Small fly press?

[dubby]

I can't seem to find what I'm looking for using any of the terms that make sense to me. I have seen a couple small, bench top style arbor presses that use a rotational top mechanism (like a fly press) rather than the shaft on the side.

I set a lot of eyelets, #8-8 specifically, 1/4" hole size. The holes are pre-drilled and then the eyelets pushed in, then pressed with a standard arbor press now using a die-set and a junky bracket thing for alignment. It has a lot of drawbacks but gets the job done for now. Room for improvement to be had for sure. I could work over what I've got, but due to my mobility issues I'd like to change the direction of motion from a downward force of my arm to a sideways one.

I looked over my hand-tapping machine to see if there might be a way to modify that to work as well, but can't really seem to rig it up. Anyone seen anything like I'm looking for?

[Ironman]

I can't find a small punch press of less than 20 tons. Search for flywheel punch press or mechanical punch press.
https://www.kempler.com/inventory/pr...el-punch-press

[Ironman]

I found a little one for $750
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-tool-other/s...ess/1633424962

[digr]

Can you post some pictures of the process is now?

[digr]

$89 press

[mccutter]

Originally Posted by dubby

I could work over what I've got, but due to my mobility issues I'd like to change the direction of motion from a downward force of my arm to a sideways one.

What if you mounted an arbor press on its side?

[Scratch]

I take it you want something like this:
https://www.oldworldanvils.com/fly-presses

[Scotts]

Do you have enough room to put an air cylinder or something in then you could position the parts and have a foot pedal to set the eyelet?

Or is there enough room to use an old sewing machine?

Wild thoughts abound.

Scott

[JBFab]

https://www.mybinding.com/clipsshop-...UaAs61EALw_wcB

[dubby]

Originally Posted by digr

$89 press

This is pretty well what I have now, though I picked mine up used from a garage sale and it is from Harbor Freight. I use their die guide and set (pictured below) for doing the actual work. I modified the ram to hold the upper die centered yet 'floppy' due to a great level of misalignment in the whole system. I glued a rare-earth magnet up in there to lift it into place after each press. That helped a lot just so I didn't have to pretend I had 3 hands. The guide and lower die just sorta float around on the platform, but the C shape of the guide gets in the way when I need to set a one more than 1/2" from the edge of the plastic. I usually end up setting those by hand with an entirely different set of dies and a hammer.

I don't need anything real heavy duty and it needs to stay mechanical so I can feel what's happening. It's really easy to over flare the eyelets and end up with splits in them. They do not come out without a fight and most times one bad press can make me have to start the entire project over. Trying to drill them out causes them to spin in the plastic, prying them out with needle nose or any type of punch leaves gouges and scratches.

Most of the folks who do this shit have no issues with the system. Honestly, it works. It just hurts when I do it. I have to have the press up high enough on a table so that I don't have to bend down to see what I'm doing, but that elevates the press arm into an area that my body doesn't perform like it's supposed to. I've adjusted the arm every direction possible, have tried to re-build it to work differently, and have used all manner of cheaters on it. It's the actual motion combined with the orientation of my arm/shoulders/back muscles that gets me, so I'd hoped by finding a top-wind system some of it could be alleviated. It seems the mechanical advantage of an ACME screw would (hopefully) add the power my back can't provide.