Arbor Presses.

I'm planning to get an arbor press. I'll probably get the bigest one I can afford and have room for in my workshop.

The Far Eastern Presses all look the same from the pictures, but prices vary a lot, with Sealey being the most expensive. Is there any difference in the quality?

I accept that these presses will probably require some reworking to make the ram a good fit. They appear to have adjustment screws for a gib strip?? at the front. Is there a similar adjustment at the side?

Thanks, Max.

Max,

I have a Fly press that I find more practical particularly with the ball weight, I find arbor presses need a lot of effort to use.

Martin P

On most imported arbour presses there is no side adjustment. However, shims can usually be added at the sides and front.

On my press I have bronze shims fitted and the ram is well guided now. The front and side shim was made as one piece to help hold it in position. The shim started out as an H shape, with cutouts in each side to clear the pinion. The "flags" above and below the pinion were folded inward to meet the sides of the ram, and small flaps on each flag were folded down after installing the shim to retain it vertically as the ram moves up and down. A good coat of grease on the ram and pinion helps smooth the motion and reduces wear greatly.

I also added a sub plate to the base of my press with some screw holes and a register to hold auxiliary tooling (hole punch and die sets, V dies for bending). The main reason for doing it however was that the flat area on my press was not milled perpendicular to the ram, it was off by .060" one way and .030" the other across the 8" x 5" flat pad.

Junk, but with mods it does the job, and was dirt cheap.

JD

to get any real pain on the object in question they need to be very firmly bolted down to a VERY rigid and strong bench / location.

They only have a 2' lever arm which, IMHO , can not deliver the presses stated max even with my 16 st hanging on the end. to get punch type pressures you need to extend that with bar or pipe to 4' ish.

If you have space and can find one as Martin says a fly press is better. They require much less effort to use.

Although heavy and needing a solid bench they are self contained and there is a lot less leverage being applied in the direction to try and tip it over or off the bench.

The pressure is infinitely variable by a) how hard you swing it and b0 how many and how heavy are the balls you add to the arms.

If you are only doing light stuff like pressing bearings out of shells or 200 mm thin sheet bending then an arbour press is the cheaper more compact route.

I hope that helps you make a decision as to what you go for.

Regards Clive

If you intend to use the press for punch & die sets a flypress is a must to locate the upper and lower tools accurately and to obtain enough force. Arbour presses are only suitable for light imprecise work although a Desouter type dieset would give the accuracy element but probably cost too much. Colin

One trick I didn't mention for arbour presses is the use of impact vs steady handle pressure when punching. Sometimes just lifting your hand 8-10" above the handle and bringing your hand down with force and speed on the handle is enough to punch the hole if steady pressure isn't getting it done. Other times a 1/2 lb dead blow hammer (plastic, filled with lead shot) brought down on the handle is effective. I don't recommend handle extensions for arbour presses as a rule, I have seen a few broken press frames and broken pinions doing that.

I usually grind my punches with a faceted face, like an inverted crown, angling from the edges toward the depressed centre of the end of the punch. If the faceting is done, and the tips of the facets vary a few thousandths in length off the stock, cutting is progressive through the stock rather than cutting the entire perimeter at once. This reduces tonnage required for cut and also reduces concentration of stresses in the punch. It is an old trick transferred over from my days designing punch press tooling and progressive dies.

JD

All depends on what they are to be used for. Max never said anything about punches.

I have two arbor presses both used for fitting bearings and sleeves and broaching. A fly press would be no use to me as the instant load put on could easily crack a housing or break a broach.

One thing I have found with the cheap import presses is that they all suffer from a lack of daylight unless you buy the biggest press in the range and even they struggle at times

John S.

Hi Max, I recently bought a 500kg abor press from machine mart ,I originally wanted the 1 ton abor press but they didn't have them in stock and I needed one ASAP, it has shimm adjustment on the front and adjustment on either side by the way of nut and bolt ,once set up I found the quality to be good for the price ,everything I saw in machine mart was porley assembled which kind of put me off ,but I took the risk and I'm pleased with my purchase .

You can use Fly Presses delicately, i've broached key ways quite happily with no problems.

Martin P

Thanks for all your helpful replies.

I intend using the press to broach keyways (nothing more than 1/4" wide) and to press in/out bearings and oil seals. I have suitable madrels etc for bearings as I've been accustomed to doing this sort of work in the vice, but it requires three hands.

I don't think I'll be getting a fly press. Most of those on eBay etc are collection only, I don't have suitable transport for them and sellers are reluctant to ship them on a pallet.

At the moment I'm leaning towards a 3 tonne rachet type press. I accept the fact that Far Eastern products generally require reworking and regard them as a set of assembled rough castings.

Max.