and 8 contact areas from pin to column and the same bearing area as using one 3 inch pin in each column.    More drilling to do though.Oops, you already started drilling holes in the middle of the columns.Using two 1.5 inch pins going through the 1/4 inch wall columns gives 4 areas of contact.  4 contacts x 1.5 inch diameter per pin x 1/4 inch wall thickness = 1.5 in^2 bearing areaPlain mild steel yield point is about 36 ksi. (standard A36 steel)36,000 psi x 1.5 in^2 = 54,000 lbs load to yield point based on pin bearing on column walls with no safety factor.That gives about a 'safe' press tonnage limit of about 20 tons (40,000 pounds) with a slight safety factor.If the pins aren't a hardened steel that is 'stronger' than plain mild steel, then the shear on the pins could also be a consideration in figuring the safe allowable load of the press.btw, what's with the funny notch on the end of the column piece there?  It wasn't there in the first set of pics with the 'raw' posts or even the beveled posts.
Reply:BACKERS...................If the weld is good, I don't see a need for a backer.If you want a full penetration weld, gap the tubing.  If you feel confident in a nearly full penetration weld, butt it up weld it, and leave a convex bead above the weld to make up for the difference in material thickness due the lack of full penetration."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:I've found that aligning tubing when tacking is a matter of sequence.Clamp a longer piece of scrap/stock for alignment.  Tack the "free" sides.  The sides at 90 degree angles from the clamped stock.  Always equal heat.  Tack opposite sides.The straps aren't too good, but you might get away with it.Straight edge after tacking will tell you where you're off.  If it's not severe, make the first weld on the side which is bowed outwards.  It will help to pull the two pieces true.  You're using heat distortion in your own favor this way."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Farmersamm, thanks. I've read many of your threads over the last 2 years and have become a follower of your practices  I finished one one of the uprights this morning following your procedures and it was either luck or the tubes knew what I wanted them to do because they came out perfect. I put a straight edge against all 4 side and the worst I was out was .032" on one side. The flat edge lay very tight up the entire length of the tube sides so not sure how I could have one side with a difference that I can't also see on the opposite side  but it's more than straight enough for the intended purpose.Pic 1: root pass, straight no weave, on the backing plate onlyPic 2: second passPic 3: third pass (got a little wide in a few spots)Pic 4: some "light" grinding and sandingAfter all that welding I now know the value of a shallower bevel. If I had about half the bevel I could have easily done it with just two passes and less time on the grinder. Attached Images
Reply:Ripping square tube lengthwise to take the place of channel is not a good idea. The square corner of the channel is where it gets it's strength for load and resistance to twist. If you get your steel from the fab shops dumpster for free, throw them a bone sometime by paying for them to cut back pieces for you on their bandsaw. $5.00 every once in awhile is definetly a fair trade. Definelty should have been 2-3 passes on the last weld but the press is coming along nicely for a homebuild without the fancier machine tooling.Last edited by RaptorDuner; 04-24-2010 at 01:21 PM.
Reply:Looks good so far, i agree though on a few passes on that last pass. A couple of passes is much better then a real wide weave. Also if it was me i would have not ground that weld down flush. Keep us updated on the progress!Ya gotta spend money to make money!
