This will be enough for all aspects of building right?  Flats, rivets, and pressing barrels?  I know a lot of you have used them, any pros and cons?

It will work fine. Of course the 20 ton is better. Last time I was in HF they had the 20T on sale for like $150. I have the 12T at home and havent had any problems.

Quoted: This will be enough for all aspects of building right?  Flats, rivets, and pressing barrels?  I know a lot of you have used them, any pros and cons?

More than enough.

Cons are that they are rickety as hell.  I welded mine all up.  Some people shim them.

Just make sure you get all three frickin' boxes!!! I drove 160 miles to get mine 5 weeks ago, then got home and found no jack. I've been calling twice a week, he says he shipped one UPS three weeks ago. I am so PI**ED!! Guess I'm going to have to go buy a jack, since my flat jig will be here next week. Think I will call HF corporate, though. And yes, it is rickety!

I have been using the 12-ton and had two complaints...  

1st is they do flex if you get into some serious pressing and keeping everything straight can be tricky....

2nd, the space in the work area is pretty limited.  With some of my jigs and projects it is frustrating to constantly turn and reposition things because of running out of room to work.

I just purchased a second press, a 20-ton HF unit, but I have not put it together yet to really compare one to the other.  The 12-ton is adequate, I hope the 20-ton is more robust as I have some projects I am working on other then AKs and I think I needed something a little bigger...

Quoted: Just make sure you get all three frickin' boxes!!! I drove 160 miles to get mine 5 weeks ago, then got home and found no jack. I've been calling twice a week, he says he shipped one UPS three weeks ago. I am so PI**ED!! Guess I'm going to have to go buy a jack, since my flat jig will be here next week. Think I will call HF corporate, though. And yes, it is rickety!

Anytime you have anything shipped from Harbor Freight, plan on at least 3 weeks.

Standard operating procedure.

Their system is terrible.

I bought the 12-ton A-frame and it is perfectly adequate for AK needs.

HF only charged $8.99 for shipping, which is insanely cheap for a big heavy item like this, so I ordered it on-line instead of gong to my local HF store.  Big mistake.

Mine was missing a part, one of the 4 bars at the top that hold the jack plate, and it has curves, so I couldn't make one myself.  I had to call the 800 number and asked for one to be shipped. It took 8 weeks for me to get it, since it had to be sent from mainland China!

If I had bought it at the local HF store, I could have simply returned it and gotten a replacement. If you've got one of the retail outlets near you, I highly recommend buying it there instead of mail-order.

If you buy anything from HF, be sure to sign up on their website for the email specials.  I have been receiving a %20  off any one item for the past 4 weeks.  They are only good at the retail stores,  work on sale items also.

The 20% off  makes a 12 ton press $95.20.


BTW, does anyone know simple procedure to properly square up the press?