How big of a press do you need for dimple dies

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by scherp69

So looks like I'm going to have to do the wheel bearings in my step daughters car so a press may be in the cards now. I was looking at them today. They have the 20 ton press on sale for 350 and the owner will give it to me even cheaper as he has too many display models. They also have a 45 ton air assisted set up for just over $1000. Most of what I will be using it for is the odd wheel bearing, etc or using dimple dies on the thickest 18 gauge sheet metal. Is it worth the extra money to get the bigger unit? With the the 45 ton, how thick could I go with the dimple dies? Not sure if I would use it very often, but would be nice to be able to do 1/4". Thoughts??

It really depends on the dies that you use. Obvously the thicker the metal the more wear you will put into the tooling. I don't see a reason to go thicker than .120 wall.

With the right tooling a 25 ton hand press can punch through 1/2" steel.