I bought an arbor press - at last.

[Lil Doodler]

I went the way of buying a Harbor Freight 1/2 ton press. I found that the 1/2" square ram is reversible, you can turn the ram upside down and it will work just fine. I went the way of drilling holes in the ram. 1/4" on one end, 3/8" on the other end. I drilled and tapped for a small set screw with a hex/allen to tighten the tool on each end. Because the 1/2 ton press doesn't have a lot of clearance, I shortened the set screws so that they would be beneath the front of the ram so you could have a bit/tool still tightened up while the ram is up in the gear area.

I also removed the locking ring holding the toothed shaft that rotates. It makes it easier to remove the ram and more importantly to me, lets me pull the shaft out quickly, move the ram to the approximate height I want it, then reinsert the shaft. I figure if I need a little more pressure, I could put a piece of longer pipe over the lever and get get more leverage.

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Lil Doodler

[Lil Doodler]

The round anvil that came with the press was thick, so there wasn't as much clearance as I wanted.  I made this little table out of cutting board material. I added some wood below to support the cutting board material and put in a little dowel rod that fit in the anvil's center hole to hold it in place.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Lil Doodler

[Lil Doodler]

The guide is for a sewing machine. I drilled a hole for the screw and the screw self-tapped into the softish material.

Cutting the side of the arm for the guide might cause a little loss of strength, but there's lots of other material in the arm and on the other side. I don't think there's been very much loss of strength in the arm.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Lil Doodler

[Lil Doodler]

I use a piece of steel over the top if using a rivet setting tool or for snaps.

I use stamps in the arbor press too.

With the pressure of the press, there's no need to case the leather first.

For the smallest diameter stamps, I put a vinyl tubing as a sleeve over the stamp, then tighten in the ram.

 

For big 3D stamps and letters, used a lathe to reduce the diameter of the holder so it fit

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Lil Doodler

[Lil Doodler]

I also cut short the handles of a 1 1/2" and 1" oblong punches to use in the press. After cutting them, I drilled and inserted a 1/4" shaft to be held in the ram. No more hammering! Because the bag cutters do leave a mark in the bottom support, I use a scrap piece of cutting board or a piece of pine as a backstop.

 

Because I have very limited space, I mounted the 1/2 ton arbor press on the backside of my Artisan Toro-4000 sewing machine.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Lil Doodler

[dikman]

Nice solutions. Using the sewing machine guide is neat and a good idea with the slot cutters, might have to pinch that one.

[Lil Doodler]

Thanks dikman,

Good to share ideas, learn from each other

[Spyros]

It seems to me for all those things you can find an old drill press and just mount stuff in the chuck.  Drill presses have a huge throat opening, you can press a stud right in the middle of a finished bag.  

[RockyAussie]

2 hours ago, Lil Doodler said:

I also cut short the handles of a 1 1/2" and 1" oblong punches to use in the press. After cutting them, I drilled and inserted a 1/4" shaft to be held in the ram. No more hammering! Because the bag cutters do leave a mark in the bottom support, I use a scrap piece of cutting board or a piece of pine as a backstop.

 

Because I have very limited space, I mounted the 1/2 ton arbor press on the backside of my Artisan Toro-4000 sewing machine.

Great thinking there @Lil Doodler and thank you for sharing it as well. Getting a crew punch to come down even let alone in the right direction is challenging and having a fence to line up to as well ........

 

[Lil Doodler]

Spyros,

That sounds like a good idea if it works. For an eyelet or rivet it might work very well.

But have you seen the teeth on a drill press quill, or the spines on the shaft that rotates to pull the quill down? For the inexpensive drill presses anyway, they are quite shallow and light duty compared to an arbor press. If they should break under stress, it might be very difficult to find cheap replacement parts

Might I suggest another way, without a hammer or a press, much cheaper to set / press eyelets or rivets?

This is off subject a bit for this thread . . .

I have used a deep throat "C" or "U" clamp very successfully. Use the inclined plane of the screw to tighten/close exactly the eyelet or rivet where you want. Of course it's not as fast as using a hammer

Of course you would have to adapt the closing ends of the clamp for what you wanted to squeeze together.

Here is a picture of a modified deep throat C clamp I use for rivets

Edited August 15, 2020 by Lil Doodler