Strongbacks/Raising Blocks

**Dick** · 14-12-2023, 13:02

What do we call a device that raises a press above bench level? I have no idea, but I just made one. No bench I've had has been the right height for comfortable use of my Rockchucker. Many years ago a local steel supplier gave me a piece of I beam offcut that no-one wanted. For those not familiar with I beams they might be better described as H beams. This piece was 150 wide x 150 high x 200 long. I drilled four holes in the bottom flange for bolting to the bench and two in the top flange for bolting on the Rockchucker and used it like that for 30 years. It was heavy (4.80kg) and cumbersome so I always intended to reduce its size and weight but never did because it worked perfectly well and there were always bigger priorities.

Recently I decided to do it. It needed something like 20 saw cuts which I knew would be a lot of work. So I figured that I could do better with an angle grinder. But I found that I couldn't cut straight which required a huge amount of filing to clean up the wavy edges. But what was worse was that I broke three discs on the first day, one of which ripped my jeans a hairs breadth from my leg, and another piece ripped a finger quite badly. That's when I decided not to push my luck and did the rest with a hacksaw. It was a huge amount of work - at my age plus arthritic hands saw cuts that a younger man would have done in fifteen minutes were taking me an hour. It was exhausting.

Shortening the thing and slimming it reduced the bulk and weight usefully, but I also wanted to make some rectangular cuts out of top, bottom and web. But practical difficulties of getting the hacksaw into those places persuaded me to drill a lot of holes instead. That too took more time than I expected. At the end I had drilled 176 holes, mostly 12mm with 8mm holes in between. The result is much lighter (2.60kg) and looks quite nice with a coat of green paint.

I don't regret doing it but there's no denying that it was a vanity project - a ton of work for no practical benefit.
Another Gunsiter told us that he had had a nice raising mount cut and pressed by a sheet metal shop for not much more than R100. That's a much better idea and a very good deal indeed.

**Grobbie** · 14-12-2023, 13:11

An I beam will do the trick if you have some laying around. You need to add a piktja or it did not happen.

I made a quick one out of angle iron and 2 square plates for my Lee Classic Turret. Even on my raised bench I need a lot of height to make it work better for me. Works well. Still need to grind the voëltjie kak off and paint it.

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**Heath Robinson** · 14-12-2023, 14:13

Sounds like quite an ordeal.

Cutting straght with an angle grinder requires a bit of planning.

I have been most succesful if I orient the cut vertically and apply as little force as possible, taking light, shallow and repeated cuts before breaking through.

**oafpatroll** · 14-12-2023, 15:10

Originally Posted by Heath Robinson

I have been most succesful if I orient the cut vertically and apply as little force as possible, taking light, shallow and repeated cuts before breaking through.

^This. Thinnest cutting disk too. Too often I see people cutting with grinding disks and vice versa.

@Dick, happy to post pic if you'd like. It sounds like it deserves a bit of stardom.

**Vaal** · 14-12-2023, 17:34

How much will a local engineering shop ask to cut the I beam with a cutoff saw or power saw?

**Dick** · 14-12-2023, 20:13

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

It sounds like it deserves a bit of stardom.

Only because it was a marathon with no useful result except making it look prettier.

**Dick** · 14-12-2023, 20:16

Originally Posted by Vaal

How much will a local engineering shop ask to cut the I beam with a cutoff saw or power saw?

There weren't straight cuts; it was shaped in such a way that a power hacksaw couldn't have done it. I tried two outfits that cut with laser and plasma but both said they couldn't do anything more complicated than flat sheet/plate.

**Dick** · 14-12-2023, 20:17

Originally Posted by Grobbie

An I beam will do the trick if you have some laying around. You need to add a piktja or it did not happen.

I made a quick one out of angle iron and 2 square plates for my Lee Classic Turret. Even on my raised bench I need a lot of height to make it work better for me. Works well. Still need to grind the voëltjie kak off and paint it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I should have mentioned this method because I realised it would have been a lot easier by cutting three plates to required profile and welding them.

**oafpatroll** · 14-12-2023, 20:55

Looking at these pics it just occurred to me that a standard footprint riser is what I'm after for my loading benches. I have added bolt hole patterns to the surfaces so I can move preses on and off but what I really need was a dedicated hard mounted platform on each one that has the same bolt pattern. Feel a bit of a muppet for not figuring out yet that the different presses work better at different heights and that two pates and three or four bits of square bar per press was all that was required. By the end of this weekend my load benches are going to look like an operating theatre.

**Vaal** · 14-12-2023, 23:05

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

Looking at these pics it just occurred to me that a standard footprint riser is what I'm after for my loading benches. I have added bolt hole patterns to the surfaces so I can move preses on and off but what I really need was a dedicated hard mounted platform on each one that has the same bolt pattern. Feel a bit of a muppet for not figuring out yet that the different presses work better at different heights and that two pates and three or four bits of square bar per press was all that was required. By the end of this weekend my load benches are going to look like an operating theatre.

Pictures would be very nice when completed.