Couldn't Afford A Press For Molding....so I Made One For Under $50.00

[shooter55]

Sometimes you have to get creative when you want something, but just can't afford it. I was really wanting a press to mold holster before finish boning, and decided to do a little investigation about what they used prior to hydraulics. As a kid, I worked at a cider mill (0.05 / hour...before child labor laws- I was only 10) and remembered that the cider press does basically the same thing as any other press. Tried to find cider or grape presses, but those were too pricey too. Heres what I did. Went to Lowes and bought the following:

2- 15" x 1" round seat tops (said ready to stain, but doesn't really matter) = $12.00

2- 5/8" threaded rod (bought the 2' but could have done with 1') = $5.00

6-5/8"x11 nuts = $1.44

6-5/8" fender washers = $1.26

2- 1"x15" round closed cell foam =$20.00 Actually have an extra.

2-1'x 6"x15" Red Oak (have some laying around = $0.00

Same principal as an arbor press, just manual. I placed the oak planks cross-grain of the seat tops to strengthen when bolting down. Looks like it will work in theory, but will have to prove it out.

Definitely not for high volume.......

What do you think??

Edited March 22, 2013 by shooter55

[Bigfoot]

Looks great to me, there's something special about using tools that you created yourself to produce your work...i've never used it but it looks like it would be deal for Kydex sheaths etc too?

[TwinOaks]

Excellent DIY!

The only thing I can see as an issue is the firmness of the foam. Actual presses use 40 durometer rubber, which I think, iss quite a bit firmer than the rubber....meaningr more pressure is required, but will also squueeze the leather better. Give it a try and let us know how it works.

[billymac814]

I'd agree with the previous poster, that foam will likely be too soft to be effective. I use a 40 durometer gun rubber in my press and that works well. It was expensive though and about the same cost as the shop press I used. It would probably work well for kydex though as that uses a lot softer foam, as long as it'll hold up to the heat anyway. It might be too slow for kydex though as the kydex would probably cool down before you got it tightened.

I use a press to save time really, I can do it by hand just the same and end up with the same results but it takes a few minutes longer. You might not save much time with that setup. I think if you could mount a cross member using your all thread and have a center threaded rod that came down the center with pretty coarse threads so you only had to tighten one and it tightened quickly it may work faster for you.

Otherwise it looks very good. You can get the Gum rubber from McMaster Carr. I use 1" on top and bottom.

[shooter55]

I'd agree with the previous poster, that foam will likely be too soft to be effective. I use a 40 durometer gun rubber in my press and that works well. It was expensive though and about the same cost as the shop press I used. It would probably work well for kydex though as that uses a lot softer foam, as long as it'll hold up to the heat anyway. It might be too slow for kydex though as the kydex would probably cool down before you got it tightened.

I use a press to save time really, I can do it by hand just the same and end up with the same results but it takes a few minutes longer. You might not save much time with that setup. I think if you could mount a cross member using your all thread and have a center threaded rod that came down the center with pretty coarse threads so you only had to tighten one and it tightened quickly it may work faster for you.

Otherwise it looks very good. You can get the Gum rubber from McMaster Carr. I use 1" on top and bottom.

billymac814,

Already anticipated the time it would take to wrench down those nuts and modified this before I try it. I placed 2 - 2x4 cross-members above and used fender washers and nuts to secure at approximately 8" above the top plate. I had a 3 ton bottle jack in my wood shop that I will place between the cross brace and the top lplate. Did a dry run and it seemed to work well. I'll post some pictures after I actually do one and show the results and the modified "press" Thanks for the input.

[billymac814]

That sounds like it would make it just about perfect. You may find you need to upgrade the rubber but you can always add that at a later time.

[Tree Reaper]

I find the 40 durometer too hard unless you have a dummy blank.

If you mold a jack knife with 40 at 1 1/2 - 2 tons the rubber will not reach the bottom of the knife and if you go beyond that with the pressure you could easily crack the knife handle.

[billymac814]

I primarily use blue guns but I use real ones as well and never broke anything using the 40 durometer rubber, I have no way to measure pressure but I'm sure I'm using more than 2 tons. For really deep items ill layer a softer foam on top of the harder rubber so it goes down over the item farther.

It is too hard for kydex though, I've tried it and it doesn't work well. I bought some stuff from knifekits.com for that but it wouldn't work well on leather I don't think.

[shooter55]

Have since revised my original idea and will utilize the bottle jack for the compression. Also below is a little time saver I made for belt burnishing. 2 pieces of plexi (from my wifes craft stash....don't tell her.....) bolted together with 2 8-10 oz. pieces of scrap between for a channel to run my belts through on my burnisher. Lay the belt in the slot with firm pressure and either pull of push. It stabilizes so there is no bending and you don't have to get your fingers close to the burnisher.

Edited March 26, 2013 by shooter55