Anyone used or own one of the Chinese c frame track press. Looking at a 150 ton. The c frame looks as robust as the ITR that I’ve used. Tooling isn’t a big deal since I have a lathe. Just curious if the actually hold up.
i have a 150 ton chinese tie rod style press and for the money you cant beat it but its defiantly low quality and a pain to use, but for the amount of track work i do its fine. i was looking at the c-frame style but decided that 150 tons is a lot of pressure on a casting of unknown quality. i figured it would be easier to upgrade the threaded rod if needed then try and fabricate a c-frame if it failed. track work can be extremely dangerous especially when you add 10,000 psi on a piece of chinesium
@Mike L just got a new track press- ITR. its discussed here. But he won't tell us if he's used it yet. HeavyEquipmentForums HeavyEquipmentForums
Ive used the itr and it’s not a bad design but I think with a late you can make anything c frame better. I am curious about the casting metal also. I’ve got a Chinese line bore machine and can do the same if not better than a climax. The way I think is china would not be the empire they are if everything was from harbor freight.
Not everything that comes from China is junk but most of it is
I still haven’t used it. Bought a big gang box to set everything up in and haven’t gotten that done either. I have tripped over it several times while it sits on the garage floor though.
By the time they get all the trade tariffs figured out they might cost more than an OTC
Good. Then everyone can buy OTC tools. Tongue in cheek. I do admit I buy Chinese transport chain and binders from Mac's Hardware. It's part of the reason I believe that we don't value chain enough to make sure we don't leave it laying somewhere. If we had no other choice than to pay $200 for a 20' length of 5/16" grade 70, we might be more responsible.
Enerpac is mostly chinese the last few years, I suspect OTC might be as well. There is always Simplex.
I don't believe otc builds a track press anymore, wtc bought the patent for the otc press and still sells parts for it if I remember correctly
Last winter I bought several Vevor rams from Amazon. I hate the fact that I'm buying Chinese knockoffs from a company like Amazon, but when I can buy 20 of something for the price of one, or buy 20 different rams for less than I could buy 1 Enerpac, I can't see doing it any other way.
Money talks.
I’m the same way. Today I ordered a vevor electric over hydraulic pump to run my track press. Came highly recommended from another independent mechanic. Would much rather have an enerpac but we’re talking 8X the $
Vevor stuff isn't really all that terrible quality either for what it is. I've bought a few things from them for jobs that I don't do very often.
I’ve got a 20 and 50 from Vevor plus one of their air over hydraulic pumps. Done quite a few bushings with the 20 ton. I also have an old SPX hydraulic pump and a bigger BVA 60 ton hollow ram that’s come in handy. It’s hard to cough up the $ for name brand unless they’re making multiple cycles day in and day out.
Got a quote on a 150 ton c frame with electric pump. No quote on shipping yet. 2700 dollars with tooling . Wtc 20 thousand dollars. I think I’ll try Chinese first
I've borrowed a 150 ton wtc cframe press from one of the dealers around me and it is definitely a high quality unit but unless your a dealer or doing track work all the time it would never pay for it self. also the wtc has a fabricated cframe instead of cast and probally wouldn't be to terrible to duplicate
I’ve thought about building my own. Have a friend with a cnc plasma table but time is money and we are both very busy
I'm not sure I'd share your enthusiasm. I know how things popped and banged using that 55 ton ram last winter. I used the 60 ton hollow ram to pull the blade pivot pin on my 6N this winter, and to think about double that amount of force is scary. If something fails it could be catastrophic, and I enjoy life most days.
Here’s another post about track presses. HeavyEquipmentForums Building one like these doesn’t look too difficult.
Plasmaspider.com has a thread on building a 100 ton one.
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