[TheForge] Upper die mount for hydraulic press

[smith at blacksmithing.org]

Greetings all -- 

I've finally gotten around to building the moving-frame hydraulic press 
suggested by Bruce Freeman (http://www.ironflower.com/plans/press.htm) and 
am reaching the point of fabricating the upper die mount.  The idea is to 
have dies on easily removable plates (6"x6"x1/2") that slide into a set of 
brackets (left and right) with a stop block at the rear.  The front edge 
would be blocked with a 5/8" pin dropped thru a block welded to the upper 
frame edge.  My question for those of you with press experience is just how 
tight should the plate be?  I can envision two pins acting as register pins 
and two cam lock levers (left & right) use to 'snug' the plate to the frame 
top, but is any of this really necessary? What I want to avoid is the need 
to use a hammer to remove the plate or having the plate and die 'clatter' 
and move relative to the lower die. 

Suggestions please! 

Steve Bloom