Reply:I modeled the pin thru 4" square column w/ hole in Solidworks-Cosmos PE.  I'm no expert at this so YMMV.Using 50 tons load, 36,000 yield carbon steel, and two 1.5" pins supported by 1.5" holes drilled thru the column I get a minimum required wall thickness of 1"!  Even then I'm getting some 40 ksi stresses at the top and bottom of the outside edges of the holes.just my $0.02.Miller 211 w/ spool gunMiller Dynasty 200DXLongevity 60i IGBT plasmaO/A w/ crappy chinese torch/gaugesSouth Bend 10K latheGrizzly 4029 10x54 millGrizzly 7x12 hor bandsawangle grnders, bench grnder, bench belt sndr7.5 hp 80gal cmprsor
Reply:Ok, I just did the most dangerous thing in this process, I went to this website and played engineer I used the calculator first on my 45" of w12x22 beam and got 1/64" of deflection at 20 tons, so I'm confident with using it as the upper member. I then used it for the table made from c6x13 channel and I get about 3/32" of deflection which is alot. I'd like to stay with 6" channel so if I box the channel with 1/4" or 5/16" plate will that eliminate the deflection? If I use 8" channel it calculates about 3/64" deflection without boxing.I know playing an engineer on the internet is a bad thing if your not one in real life so I'm putting on my flame suit now for your kind replies
Reply:I seem to be experiencing the 80 - 20 rule on this project, 80% luck and 20% skill. I couldn't be more pleased with how the frame is turning out. Both uprights welded up straight within .032" and now I have the main frame tacked together with amazing accuracy. I started out today by leveling 2 small sections of I-beam on the floor then building off of those. Can you tell I love those tie straps I fiddled with it for about an hour before putting the first tack weld on and have it very square and plumb. I'm able to put the level on any flat surface and the bubble is centered. I put the square in every corner and each one is perfect. I also grabbed some bed frames to form a table and tested it for level and square and it too is perfect!In my haste today I forgot to sand all the areas for welding so that's what I'll start with tomorrow then weld it all up tight. Attached ImagesYumpin Yimine now that you have it partially assembled I can see how big it is.All the other pictures never really gave it a scale. Anyway have a great time welding it all up.Harold MulderMiller 211 AutosetHTP 201 Invertig with water coolerHardinge Cataract Quick Change Lathe
Reply:Yeah, that's a big-un.Webbing/straps can help you get things into position, but you really shouldn't rely on them to -hold- big things.  Especially big metal things being welded.  The straps can't hold that much force.  They can just hold things in place while you tack them, but you can't rely on them to hold things into alignment from the forces of welds heating and cooling.Look back at boostin's press.  See that m-a-s-s-i-v-e cross-beam on the top of his?  Your piece of beam is a bit too small IMHO.  Maybe use that beam as the start of the cross-beam, weld it all up well t othe uprights, and then use some plate as thick or thicker than the beam's web and completely box the beam in (adding more 'vertical' metal plates).  That will help.  Boostin used what, 1.5 inch thick plates on his table?  Use that as a guide as to the amount of metal you need to span 50 tons across 4 feet.Samm, yeah he could run 'doubler' plates to get more wall thickness on his upright posts/columns.  Or he could go with about 3 inches of pin diameter per 1/4 inch wall post.  More than one way to skin the cat.Oh, mark?  General rule-of-thumb is to not space holes closer together than 3x the hole diameter to avoid one hole punching into the next hole when the pin/bolt/rivet is forced towards the next hole.  Too late now.Also, your pic of welding the post sections together showed some noticeable undercut/underfill.  That's NG.  50 tons is a pretty big load.  And over a 4 ft span it's pretty big too.  Even 20 tons across a 4 ft span isn't a little thing.It doesn' t have to fly or race, so make it strong.  Figure out how strong it has to be to hold the load, and then make it 2x or more stronger.  Impact loads, or heavy usage, or more unknowns usually mean you should make it even stronger than that.  For a press, strong is good.  Interesting project and all.  Just want to help you make sure it is safe and strong enough for what you are saying you want to do.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:Moonrise: Thanks! I appreciate you taking both an interest and the time to share your knowledge. It's helped me tremendously on this project and will help me "get it right" the first time on future projects. Hopefully this thread will help others too. My biggest lesson so far is "free" comes at a cost I welded up the beam and lower cross bar today. The pics below are my passes on the web of the beam which I did in 3 passes per end, per side, so 12 passes all together. I beveled the web of the beam on both side so I tried to keep the first pass deep in the bevel. I watched for undercut which I know is a bad thing and I didn't see any happening. I had my little MM180 at almost "full thotttle" on these passes and it seemed to be getting good penetration with proper fill.I'd certainly like feedback from anyone on these welds. I've been hobby welding for 15 years and feel like I'm just now starting to learn something.The 4th pic is what I'm trying to replace with this projects. I'm tired of jigging something up under a table to use for straightening stuff out  Attached Images
