I've been trying to buy a Fly Press through online auctions for about a year now,but never really had enough money to bid successfully,but I kept trying regardless. Well my patience finally paid off, for total price of $61 plus an hours drive to pick it up.It has an 1 3/4 " screw stands about 80cm tall and weighs ?, well my son and I think it weighs more than my 450 pound Peter Wright.It came with a fabricated stand which I'm going to use as a stand for my bench grinder since the press now sits where the bench grinder was. I painted the handle and counterweight and check nut and cleaned the rest up, now to make a clamping plate and tooling.

looks like ya got a good buy! nice flypress ! now you got to make some tooling for it!

Are fies down under big, fat, slow and lazy? If so, you should be able to press them easily.

Yep, we feed our flies well down here, Rusty! Big and fat means the are real slow and when smooshed make a bigger snack for our pet Monitor /Goannas that we all have... and did i mention the fly munching Huntsman spiders we all have as well??

Seriously tho' that is a nice press you have there, Ian, and impressed with the price. I iz currently putting together a heavy stand for my Sweeney, at museum workshop.

I used to drive past A.P. Levers' old building as an apprentice. You can see it on Google maps street view; look up the western most end of Elizabeth Avenue, Mascot. They made many nice things, wheeling machines, guillos, folders and crank presses (no power hammers apparently )- similar to John Heine Co. who seemed to have a bigger range of products.

AndrewOC.

nice score! Sometimes it pays to wait it out... Sure did for you!

Thanks for the comments fellas, as Andrew says, Rusty, we breed our flies big, I had to make fire doors for our 2 fireplaces not to keep sparks contained but to stop flies coming down the chimney and carrying the dogs away . Thanks for that info Andrew, I'll check it out.

Cheers
Ian

Made my first tool today, a veining chisel. I was able to get 1" cold rolled for the shaft, but 1" machine collars haven't come in yet so I made one from 10mm square and used a bit of old wrecking bar for the chisel. I tried it out on some cold 20mm x 10mm mild steel bar and it worked fine. Next comes a new touchmark and some formers for rings

Forgot the photo :unsure:

How did you get your veining chisel to work straight? Last month I made one just like yours for my flypress,including clamped on fence for a guide. I tried to make grooves for a twist in a fireplace poker and the metal(half inch square stock),kept distorting.Maybe I was working metal too hot?? Any ideas?

Hey Eric! In what way was it distorting? First thing that happens after you get mark in the work is that it starts to spread. That tends to push the work away from the fence. Best to use the fence just to cold mark the line, then remove the fence and use the groove for a guide.

Thanks Grant!! I figured that out this afternoon and had good luck free handing with center punch marks scattered along the work. You're right. Fence on one side,nothing on the other means one sided distortion!
The flypress is great,but I wish it had just a little more oomph.Just learning how to use the thing. I'm not usually a "I need a bigger one" sort of guy,but most of my work is small projects and I was hoping to be able to do my drawer pulls completely on the press... Anyway-thanks again. See you at the Conference.

It seems to me you need more whump. Eat more beef.

I wish it had just a little more oomph.

Well, here's the formula: I = O*

* I is input
* O is output

Like I told everyone when my first son was born 11 pound 15 ounces: "You only get out of something what you put into it"!

Thanks for the sarcasm guys!!! So what you're saying is I could get just as much work done with a 30 pound jewelers flypress as I can with a #six?? Get out of here!!
I took physics and understand levers/fulcrums as well as anybody.At any given size machine though there is a limit to how much performance you can get without tearing it apart.Forget the replies-I'll look elsewhere.

We wouldn't kid ya if we didn't like ya Eric! A bigger flypress might help you get more work done. All depends. You can stroke a smaller one faster (I'm sure you know that). A larger one is only "better" when you need to get more done per stroke.

The trade-off is force VS speed.

"limit to how much performance you can get without tearing it apart"
I was quite happy with the result after cleaning the screw on my Sweeney press. As i said in the thread about it, the screw flew down by itself after a thourough cleaning. I 'tore it apart' because this particular press wasn't to difficult and it would be easier to get in the solvent bath.
Next 'efficiency maximiser' to try is the magical 'best fly press modification'; the moving parts on the Sweeney weigh 50 lbs so i'll start with a counter-weight that heavy.
enjoy,
AndrewOC
PS Ian, would you like to come over and make some tooling for the Sweeney?? since yours' looks so good ;)

How did you get your veining chisel to work straight? Last month I made one just like yours for my flypress,including clamped on fence for a guide. I tried to make grooves for a twist in a fireplace poker and the metal(half inch square stock),kept distorting.Maybe I was working metal too hot?? Any ideas?

Eric, I did my test cold and found it very easy to control the stock because I could guide it along. I also tried a hot run and found it not as easy, because I could not hold the stock against the fence (some sort of pusher or guide would help) and the stock tended to curl up. I think careful use of the check nut and not having the stock to hot would help.
Thanks for the compliment Andrew,I think a man of your talents should be able to knock up some tools without any dramas Let me know how you go with the new counterweight, the theory sounds good but I'd hate to hit my head on it :wacko:

"some sort of pusher or guide would help"

What about a couple of springs like on a post vise but in the horizontal plain?

The bending up is due to deformation in the working and not as easy to deal with.

"some sort of pusher or guide would help"

What about a couple of springs like on a post vise but in the horizontal plain?

The bending up is due to deformation in the working and not as easy to deal with.

Champion idea Thomas, I will give that a go.

Cheers Ian

To Minimise distortion in an upward direction, try using a stripper plate type attachment beyond your tool

I groove all 4 side of 1/2 inch square 4 in. long in 1 heat. My chisel is H13 1/8 thick 1 1/4 wide with no
radius on the cutting end except for the corners have a small radius. My guide has a piece of 1/4 in. square
on both sides welded to a plate of steel with about .010 clearance. I think the thickness and the radius of
your tooling is causeing the stock to curve upward Also turn the stock 180 to do the second side then 90
then 180. I set the stop nut to control the depth. I have a small cup with a handle on it filled with water
to cool the tool quickly after 2 sides.

Eric if you want to see the pull go to presses, page 2, Pics I hope, posted Dec 31 2010

Great press! I like the color scheme!