$13 Press-Style Snap Setter

[JoelR]

Here is a press-style snap setter I made from a $13 Harbor Freight Watch Case Press. Total time invested was about 1 hour. Drilled out the upper ram to 1/4" to accommodate a standard snap setter rod (cut to length) and drilled a blind hole into the anvil with a #7 drill bit to hold it on the base. Had to put a different handle on it (not shown) as the original was not strong enough to handle the force needed to set a snap really firmly. Simply used some 1"x1/8" aluminum bar stock I had laying around.

[glennaycock]

Here is a press-style snap setter I made from a $13 Harbor Freight Watch Case Press. Total time invested was about 1 hour. Drilled out the upper ram to 1/4" to accommodate a standard snap setter rod (cut to length) and drilled a blind hole into the anvil with a #7 drill bit to hold it on the base. Had to put a different handle on it (not shown) as the original was not strong enough to handle the force needed to set a snap really firmly. Simply used some 1"x1/8" aluminum bar stock I had laying around.

Nice job! Was the original handle not strong enough or not long enough to set the snap? Could you have simply stuck a piece of galvanized pipe over the handle to increase the leverage?

[JoelR]

If you look closely at the first picture you can see that the original handle is bent. That was the result of trying to set one of the Tandy snaps which are harder than say a DOT snap post. For this setter to work, it really needs to be mounted to a bench to be able to apply enough pressure to the ram. Once I have the disposible funds I plan on making something similar using one of the Harbor Freight 1 ton arbor presses but as this setter gets little use (it's honestly easier to grab the maul, setter ram and anvil and just hammer away) it's hard for me to justify the additional cost. Maybe if I set a lot of rivets and similar it would be worthwhile to create a multi-use ram. It does serve a purpose in those situations where you just don't have the clearance to swing a maul - i.e. I used it to add snaps for reinforcement bars to my motorcycle saddle bags to keep the outer rim from colapsing.