Eastwood 10 Ton Benchtop Shop Press | Pro Hydraulic Press | Black Steel Design | 20,000lbs Capacity | Includes Pressure Gauge

Well built and working perfectly.

I really like a lot of things about this press but!The packaging is ridiculous. If any of these survive a trip in a freight truck intact I'd be surprised. It's a pretty sturdy two-piece box, base and a lid held closed with three plastic straps. The straps are flimsy though and in my case two had snapped. When it arrived, the box was partly open and one item, the clamp-plate that holds up the ram mounting plate had escaped in route. That was only the beginning. The interior packing material had been reduced to mere shards. The various pieces inside were so jammed in place in a confused interlocking puzzle that it took some effort to figure out how to untangle them. The big problem is the heavy adjustable-height platten. I have no idea how their packaging design was meant to hold it in place, because there was nothing left of it, but it failed miserably. This thing slid around in the box wreaking havoc. I found the styrofoam case that had once held the pressure gauge, disintegrated and empty. I expected to find the gauge smashed, but miraculously it survived intact jammed in a corner of the box. The finish on the various pieces of steel was chipped here and there, but steel is hard to damage, so the thing did survive pretty well. This was due more to luck on my part than anything else.I considered requesting a replacement clamp plate from Eastwood but after checking the design out I changed my mind. The ram mounting plate is centered between the top rails very sloppily by four roll pins pressed into the plate and the clamp plate is not centered at all. In my unit there was over a half inch of play. I found this a bit too crude for my taste so I fabricated a two piece replacement for the clamp plate and milled shallow slots in them and in the ram mounting plate to engage with the top rails, thus centering the plates between the rails accurately. I went ahead and mounted the pump assembly on the side as the instructions demanded. I found this to be grossly impractical though. When pressing in a bearing or seal you need to have eyeballs on it to make sure it's starting squarely. This just isn't practical with the pump handle way off to the right. There are other reasons why this approach is a mistake too.This thing has a relatively low effective mechanical advantage. This is nice when setting up because a stroke of the pump moves the ram about 3/8" which makes it quick to get it where it needs to be to engage the work. This is a lot better than what you get with bottle-jack style presses I've used where you're pumping frantically and seemingly gettting nowhere fast. On the other hand, it means that using the press to its capacity requires maybe150lbs of force on the end of that handle. If you think that's easy to do with the handle being rather high and needing horizontal pressure on it, you must be Man Mountain Dean. I'm no wimp at 200lbs. People look to me when a job requires muscle, but I found that getting to seven tons of force was damn difficult and ten almost impossible. This also requires that the press needs to be mounted solidly to something really heavy or bolted to the floor so it doesn't try to run away when you push on it. It's really pretty stupid.This isn't a problem with bottle jack style presses as you are pulling down on the handle to apply pressure. I have used a floor height press that was on casters with no issues. So I said to myself, this pump needs to be mounted horizontally so you press down on the handle to apply pressure toward the end of the stroke. So I laid the pump flat on the benchtop I had assembled the press on and tried it. Sure enough it worked fine. The ram extended fully, the pump didn't suck air and it was easy to get to ten tons, even twelve tons because I could just use my weight to bear down on the handle.I mounted the press on a stand I fabricated which put the pump handle about 30" off the floor at the end of its stroke and mounted the stand on casters. After you get the ram engaged with the work you use short strokes to apply pressure. I lift the handle maybe three or four inches and then bear down on it. Since you are pushing straight down it eliminates the need to bolt this press in a stationary location which is a real plus. It's easy and not at all tiring to use the press to capacity. My shop isn't all that spacious and although I do use a press often, it isn't everday. It's nice to be able to roll the thing into a corner out of the way.End result:I love this thing as rejiggered. Bottle jack style presses are really sloppy. Often the ram slips to the side one way or another when you begin applying pressure. You then need to recenter the work and start again. This ram is rigidly mounted and doesn't wander around. I like the long stroke too. It make setup easier and quicker. The fast ram movement saves time. Less strokes, more action. The tip of the ram is a separate piece held on by a setscrew. This could be nice if the press was being used in a production environment. You could machine a tip made especially for the job to simplify and speed the setup.Details:The instructions lead you to believe there should be a nylon seal among the stuff in the bag of parts. Don't look for it. It's already in the fitting the gauge screws into. Just unscrew the plug and screw in the gauge. You don't need a lot of torque to seat the gauge. Go easy.

Product assembled easily, good quality for the price. Handle placement is awkward. Really hard for someone of above average strength and height to achieve anything close to 10 tons of pressure.