Brooklyyyn

Latticino, I appreciate the concern, those welds on those vertical seams are for sure not the greatest... long story short I didnt account for welding those vertical portions prior to welding the frame together and didnt properly clean/prep the metal in those spots. My angle grinder and die grinder were only able to remove so much of the paint/primer that was in those tight spots and my tig welder was having a terrible time with it. Had to resort to stick welding which unfortunately I am still not great at. The tig welds elsewhere are far better than what you can see from this one angle... but regardless i'll be extremely cautious when putting the press under load and overdo it on PPE. The guide design has 1/2" plate on both sides and almost an 1.5" thick where the cylinder connects. The white pieces are thick plastic meant to be wear plates which I will likely upgrade to something like brass in the future. If you have any suggestions for a better material in those spots I would love to know. There is minimal racking currently when testing the system without load, at worst it's maybe 1/16".

loving the concept with the cam and dovetails. Have no issue going the more complicated route to pull this off. Already started grinding bevels on some base plates and side rails. Only concern is im limited on real estate for that rotating cam, but gonna give it a whirl.

Thanks Goods! This is incredible and definitely way more refined than what i was planning on doing.

Image of press attached. The carriage and top base both have an overall depth of 8". I intend on using 6"x6"x 1/2" base plates for all the various dies I intend on making. The idea was to have a U shaped rail to slide the plates into the center that fits snuggly... but im trying to figure out an optimal way to then lock the die in place so there is minimal movement when they are in use and are consistently aligned properly. Perhaps im overthinking it but would appreciate any suggestions for good solutions for what I hope is the last hang up before this can be finished and ready for us. - Also any suggestions for whether I should make the plates load in from the front where the operator would be, or would it be safer to have them load from the rear?

I appreciate the response, thank you

I've read that the reservoir should be mounted above the level of the hydraulic pump in order to get the gravity assist and keep fluid flowing downstream constantly. Is there any height difference I should be targeting or is it sufficient for them to be only 1-2" higher?