Presses are great, but they are only as good as the tooling you have for them and how you go about switching the tooling. Attached is my stand and what tooling I have so far. Sure is good to get the tooling up off of the ground and in sight. What tooling have you found is handy for your press? And how do you attach it to your press for quick exchange?

Presses are great, but they are only as good as the tooling you have for them and how you go about switching the tooling. Attached is my stand and what tooling I have so far. Sure is good to get the tooling up off of the ground and in sight. What tooling have you found is handy for your press? And how do you attach it to your press for quick exchange?

Photo of my 24 ton press. no dies in it.

Here's my 60 ton hydraulic forging press, but what tooling have you found is handy for your press? And how do you attach it to your press for quick exchange?

Hey Randy great looking collection you have there.
What kind of steel do you use and do you heat treat?
I'm thinking heat treating would be a wast of time do to all the heat they will conduct when in use
I stared making some out of mild steel a hot cut and a squaring die and I hope I didn't wast my time:(

Some are just mild steel that I harden, but if they're thin they won't hold up. Most are 4140 that I harden and temper. Punches do heat up pretty bad, but the 4140 is tough stuff. A hot cut in mild steel won't last long as the edge smushes (a tecnical term) over as it pushes back into itself. Having a 60 ton I even had to make my flat plates out of 4140 as the mild steel ones were denting and scarring up with hot metal being pushed on it.