Arbor Press, how big a press is needed for...

WobblyHand

WobblyHand

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I have a little project for which having an arbor press would be useful. I need to press in some steel pins into aluminum. 1/4" pins into 0.001" undersized holes. From what I understand, bigger is always better (at least here on HM) but I also understand that arbor presses often end up taking valuable space and end up being a pain to tuck away. I have a small and cramped shop as it is. I could foresee pressing up to 1/2" pins. Don't own broaches at this point. This is not a paying job, so I can't write it off or otherwise amortize it. I am retired, but too young to get my (full) SS just yet, so I am living off savings, which is a real life style crimp... We get by, but I do have to watch the burn rate.

With that in mind, how should I size the arbor press? I have no idea what is needed. 1T, 2T, 3T? Cost is a constraint right now, can't ever see buying a nice Dake 3 Ton with ratcheting handle, not at retail prices. For that matter, it would be hard for me to even lift it! Locally not much has come up, as far as listings. I see a lot of altered, missing pieces and screwed up arbors, but nothing approaching a clean specimen at prices I'd be willing to pay. As for how much I'd pay, don't really know, I'd pay more to get more value.

A 1 Ton is available at HF, so that represents the bottom end. I'd have to travel to get it, as my local HF doesn't have it in stock. And, well, it is HF, so it can be a crap shoot. They claim the mechanical advantage is 20:1, so to get 1T of pressure, I'd have to apply 100 lbs of force on the dinky lever. Seems like that would be hard to use. But I have no idea how much force is needed to press in a pin, so I don't even know how to size the tonnage required. Can someone help me understand what is needed?
 
For what you want to do, you can just make a clamping plate using bolts, and use the bolts to clamp down. I broke a vise (USA made) once over doing it. So I don't recommend that. A vise is not a press. If you are doing light duty stuff, your drill press will work. I would not use my mill...
 
I may " possibly" be getting 2 and 3 ton presses in the near future if things go right . A 3 ton would be great if you could get one . No issues with broaching .
 
mmcmdl said:
I may " possibly" be getting 2 and 3 ton presses in the near future if things go right . A 3 ton would be great if you could get one . No issues with broaching .
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Well hurry up and get one :). Ratcheting is better :). Only problem with a 3T is the space it takes up while not in use. I'd love a decent ratcheting 3T. Beats me where I would put it though, but somehow motivation usually wins out.

Really don't have an idea what forces are required for my relatively modest needs. Likely a 3T would have no problem. Totally unknown to me if a 1T or 2T would work.
 
The current HF 1 ton arbor press is OK. I would have preferred a vintage press, but none were showing up for a reasonable price when I needed one. I've got no complaints, it was fairly inexpensive and does the job for me. I understand it is much better than the old press that they sold.

The size difference between a 1 ton and 3 ton is quite large.
 
woodchucker said:
For what you want to do, you can just make a clamping plate using bolts, and use the bolts to clamp down. I broke a vise (USA made) once over doing it. So I don't recommend that. A vise is not a press. If you are doing light duty stuff, your drill press will work. I would not use my mill...
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Definitely not using a bench vise! BTDT. Broke the cast iron nut. Nut was NA. Tossed the vise. Tough lesson.

That lesson came about from an attempt pressing an 8mm pin into some cast iron. Finally went to a machine shop and the guy pressed it in without any problem. Of course, it might have been due to the fact he had a really big arbor press there. The press itself was about 7 feet high. The lever was even longer. Guy was nice to me, and pressed that pin for free.

I have no feeling for what forces are required to make the press fit. Therefore don't know how to size the arbor press.

Won't use my mill as a press. My drill press is a POS, so not much help there. I do have a surplus milling vise with excess jaw lift, I could try. A PM vise that I ordered with my mill. Couldn't quite correct the lift, even after machining the nut. Moved on an got a Kurt. The Kurt is much nicer, and WILL NOT use it as a press.
 
Aaron_W said:
The current HF 1 ton arbor press is OK. I would have preferred a vintage press, but none were showing up for a reasonable price when I needed one. I've got no complaints, it was fairly inexpensive and does the job for me. I understand it is much better than the old press that they sold.

The size difference between a 1 ton and 3 ton is quite large.
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Good to know. HF doesn't carry a 2T anymore, only a 1T. Have no idea if it is capable enough for the job. Personally, I find it difficult to apply 100 lbs of force on a short handle. When I was younger, maybe. You are right, a 3T is pretty darn big and usually very heavy.

I'd like to get a press that is capable of pressing 1/2" pins, but would be ok with 3/8"/8mm pin pressing. Would be nice to be able to try before considering a buy on the 1T press, maybe it is good enough.
 
For what it's worth, I just did a quick check on facebook marketplace for Greenerd Arbor Press (I had been looking at a nice ratcheting version a guy in NJ was selling but decided I don't need one. It's not listed anymore so he must have sold) and while that particular brand doesn't have a lot for sale there at the moment, there are a handful of 1 to 3 ton (and one 40 ton Greenerd!) available. Filtering by "ships to you" to save you on travel scales the options back quite a bit but there are still a handful of nice looking name brand presses out there in case you don't decide to settle on the HF model. I like HF for a lot of different things but don't have any experience with their arbor press. They have committed to improving their quality it seems over the past several years and I have a lot of their hand tools that are beautifully produced (in Taiwan, not china) and have stood up to everything I've used them for in my shop. I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea and that's cool, but they've been great for me. That said, I do love longstanding, tried and true brands as well and buy those when I need. Good luck with your decision!
 
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