Good hydraulic press
 

Just looking for opinions on a good hydraulic press for my garage. Suggestions on size are appreciated too. I don't do much with them but want to make sure the money I spend is worth it. I know Harbor Freight has them. I'm just not sure how sturdy they are. Who else makes a good one?

Thanks

Trey,
I have had the HF 20 ton for 5 years, used the heck out of it with no issues.

I have not replaced the cast plates, and maybe i will someday, I've heard they can break.

I am sure there are nicer presses, and I do see allot of used ones on C-list. If i had it to do over again i'd probably buy it again...

Joe

Trey, I have the Harbor Freight one. I was in the market for a press several years ago, researching what was out there. During this time, a good friend of mine calls me and says that he needs to get his press out of his garage, (2 car garage, very full) due to space. I gave him $6o bucks for it, and figured it would last me a summer or so. I still use it today. It’s a little wobbly, and the adjustable height shelf that you press against is slightly bent downward in the center, but the darn thing just keeps working great. It’s worked perfectly for every job that I’ve thrown at it.

I think most presses are made overseas anyways besides high end so ones (and that's a maybe). I use the harbor freight 20 ton with no issues. The arbors are what will fail buy you can invest in some. There's a guy will who sells some on ebay that aren't cast that work great and carries different designs.

Thanks for the replies guys. Guess I'll investigate the HF one some more.

I've used my HF one just fine. There's really not much that can go wrong with them, given the pressures we can subject them to for what we need to do. The only thing I am not doing is using their cast plates for anything severe, that's the only thing I can imagine failing catastrophically. For those, I build my own plates/structures to press against.

Thanks Josh. I appreciate the response.