On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 15:47:27 GMT, "Pete C."
wrote:

I disagree, the commercially available 20T H presses are quite
inexpensive and will save a lot of time and effort tracking down the
steel, welding and trying to keep things square. My recommendation would
be to use a commercial 20T press frame as a starting point. The 20T jack
can readily be used separately as a normal jack.

You should be able to find a suitable hydraulic cylinder, valves and
pump unit from a place like http://www.surpluscenter.com and have a fast
powered unit operating in short order.

Thanks for jumping in Pete. Let me see if I understand correctly:

If I were to purchase, from Harbor Freight, the 20T Air / Hydraulic
Bottle Jack (Item 41487) along with the 20T Shop Press (Item 32879), I
could replace the stock manual bottle jack with the Air / Hydraulic
bottle jack to more or less duplicate your machine?

And all I would need to do is hook it to a sufficient air source for
power? Would a 13.3 CFM @90 PSI compressor do the job?

Also, being a complete newbie at anything air or hydraulic related I
am not following along very well with how you created the foot pedal
or the use of the Bimba. Could you attempt to explain exactly what is
going on with the control unit?

Assuming the press will work for Damascus, even if it isn't ideal, I
will purchase the components and fabricate it. I'll even document the
process for everyone's benefit. But I'll definitely need a little
more information / guidance on the foot pedal stuff.

Thanks,

John P.