Advice on finding tools for my fly press

[Cuthbert Dibble-Grub]

I just bought a 2 ton fly press on ebay, but it has neither tool holder nor tools. Finding tools is complicated by the fact that the manufacturer's name has been ground off the body of the press. I've looked at dozens of pictures of fly presses on Google images but I've not been able to identify it yet. Does anybody recognise it?

The more affordable tools on ebay seem to have 1/2 inch dia. shanks, so I guess I'll be needing a tool holder with a 1/2 inch hole. I don't know what size thread I'll need to screw the tool holder into the ram. I can just fit a 17mm rod into the thread in the ram, so I'm wondering what the thread size is. Is there a standard thread that fly press tool holders typically use? Any suggestions for where I can get such a tool holder?

 

[Wildman]

they are all different, why not make tools as you need them. Don't expect miracles it is quite a small press as they go.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Flypress tooling tends to be bespoke, but you may get lucky if you keep an eye on Ebay. One company that did make bolsters for flypresses was Hunton, so a bit of googling for 'Hunton bolster' might yield something. There's also this small firm - http://www.usedflypress.com/used-fly-press-tooling.html - but don't expect any bargains!

 

[Cuthbert Dibble-Grub]

I found Wildman's suggestion to make my own tools a bit daunting, assuming they must be made of hardened steel. But then I watched a very helpful video on You Tube by garyhuston called "Flypress & some of it's uses". I'd post a link but my account is not allowed to do that yet. Gary demonstrates tools that he's made and it's given me the courage to have a go.

Bill from usedflypress gave me a quick reply. He said that some of the very old ones do have screwed bores. For those they remove the ram and mill a 1 inch diameter hole which is the standard for flypresses. They also drill and tap at 90° to screw a bolt in to hold the top tool holder in position. A local machine shop has agreed to do that work for £20.

I also appreciate the warning not to expect miracles from such a small press. Initially I'll just be using it to put consistent bends into fairly thin washers so that should work fine.

Thanks for all the quick and helpful answers!

 

[t8hants]

For bending washers you can make your own tooling.
I made bending tooling for our little flypress and on it I made component sets for 2500 vans for a well known vehicle rescue company.
My bending tool comprised of a piece of square stock set on the diagonal pressing into two pieces of angle to make the "V".
Punch tools are best bought in but bending can be home made.
Play with it, experiment and learn what it can and can't do - I very much doubt if you will break it.
If the home made tool wears or won't perform, make another till it does.

 

[adidat]

did it come with its arm? and was it neutered? :lol: :lol:

got this 4 ton one for £100 bit of a bargain if you ask me! sorry for the drive by gloat!



stuff like this warms my heart!!

adidat

 

[Cuthbert Dibble-Grub]

Nice press! No need to apologize for sharing something you're proud of. Yes, mine does have an arm, but no balls. I painted the garage door red at the weekend so I used the dregs to give the arm a shiny new red coat. You can see from the photo the ram with the old screw thread bored out to 1", and the lock bolt added. The firm that did it even threw in a bit of 1" bar to get me started on making my own tools.

I'm wondering if I could make weights by filling plastic balls with concrete. Do you think that would work? Or would the constant jarring make the concrete crumble?

 

[adidat]

I doubt concrete would have the mass. I recon my balls weigh about 10 kg each :lol: :lol:

I think I would try making some out lead, you could probably get away with making a simple mould out of wood, to get the spike you could just plain down a square bit of oak to match the the shape of the the spike already there, and then make a plywood box around it, you would probably need to make 2 moulds as they would only last for one pour, whilst the wood will scorch pretty bad it should just hold up, or maybe even make a ply box around the spike you have and pour on them, look for any companies re doing roofs for some old lead flashing or try you local scrap dealers. depending on your skill level you may be able to stack up ply rings to get a rounded finish.

its easy enough to melt down just make sure your wearing a breathing mask with lots of ventilation!

adidat

 

[Cuthbert Dibble-Grub]

OK, I was daunted by the thought of making my own tools. Pouring molten lead sounds even more out of my league!

I've consulted the Omniscient Google and steel is roughly 330% more dense than concrete. Ignoring the hole for the spike for the moment and just considering solid spheres, if a concrete sphere has a radius 50% bigger than a steel sphere then it has 338% more volume and therefore roughly the same weight.

www.usedflypress.com sell 4" steel balls for £75 and 6" for £100. Assuming my 2 ton press needs 4" balls I'd need to make 6" concrete balls to get the same weight. I can buy two hollow steel spheres (diameter 150mm, 2.5mm thick) from www.fhbrundle.co.uk for £35. Add a fiver for the concrete and plate steel to weld a tapered square hole for the spike to go through and I'd have two concrete-filled steel balls for £40 instead of paying £150 for two 4" solid steel balls.

Better make the tools I want first though. The press may do the light bending I need without any extra weight!

 

[bourbon]

we use a larger fly press at work without any balls on (they got lost years ago. I've been there 32 years and don't remember them on) Just swing the arm a bit harder

 

[t8hants]

The firm F H Brundle do steel balls up to 200mm diameter, so you can always replace them.

(no connection with the company)

 

[Hitch]

Very versatile bits of kit. Sold mine on Ebay, good condition with cast stand and one ball for £40
Cant add much more to whats been said.

Sounds like you just need a bit of decent plate on the bottom, a couple of smaller bits of plate to space the sides of the washer off the bottom, and a bit of round bar welded into T shape to form a top tool.

For small numbers where repeatability isnt required, even a few lumps of hardwood can come in handy.

DC Iron sell 6" solid spheres for under £20.... http://www.dciron.co.uk/sp150/
Just need to get you machine shop to drill a suitable sized hole in them if you havnt got the facility.

 

[Jamesc]

Why not use weight lifting weights, my local tip always has a stack of them which can be had for a pound or so. They already have a hole through the middle and the smaller ones would be about the right size. Stack up a few to get the required weight.

James

 

[Jelly]

I'm stalled with making my own press tooling at the moment as I need to make an endmill holder, to hold an endmill to make the punch.* It's actually pretty simple to make punch tooling with an open die once you get your head round it, and accept heat treating die steel is a definite send out job. Closed dies require a much more accurate machining and broaches/shaper to produce sharp internal corners.

*(and yes, that is making a tool, to make a tool, to make tools).

Edit:

Bill from usedflypress gave me a quick reply. He said that some of the very old ones do have screwed bores. For those they remove the ram and mill a 1 inch diameter hole which is the standard for flypresses. They also drill and tap at 90° to screw a bolt in to hold the top tool holder in position. A local machine shop has agreed to do that work for £20.

I was faced with that conundrum with my press too, I turned a adaptor which screws in and does much the same job as boring out the hole and adding a set screw. The positive is that I can, should I need to, turn another for another diameter (as I'd quite like to avoid buying thicker stock than I have to when making tooling), or make tooling which mounts into the screw directly. The negative is loosing a few inches of usable throat, which is no biggy for me.