Reply:markfuga,I checked the calcs and got the following:W12x22 beam, 20 ton, simply supported (not true but close), I = 156 in4, y = 6.155", E = 29,500,000 psi....stress = 26,632 psi, deflection = 0.0252" (compared to your 1/64" or 0.0156")...OKC6x13, 10 ton (each channel and there's two channels), simply supported, I = 17.4 in4, y = 3", E = 29,500,000 psi....stress = 38,793 psi, deflection = 0.0752"...NOT OK, stress above 36,000 psiC6x13 boxed w/ 3/8" plate, 10 ton (each channel and there's two channels), simply supported, I = 22.86 in4, y = 3", E = 29,500,000 psi....stress = 29,528 psi, deflection = 0.0573"...OKSo box the channel w/ 3/8" and you're good to go BUT I'm still worried about those pins in the holes.  At 20 tons vs 50 tons, the req'd column wall thickness goes from 1" down to 0.4" (ratio of 20/50).  So if you have 1/4" wall you still need another 0.15" wall.  I'd fishplate the sides w/ 3/16" or 1/4" and call it good...at 20 tons.Miller 211 w/ spool gunMiller Dynasty 200DXLongevity 60i IGBT plasmaO/A w/ crappy chinese torch/gaugesSouth Bend 10K latheGrizzly 4029 10x54 millGrizzly 7x12 hor bandsawangle grnders, bench grnder, bench belt sndr7.5 hp 80gal cmprsor
Reply:Here's the update from last week. I scrounged up 4 pieces of 1/4" that measure 40"x4" and went to work on drilling out another 32 holes. I mig welded the plates fully on all 4 sides and in hind site I should have practiced burning rods on the AC buzz box.This "fish plate" idea is actually serving two purposes, first and most obvious it's serving to "thicken" the holes for the pins, second it's helping to "gusset" the upper and lower tube sections of the uprights together which gives me better peace of mind for putting it under load.It wasn't too hard to get the holes aligned properly, but it did take a little time with a hand file to get the bottoms of the holes on a level plane from the front of the posts to the back. I made sure to use a long file that would file both front and back holes together.Next up is the assembly for the bottle jack which I've cut a few parts out for already. I also stopped by the fab shop and we looked around for some 6 or 8 inch channel but they don't stock that small of a size. We did find one section of 6 inch with a 5/16" web and for $100 they are going to cut two 58" pieces out of it and 2 pieces of 3/8" plate that I can box it closed with. Attached Images
Reply:Drill a set of holes in the table to acommadate a second set of support pins.Should fix the tearout problem.Put a gauge on the jack and a dail indicator on the table. Pump it up until things move,note the pressure. don't go that high again!It might turn out that you can use a fifty ton jack and only pump it to 35 or 40 tons.A gauge is the best way to go on a press.
Reply:More progress today. I built the tray assembly that holds the bottle jack, and other than one minor issue it came out pretty good. The issue was with the left horizontal square tube. I thought I had the whole thing square and plumb but when I put it in the frame the left side was out significantly so I had to cut that side off, re-align and weld it back up.The idea for the design came from spare parts I collected when I helped a friend replace the plastic bushings in his auto lift. After we were done I asked if I could keep the old bushings for "future projects" and of course he said "sure". At the time I didn't really have a use for 12 of these plastic bushings, but since he had just paid $23 each for the new ones I kept the old ones for their potential value.While I was building the frame of this press it kinda hit me on how to build the tray for the jack using two of the old bushings and you see what I came up with in the pics below. The bushings were worn very uneven so I ran them down a table saw to true up the sides and made an assembly to mount them in.The two springs are another find, this time in my attic. I long forgot about 2 new hood springs for a 1958 chevy truck that were in a box of other "collectibles". The springs worked out perfect, they are stretched 1/2" when the jack is compressed and get stretched less than the truck stretches them when the jack is fully extended. The test run with the 1.5 ton jack worked extremely well. The tray glides up and down smooth and parallel to the frame. Attached Images
Reply:this has been an interesting read.  i am interested how much flex the bed rails have under load.  I like the decision to keep the white wheel on so you don't catch yourself on the leg.  safety first always
Reply:Thanks Scott, but you got me with the "white wheel" comment. Are you talking about the wheel on the bench grinder? Is there an inside joke I'm not aware of? should I be embarrassed to have it in the pictures? You have my anxiety level on "High" now I included for the first time in this thread pictures with a "dime" and thought I was now an "official member" but now I fear the "white wheel" just got me kicked out of the club
Reply:I think Scott Young is refering to the the white caster on the bed frame in one of the mockup pictures.Millermatic 200Hobart Handler 120Victor O/A & Ramco BandsawLincoln 225 ACSnapOn AD HoodMiller XMT304/22AHypertherm Powermax 1650 G3Lincoln Idealarc DC600 w/Extreme 12 VSMiller Digital Elite "Joker"
Reply:Whew.. Glad that's cleared up  and yes, of course.. it's there for safety Here's a closer view of the tray assembly and one attachment I made so far. You'll also note I made the part that holds the attachments from bed frame angle cause we all know that's what makes any project stronger PS: Please ignore the hideous weld in the foreground, that's the spot I cut off the tube and welded it back on. It was done with a slight rise in temper  Attached Images