Built this for a friend of mine that has been a big help to me. His work shop is also shared by two vehicles so space is limited. The press stand needed to have a minimal footprint and be able to roll. The stand was designed with legs that spread out 15º for stability as straight 8" x 18" legs would have made the heavy unit top heavy and unstable resulting in a bad way. I also wanted to keep it light weight but stout/rigid. Another consideration was to use as much remnant material as possible so I came up with this.
The base plate is a piece of 1/4" x 8" flat strap the body of the press is 8" so that worked out. The concern was the "flex" in a piece of 1/4" x 8" x 18" and the potential warping from welding legs close to the corners of said base plate. I cut some 3/8" x 1" hot rolled flat bar for stringers or ribs, but as many know HR material edges are not square like cold rolled steel, so I clamped the pieces and "gang milled" one edge using a carbide surface cutter in a single pass at 600RPM. You can see the shiny side of the flat bar in the photo above. This would be welded to the base plate with the milled side down to maintain flatness and rigidity. The castor flange plates where sheared and punched on the iron worker in short order and edges sanded and corners rounded to match the caster plates.
Two 1/4" x 1" tabs (drilled/tapped) where used to secure the press body side to side while two long bolts secure the body through the base plate.
A shelf was added awards the lower legs and also serve as stiffeners. 1/8" x 1.5 x 1.5 angle was used for this as it provides a nice lip all the way around once a thin sheet is set inside the angle frame. This shelf will serve for storage of different shims and spacers he will likely turn on his lathe as different pressing operations require. The hight of the shelf also allows for sweeping under the unit without drama.
The business end of the press base plate was notched "mouse hole" to match the press body for working on longer shafts.
The base plate is a piece of 1/4" x 8" flat strap the body of the press is 8" so that worked out. The concern was the "flex" in a piece of 1/4" x 8" x 18" and the potential warping from welding legs close to the corners of said base plate. I cut some 3/8" x 1" hot rolled flat bar for stringers or ribs, but as many know HR material edges are not square like cold rolled steel, so I clamped the pieces and "gang milled" one edge using a carbide surface cutter in a single pass at 600RPM. You can see the shiny side of the flat bar in the photo above. This would be welded to the base plate with the milled side down to maintain flatness and rigidity. The castor flange plates where sheared and punched on the iron worker in short order and edges sanded and corners rounded to match the caster plates.
Two 1/4" x 1" tabs (drilled/tapped) where used to secure the press body side to side while two long bolts secure the body through the base plate.
A shelf was added awards the lower legs and also serve as stiffeners. 1/8" x 1.5 x 1.5 angle was used for this as it provides a nice lip all the way around once a thin sheet is set inside the angle frame. This shelf will serve for storage of different shims and spacers he will likely turn on his lathe as different pressing operations require. The hight of the shelf also allows for sweeping under the unit without drama.
The business end of the press base plate was notched "mouse hole" to match the press body for working on longer shafts.
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