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I’ve started this thread to document the restoration of a small bench top fly press I recently acquired via the usual on-line auction site. The press was advertised as a “Barn find project” and “rusty and not moving” which turned out to be a fair and accurate description. I’ve wanted a small fly press for a while and always enjoy the challenge of bringing an old tool or machine back to life (to use, not for show) The final price at the end of the auction was GBP£24, about US$ 31. I guess I spent a similar amount on fuel to collect it and a 5 hour round trip in the car. (Broke the journey in the middle with a quick trip to Iron Dwarf’s forge to pick up some coke and a quick chat with the dwarf and the copper elf, always a pleasure.) The first challenge was to remove the four rusted in bolts holding the ram guide in place. I wanted to remove these before attempting to free of the main screw just in case the ram was rusted to the guide. I don’t claim to have a lot of restoration experience but have learned the hard way that impatience when working on old stuff is a very, very bad thing that always results in broken bolts or blood loss somewhere along the way. With that in mind after a cursory wire brushing to remove surface crud all relevant parts were liberally dosed in Plus-Gas (my preferred penetrating fluid) and left overnight. Finding a spanner (wrench) to fit the bolt heads took a while, the UK went metric a long time ago but fortunately I have some imperial sized tools and an old BSA motorcycle spanner fitted perfectly and with a little persuasion with a soft faced hammer they were free. Luckily the ram was not rusted to the guide. At first I couldn’t see what holds the ram onto the screw but after a little cleanup I could see a couple of dovetail pieces on the ram, one on each side. After some thought I decided to leave well alone (KISS and “if it aint broke......” Moving on to the next challenge, there was something stuck in the tool hole at the end of the ram but fortunately it was threaded. after some time rummaging through my collection of non-metric fasteners I found a nut to fit: I filled the retaining screw hole with more Plus Gas and left it overnight then rigged up a small extractor using large washers (including a recessed one from an old angle grinder) and the nut found earlier. By steadily adding washers and/or shims made from broken hacksaw blades it came free without the use of heat or brute force. The piece removed: It is 5/8" in diameter and as can be seen there was no shoulder on it......in future nothing will be allowed into the tool hole without a shoulder! Next task was to free up the screw. As I have no handle for the press I found a wrench large enough to engage with the nut on top of the press and used it with a soft faced hammer to wind the screw inwards by a fraction of a turn. After quickly making up some soft jaws for the bench vice I inverted the whole press, (glad it wasn't a Norton #6!!) clamped up the octagonal handle spigot in the vice and turned the whole press to free off the screw......that was easy! The next job (not started yet) will be to make a handle. I'm not sure of the best way to do it yet. The handle fits onto a tapered octagonal spigot. Width across the flats at the bottom is 1 1/8", tapering to 1" at the top. The spigot is approximately 1 3/4" high. I guess I will need to make a tapered octagonal drift then slit and drift the hole on my handle stock. I'm not sure if I should drift a tapered circular hole first or go straight to octagonal? Also as it's a single use thing I am wondering if I should harden the drift? Any thoughts or advice very welcome please. That's it for now.... I've a couple of questions about this press; at the rear of the frame there is a tapped hole about 3/8" diameter and 1 1/4" deep. (So it doesn't penetrate right through the frame) Below that is a slit that does go all the way through the frame. I'm wondering what they are for.....possibly for mounting some kind of stripper? Any thoughts or ideas are welcome! Tonight I'll look through my bar stock and old bolt collection and start planning to make a few basic press tools. I'll also start making a very substantial bench for the press to sit on.

I would like opinions for those who have used flypresses for general forging work what sizes they prefered and why. Are you all happy with your press? If not, what size would you prefer? Thanks Josh

Hey I have been looking at some shop presses recently and was wondering, is ther any reasons why i couldnt use a press from harbor freight like the one in the link? https://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-air-hydraulic-shop-press-with-oil-filter-crusher-65330.html

Hi. I am building a forge welding press to make damascus billets for knife making. I have most of the parts I need and I got them from classifieds so they are second hand. The cylinder I have is not the biggest thing int he world with a 15cm stroke and a 50mm bore. I wanted to make it press around 15 ton at 3cm per second, but this simply is not possible with the motor I have (single phase, I would need around 700 bar and the pump I would need for that will basically kill the motor). I have estimated that I could get a max of 4.5 ton at the 3cm per second speed and that is pushing the limits. Would 4.5 ton be enough or am I seriously wasting my time? Will it draw the steel out too slowly after welding basically...

Here are a few of the fly presses from my collection. I have an interest in preserving these great old machines. Many I have literally rescued from certain death in the smelter. All are Australian manufactured machines. I restore them by: Completely dismantling Stripping paint and grease from parts Regrinding damaged sliding surfaces zinc priming all parts to be painted. refinishing parts assembling and adjusting press I am looking at techniques of restoring well-worn presses by the addition of silicone bronze to replace metal that has been lost through wear. I am also fabricating custom made stands for some of the machines that don't have them.

