One thing to keep in mind when building/buying a press. Speed is king. Stay away from presses that use two stage pumps. The amount of force needed to move steel goes up exponentially as it starts to cool. So get in and out as fast as you can and you will need less tonnage.
JT, I don't disagree with you that speed is king (if you have the experience and skill to utilize it), but for someone starting out, buying a press, there's no reason for them to avoid two-stage pump builds. We've talked about this before, the learning curve with a super fast press is much higher. The vast majority of damascus made by knifemakers (excluding the few big production suppliers) has been made using presses with two-stage pumps.
Do I like them? No. However, they work just fine for most people's needs, and the costs of buying an off-the-shelf, fast, single stage pump press, running with a single phase motor, was (is anybody actually offering one, now that Larry Langdon is gone?) significantly higher. I've taught tons of beginners on presses, and under no circumstances would I *ever* recommend a fast single stage press to one of them.
The only thing a fast single stage press does, is increase production speed, with an experienced operator. However, the rate at which a novice can destroy billets with a fast press, will be proportional. There's no practical difference otherwise. The end result, of either style, will be the same.
I'm only jumping in here, because you didn't really qualify your response, and it's clear from the OP that he's not going to build one; so you essentially told him to avoid pretty much every option available to him. I also think, and no offense intended, you're not considering what's practical for them, considering their needs, versus what you prefer (I agree with that preference also, but don't recommend it for most).
FWIW, the coal iron ones; even though the 16 ton doesn't list it, is clearly using a 2-stage pump, all the other listings mention it specifically. Frankly the base 16 ton one looks pretty weak to me. Notice the tiny ass round bar they're squishing in the promo video? Consider the 16+ at a minimum.
They do look nicely built. I agree with Don, Uncle Al's presses will do the job, but I'm not a huge fan of the design, the whole guide bar setup for the top dies is flimsy and has a lot of slop in it. I can vouch for the build quality of Tommy McNabb's presses; they are rigid and well thought out, with a small footprint. The bottom die moving up takes a little getting used to if you've used others where the top die moves, but you get the hang of it quickly. You may be concerned about the lower HP motor for the same tonnage, but Tommy uses real industrial Baldor motors that produce much more real actual HP/Torque than the so-called "5hp" import farm duty junk motors that many of the other presses use.
