BNL No5 Compound Arbor press

I saw a similar press to this on an Abom video some time ago, having never seen one in this country let alone one for sale I never thought acquiring one would be possible, then about 2 weeks ago I saw 2 for sale on ebay so had to have one, it's the same make as the other large press I brought back to life a while back, that is a No 3 1/2, the one I took delivery of today is No 5.

With its moving table it has a very useful 26" of daylight between the ram and table.

Are there any older members on here who know anything about this company? it is very similar in design to the American Dake 15T, Abom YT Dake 15 ton

There is zero information about this company through the usual search.

Some better pictures of the other one for sale on ebay

Looks like a ideal machine for production work, good video

A very nice piece of old kit, but not worth 6-900 pounds from my pocket AFAICS.

What are the advantages of this type over a modern hydraulic press?

After 50-70-100 years it still works perfectly?

You can "feel" the work right to the limit of the machine, no hope of doing that with hydraulics

Faster and safer than a hydraulic unit

15 tons in 10 seconds under the complete control of the operator, now that's kewl

Edited By Ady1 on 10/12/2021 09:17:12

Whilst I understand the term "feel" and how vital it is in many jobs, I cannot accept that with hydraulic equipment there is no "feel" ! Any well designed hydraulic machine will have pressure gauges at points in the circuit that show the operator what is going on in terms of load or force - provided said operator understands the readings given ! Noel.

I think the main obvious benefit is ram travel, you might need to reset the table height on a hydraulic press half way through, obviously the size is also a factor but I think you'd need a very big hydraulic press to push a 14" broach through in one go.

Having put bearings in with both hydraulic and arbor presses, you get a very definite feeling when a bearing is properly seated with an arbor press, it's nice knowing it's both fully seated and you're not continuing pressure after it is seated.

with a hydraulic press you've got more factors to avoid damage, my hydraulic press does not have a gauge what resolution are they? the resolution would need to be high enough that small components could avoid damage, by the time the gauge is showing that excess pressure is being applied the damage could potentially already be done.

For bearing installation an arbor press is much better option in my opinion, broaching also, there's a place for both types of press, I just prefer these old mechanical ones, I find they are much quicker to use, just spin the daisy wheel around to a suitable size opening and away you go.

Marlco still make the bridge type arbor press for broaching, the bigger size is around £4500 with VAT, so I guess price is subjective depending on how much you need it or want it, even a hobby import arbor press big enough for broaching is probably gonna set you back the best part of £400

Marlco press

Edited By Pete. on 11/12/2021 00:53:35

I noticed the one on ebay being sold by Home workshop machinery has been removed, has a forum member bought it?

They offer things on epay for ridiculous prices - hoping some mug will pay out that full price. Most will ring and offer a sensible price, because their contact details are on the auction site. Therefore, IMO they mostly use the site as cheap advertising - but a money-spinner if a mug takes the bait.

I did check their own website when I originally saw it on eBay, it was £200 cheaper at £750, so someone has bought it directly from them as it was removed not sold on eBay, it's been on there a few weeks then got sold in under 24 hours of me posting this thread which made me think there was a pretty high chance someone on the forum had bought it.

Hi Pete first you need to know or guess at the cylinder bore, then work out the area - Pi 3.1416 X R squared. Write this on the cylinder. T a gauge in the line and you have it. Multiply the area by the pressure and you have the force. Depending on what your doing as to what value of force you need to read and the gauge you fit. For normal bench presses 0-10,000 psi and 2" dia BUT for delicate work 0-1000 psi. and 4". I have a range of cylinders from1" to 28" stroke and bores up to 4" + gauges from 300psi to 10,000psi all in 4"and all plug in. By observing the readings you can see whats going on. Setting rivnuts the collapse pressure is 900psi set at 1200psi - the system will go to 10,000 - and break something. Example. 4" cylinder at 2500psi = 2x2x 3.1416 X 2500 / 2240 = 14 tons Noel.

4" diameter ram? sounds pretty big for a home workshop, even though modern machines don't have the same appeal generally speaking, I wouldn't mind seeing this set up.

Maybe something along the lines of the combined manual and hydraulic arbor press has merit such as the one on this YouTube:-

**LINK**

from Jason Marburger the Fireball Tools man.

Interesting part starts about 3 minutes in, opens with a flick through the mag. Turn the volume down, voice is clear but loud.

Popular Mechanics plan from 1972.

If you have a welder and wonder what to do next his videos are "interesting". Would help to have a tame water-jet / laser cutter guy around.

Clive

I did actually see that video, an interesting project building something from an old magazine, I can think of better designs with better suited hydraulic rams, if you're going to all that trouble you might as well just buy a half decent hydraulic ram rather than throw all that effort into something that's never going to be that good as it's limited by a bottle jack.

Noel, how long does it take to swap over the different rams and gauges on your press? can we see it please?

Edited By Pete. on 24/12/2021 18:23:13