I haven't dropped off the planet yet, but been swamped with a new job, traveling about 2-1/2 - 3 hours per day (1.25-1.5 hour one way) on the freeway...I'll be working at home most of the time, but needed to go in this week as my new manager left today to go on vacation for pretty much the rest of the year. I'll only be required to go into the office once a week if needed after I get everything setup...do it's a pretty good deal.
I cheated on the hydraulic press, I picked one up last night inside the Haight, damn good thing I had my phone as I would have never found that place without it. Typical SF City, up, down, up down, one way, left, people jumping out in front of you, more up, down, up down, another one way...I hate the city...so anyway, it's not ideal but the best I could find that was within what I would spend. It's an Arcan, I think they used to be sold by Nothern Tool, who quit selling them. This one is made in America, but the new ones on Ebay are Chiwanese. There are no press plates, but I have some cheapos from the HF press, I'm pretty sure they're cast but I can use them for now. Also no pins to hold the head plate, the portion that slides up and down and sits on the pins. In general it's way more heavy duty than what I have, and it's a 20-ton. It has a bottle jack, so not a lever/pump setup, but I was able to get it for $250. Not sure that's a good deal considering it's missing the pins and plates, but to be honest I don't see much under $1k that looks decent. The new 12-ton HF has a better bolt setup, looks more rigid and I'm sure stronger than the one I have which pulled apart, but I'd rather have this unit in my shop. It's in the pickup outside, it's drizzling so good I got the bottle jack in the tool box. Will get it out tomorrow, and hope to be able to make progress this weekend on the T5.
