How to Make a Brass Press

Cut lengths of square tubing like the four sides of a picture frame, making them the dimensions you want your press frame to be. Keep in mind, the inside dimension of the height should be at least the height of your bottle jack fully extended.

Weld your four press frame pieces together using your MIG welder.

Fabricate a second frame to be used as a press deck. Its dimensions should sit just inside the press frame, with enough room to weld track on the sides of the frame so it will follow the press frame up and down. Fabrication of the press deck is otherwise the same as the press frame.

Lay plate steel the same dimension as your press deck on your welding table. Lay the press deck on top of the plate, then tack weld the plate to the press deck from the underside. Once it is fixed in place, run sections of bead a couple of inches long, alternating around the perimeter of the plate to reinforce it.

Cut two sections of U-shaped channel that has an inside dimension that fits perfectly over your square tube steel. Fabricate the channel if necessary. Place the pieces of channel on the inside perimeter of the press frame's vertical members and clamp them in place.

Set the press deck inside the press frame and the two pieces of channel. Secure and level the deck so it is perpendicular to the press frame, then weld it to the channel pieces so they slide up and down the press frame like a track, raising and lowering the press deck.

Weld two balancing tabs or legs in the center of the bottom cord of the press frame, perpendicular to the frame. They should be large enough to easily balance the press.

Set your bottle jack on top of the intersection of the frame's bottom cord and balancing legs, and tack weld the jack to the frame.

Fabricate a second press deck, and weld it above the moveable press deck, allowing the bottle jack to close them like vice jaws, vertically.