Well, here is update. I did not change anything since I last posted here and have used this hard. Probably made 20 billets. The fears of the railroad track bending at the neck are unfounded. There were many here that felt this would fail. Thought people would appreciate update. This is a small 15 layer billet I started today and worked through 4 heats.

hello everyone, i am only a beginner in blacksmithing and a thin person as well which is kind of an issue if you wanna do a heavy work like blacksmithing, because of this I've been looking lately of ways to acquire a power hammer which will help a lot with the forging of heavy metals. i am ok with forging metals up to 16 mm thickness but beyond that becomes too much and i get too tired. I've been looking for ways of building one from schematics since my father is able to help me because he is a mechanical engineer and we thought of taking a woodworkers band saw machine and modify it to become a power hammer, but these plans are all into ideas now. while searching for ideas we've found a Raskin press machine which works kind of like a power hammer with 15 ton pressure output and we've been wondering if it could run as a power hammer if the tooling is changed. the owner used it to punch holes into 3mm metals. it has the capability of continues hitting or a single hit. i do not have a video and the pictures are not that good because the man was kind of in a hurry but can you take a look and tell me what you think? thanks in advance. the specs are: RASKIN type 14 TINC 14TONS PRESSURE DATE: 09/06/52 Belgium

Ok so i work in a sheet metal fabrication shop with most of the regular goodies. But recently I've had some light blacksmithing projects for customers. I'm by no means a blacksmith but i'm learning. To cut to the chase I have a 160 ton dual cylinder press brake. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/38184-press1/ And i've been using one side as a forging press. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/38185-press2/ Being a dual cylinder press that is 12' long, am I doing damage somehow to the brake by only using one side? It seems to be fine so far, but is stressing one side of it a bad idea? It works great by the way. It will squash a 6" long 1''x1'' bar easily down to 2 inches and it really doesn't seem to notice it's there. Thanks, Adam.

I am making my 33 ton log splitter double as a press for doing pattern welding only. Using the railroad rails shown below. I have them each cut into 6" pieces. My question for more experienced is should I alter the working surface of the dies or leave as they are....I will only use for making billets. I wasn't sure if I should grind them to be flatter or leave with the slight rounding on one side as can be seen.

We just had two oaks cut down. Now working on the firewood. I got the hydraulic splitter out and suddenly it occured to me that it could be a powerful press. Not a power hammer but certainly a 21 ton press! Could be used with certain tooling as a powerful blacksmith tool? Ehh? I am sure I am not the first to think of it but this is the first I have heard of it. Anyone else? Better think safety first but the potential seems there.

Hi guys and I'm sure a few Lady's, I am at the very BEGINNING, of the process, of building a Hydraulic Forging Press. As with most everyone money is tight, because of that, and the realization that I do enjoy and get satisfaction out of building my own equipment, I decided to build my own Hydraulic Forging Press. I have decided on the vertical set-up, using an I beam as the foundation, the cylinder is attached to the top of it with the clevis pins, then there is a shorter I beam that is welded directly in front of the main beam, where the bottom dies are attached. I'm not sure if anyone has seen this type of configuration for a forging press, the problems I'm having are which parts should be purchased first, I'm a bit apprehensive about buying any certain part and then getting cornered into having to use specific parts that I may not want, or find a great deal on another part and find that the 2 aren't compatible. I'm starting to think I may be over thinking this, or worrying too much about losing a few dollars. I do understand that i will have to spend some money to build this, I am not niave to the fact that this stuff is not cheap, but I also know that with a little bit of determination, armed with knowledge and a little help from anyone I can get it from can go a long ways to keep what little money I do have and still be able to build a quality machine. So I'll ask my question like this. Are there parts that are more important to buy first? What experiences have any of you guys had with cylinder strength? The formula I found uses the bore and rod sizes, it's actually a calculator I found on Surplus Center's website. So far, what I understand is that the rod size needs to be a minimum of 2 inches (in order to get the amount of strength I want), I am trying to save up for a cylinder that has, at the least a 4 inch bore, 5 would be much better, but I haven't found any with a 5in bore that were affordable. I don't have all of my notes with me, but I have a fair understanding of what I want to do and I hope that maybe someone here might be able to shed a little more light on this subject. I do want it to have around 20 tons of mashing power. I would settle for a little less, like somewhere between 15 and 18 tons, but I don't want to go any less. I have found the cylinder for this, which would cost less than $200 at Surplus Center, I can't remember if it is a 2500 psi or 3000psi, which brings up another question, which one is best? 2500 or 3000? And, If I have a 3000psi pump and get a 2500 psi cylinder, will that work together? Here's another question I was wondering about, do ALL the parts have to be rated or "related" (to or) for each other? I'm not sure if I'm asking that question the right way. I've seen so many parts, and pieces that go to this build, 1 being the valve. I have heard that a regular Log Splitter valve will work, but I don't know what the correct terminology is, for that type of valve. I would like to be able to have all the correct names/terminology so that I can shop for the items I need, again to be able to save money. I know I will have to spend money to build this thing, and I don't have unrealistic expectations, I just want to find the best, most economical way to do it, and when I get done, I plan on having a list of all the parts and where to get them, where I found the best deals, where maybe someone else can benefit from what I learned and be able to build one as well, Thanks for any and all help I can get from you guys, I appreciate the fact that so many of you will stop what you're doing in your busy day to help out us Newbs, to the world of HOT STEEL! Thanks Again, Rex

i was wondering if it is possible to build a powerhammer(preferably not very huge, i dont have the room) or a hydraulic press for under 200 dollars, and if so where to possibly get the plans, or where a tutorial is. much appreciated if you could help, been wantin to make some damascus, il post a pic of the ones i was thinking of (size comparason)

I finaly got to taking my old screw press apart for cleaning and retooling.(awesome tool adapter from msmw.com -Thanks Jim ) It was covered with hundred year old goop. My question is what are your sugestions for best lube to use on screw. Thanks