A nice find from a difficult weekend

[dbb-the-bruce]

Dad passed a year and a bit ago, mom is a hoarder. A unattended household maintenance issue made clearing a good portion of the basement an emergency. Sigh.

I found this lovely (after some cleanup) bench top arbor press. It's perfect for small stuff - won't need 3 extra fingers and five hands to use my bench vise as a horizontal arbor press anymore.


Photos are in my shop after clean up.

The funky plate bolted to the base has "T.F Grant 1954" stamped on it. I don't know that's the manufacture or someone who made the bolt on.
It's got a great feel to it and a spring return. I suspect it will see more use than my Greenard No 2.

-Dave

 

[Winegrower]

It looks like it’s set up for a punch and die. That’s nice!

 

[ddillman]

looks like it would be for chain rivet pin removal

 

[matthewsx]

Whatever it was used for in the past it's a nice connection to your father. I lost my dad in 2018 and cherish the tools he left behind for me.

John

 

[C-Bag]

We had a grommet set that kinda looked like that back when I used to work for a leather company.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

We had a grommet set that kinda looked like that back when I used to work for a leather company.

Bingo!

I was wondering just exactly it was originally intended for. Years back, my mom and sister went to an auction of a glove making company in of all places - Gloversville, NY - (imagine that). Surely that's where this came from. Not a dad tool exactly although he may have found a one time use for it.

The mandrel or pin that does the work has skinny pin up to a rounded shoulder, so yeah clearly meant to set grommets.

The max pin diameter / hole is about 3/8" so I can make whatever I need. This will make a great tool for setting and removing small press fit parts.