slouis

I just bought the fly press today. The screw was in good condition. The only missing part is the key to lock the wheel but its not a problem to make a new one.
It was a bit challenging to unload it from the truck by hand as it weigh around 500 lbs and I was only with my father. Now it sits in my shop on its original base
and only need new tooling. Can't wait to work with it.

I have a question for you guys. Do I need to bolt the base on the concrete floor or with the weight it'll be okay? There are holes for this in the legs but wanted to be sure if I really need to bolt them down before. I'm scared to try the press without bolting it. I don't want to receive the ball on my head if the whole press swings...

My Flypress weighs about 300kgs and I built a large table weighing about 200kgs for it- when you start "really" using one of these tools you find that the rotational forces are tremendous. My set up is secured with four M12 (1/2 inch) bolts through plates welded to the feet entering drop in wedge anchors.

Drop in wedge anchors are stronger that normal loxins or dynabolts. You drill a 16mm hole into the concrete, blow out the dust with a lenghth of tube, drop in the anchor and hit it hard with a punch to create the wedge. If you ever see a core driller with his rig bolted to a concrete wall drilling a 150mm diameter hole - that is how he is holding the unit on the wall.

Users of flypresses soon need a separate cabinet to contain all the tooling you need to get the maximum out of the machine.

regards

Steve

If you want to get up and running quickly then contact a local ornamental blacksmith and get him to make a set of jigs for you. In my opinion the commercial sets of jigs such as from

G'day all,
So, it occurs to me to ask this question as I've not found a good solution to both preserve coke/coal and "quickly" get my fire put out for the night so I'm sure there won't be a problem.

I have to return my forge inside each night in case of rain and such....

Starting a forge fire is easy now, thanks everyone, but how do you put your fire out at the end of the day?

I'm like you in that I cannot afford to lock up with a hot forge inside. I pull the fire apart like others have suggested and if it is not dead cold ( test with hand above coals) before I flip the main electrical disconnect switch to the whole workshop, I scoop up the embers into a steel bucket and leave it outside.

Before final exit from shop I do this check 1.Fire cold 2.Gas to 2nd forge off 3. Gas to all other bottles, 3 of them - oxy, acetylene, argon- off 4.mains elect off.

best wishes

Steve

JWB: Another, less traumatic, solution might be these:

https://www.confast.com/products/machinescrew-anchor.asp

That way, if you have to move your machine, just unbolt it and put bolts in the imbedded nuts to keep them covered from debris.

I haven't done this yet, but didn't realize it was an option until recently. Until now I've been putting in concrete anchor bolts, but this is probably my next light machine mounting solution.

This is what I have done to secure my bender to the middle of my shop floor. Here in Oz these things are called wedge anchors and the ones I use are made by ramset
They are 50mm long, reqire a 16mm dia hole and you insert a m12 bolt into it after you have driven the wedge home with a punch. Core drillers use exactly the same anchor to mount their rig on the side of a wall to drill holes up to 200mm Dia through reinforced concrete. Larger than 200mm dia we use two anchors or go the next size up. I have used four to mount my bender to the floor and when I need to remove it I put rag or paper in the hole.

As this is my first post, just want to say this forum is a great resource.

Steve in Oz