bench press

Attachment 12687Attachment 12688

For anyone interested I have just made a 2 ton bench press for punching out blanks and doming.
For me it saves thrashing about with a heavy brass hammer with the risk of bounce etc.
I must add that I have a degree of arthritis in my hands so this saves my hands a bit.
This unit is small compared with the commercial ones I could find and half the price of the cheapest on ebay. The more expensive ones range from £200 to £2000!
I was lucky in that the aluminium section I already had in stock!
Finally it works a treat!
If anyone is interested I can make a cutting list and a plan but the basic dimensions are 25 cms wide x 45 cms high.
You will need:
1 metre of 50mm x 75mm x 5mm aluminium channel £55.00 ebay
4 x 50cms of M12 threaded rod plus nuts and washers £18.60 Wicks / Homebase etc
1 metre of 15mm copper tube £7.00 Wicks / Homebase etc
Total £80.16
Plus a few kilos of patience and a sense of humour

Need ideally a bench drill, angle grinder with metal cutting discs, flat file, rat tail file, spanners for the nuts. Hand power drill and some drills bits, also for ease a riveter and rivets ,and of course some elastoplasts for cut fingers!

That looks fun. Has similarities to the press described in Susan Kingsley's book.
(I went the welded route for mine, admittedly)

Yes would have welded but had the aluminium section and I don’t have the gear to weld that.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There's no better feeling than using tools you've made yourself. Hope you have lots of fun. Dennis.

I agree with Dennis, also saves a lot of money, I am in the process of building myself a new press.

Oh ho, ho. Nobody noticed I didn’t mention the actual hydraulic jack! Again ebay. Great choice. I chose one at £17.00. Still a lot cheaper than commercially available presses.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Picked the jack for mine at a local hydraulicks mob it was cheaper than the same item on Ebay $120, Ebay was $144 ( 20 ton )

For jacks, I'd usually suggest Machine Mart (on one of their periodic VAT-free days) but I don't think they go quite that low on price.

That's a great press ,looks smart too