Arbor Press

Famco, Grenard, Balieigh and Dake are all nice but for general shop use, a simple Import will work just fine.
Ratcheting USA are very expensive unless you come upon a deal. JET and Dayton work OK, you need a cheater bar
for some press work. Readily available and not as expensive as USA vintage.
 
I looked for an arbor press for my home (retirement) shop; I had a large ratcheting arbor press in my working shop and was spoiled! I finally found one locally at an estate sale, a 3 ton Famco with floor stand; it is not ratcheting, but I like it mostly for its height of throat, about 12", high enough for most key broaches; I had to pay several hundred dollars for it, but it is worth it; they are not plentiful.
 
DDdickey, keep looking. Took me almost 6 months. On CL click on the search nearby feature. Then select all the surrounding areas. As far as you are willing to drive. Really increases the number of potential opportunities.
Imports just as good? Please show me one with even close to the same amount of steel, thickness of the casting, etc. Mass and rigidity is necessary. I seriously doubt any of the imports I've seen will be around and still working decades later. Even the new Dakes are scrawny compared to the vintage ones. I know my Famco will belong to my grandkids one day.
Ratcheting feature is nice. The 3 ton we had at the community college was a ratcheting model. But as already mentioned.. you can modify a non-ratcheting model to easily reposition the handle by milling 2-3 bottom teeth off the ram. Works just fine.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at a nice vintage Greenerd. Never used one, but they look good in pictures. Seems most had round rams. Not sure how well it would work when broaching.

A hydraulic H press has its uses. I have a US made 55 ton press. But as previously mentioned SLOW! I rarely use it. Sits against the wall gathering dust with other more used equipment in front of it.
 
I had a round ram arbor press, and it was no problem to use it for broaching; the ram has plenty of bearing in the housing so that it does not tend to move around when broaching.
 
About a year ago I got an arbor press to do a few things now and then. Pressing a few pem nuts, bearings and so on. Because I wasn't going to use this tool often and because I have a hydraulic press, I went with a cheaper, non-ratchet one from Grizzly. I got a 2 ton "No 2" press. Not too expensive. It has worked well and I can just pull it out to the bench when needed as it is not god-awful heavy. The handle does seem to always be in the wrong position but I just use riser blocks under what I'm pressing to fix that problem. I'm sure there are better ones out there but for me, this one works.
 
Wow just did a search. Dake 3 T $1k new! I had no idea!
 
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