I was lucky to find a used Adams Fly Press with the stand (#2 or #3 by the size I guess) in great shape.
I was cleaning it up and I had some questions that I was needing wisdom on.

1. How do I get the last owners no shoulder tool holder out of the ram. It is wedged and galled in there even after I removed the set serews.

2. How do I restore the press? Do I even need to? The grease is kind of old, so I thought about removing it all and replacing it.

I Thank you all in advance!

If it were mine I would start by squirting some good penetrating oil in the holes where you removed the set screws then put a big pipe wench on it and see if you can spin and loosen. The next thing I would try is to weld tool to a piece of scrap that you can clamp or wedge down and then try to pull tool out bye working ram back and forth the twist and pull mite get things moving. A last resort would be to remove ram anneal tool and then machine it out. These are just suggestions on how I would do it ,maby some one else has a better idea. Good Luck .

Johns ideas sound good. If you get that far,the set screws are probably 1/2 x12 Whitworth.. Ancient and rare!. I lucked into a couple of taps for that size at a flea market. No kidding. Needed it to clean up the threads on mine. I'd be glad to share with you if you need it. Just use and return it. Eric Sprado

Another thing you can try before welding onto the tool is to loosen it with vibration. After you've soaked it with penetrating oil for a while, use a rotary hammer set on hammer-only mode and put a wood block between the bit and the tool to protect them both.

Thanks everyone for all your help. I could not get any of it to work so I had to remove the ram and pound it out. It was wedged in there 20 thousandths. All good now.

1. Any Idea of the history or age of the press?

2. What do I iol / grease it with?

Another route you can take getting the tool out is cooling it. Think of it as the reverse of heating the outer part (sweating it). If you can get a container around the tool without dipping the holder just put some dry ice in a container with alcohol and immerse the ram in it. After a little while the ram will be about -80f and it should come free with minimal beating.

Of course if I'd read your latest post I'd know you don't need this now. Then again it may be useful some other time.

Frosty The Lucky.

1. Any Idea of the history or age of the press?

Dude, I have an old truck made by dodge and I had to fix the engine. Can YOU tell me the history and age of my truck.

Dude-man we NEED pictures!!

I use MOLYKOTE® G-N METAL ASSEMBLY PASTE on my press its the slickest stuff I have ever used.

Thanks Everyone!
Here are some pictures before I removed the tool.

I have an Adams flypress.
Clean it up good with degreaser and adjust the ways if necessary.
I use plain old red grease on mine.
They are very versatile and with the right dies they can do almost anything.

I'm told that you should use oil, not grease on a fly press as grease will pick up & retain particulates, thus creating an abrasive that will damage the press over time.

I just oil regularly using engine oil. The lubrication system is set up for oil, so that's what I use. (A.P.Lever brand flypress, model 3M. Made in Mascot, Australia. 4" stroke, 1" tool shank.) When I bought the press I had doubts whether I would use it much, but it has proved to be SO handy. The latest job that I did on it was cold-straightening a crowbar. Bear in mind that if the stand is not secured, it will probably want to rotate if you use the press vigorously. I solved this by putting about 600lb of weights (anvil and swage block) under the stand.

Thanks everyone for your help!
I have her painted and up and running.
I plan to post some pictures one I figure out how!

Here is an attempt at a photo of the painted press.

And a few others. Can anyone give me some history on the press or its age?

I can't offer an history but I have a fly press that I have had for about 4 or 5 years and use the heck out of it. I make all my tools by welding them to the head of a 1" bolt that I have cut the threaded portion off of and cut short enough not to upset into the ram. I use 3 wt engine oil on it and it works a treat. You will need to consider how you are going to mount bottom tooling. I put a 3/4 inch thick base plate that bolts onto the bed and it has holes for mounting the tooling and extends past the base to I can clamp straight edges on it for different applications.

That looks really nice.

MOblacksmith: Funny-I do the same thing with one inch bolts. I was at a local recycling place last year and found a bunch of them. SO handy to have some all shortened up and be able to make a new tool in only a few minutes.

Thanks everyone, I do the same theing with the 1" bolts. I have a ton of tools made so far and I have made a table with adjustable fence that I can bolt my bottom tooling to.

Same here with the 1" bolts. I've just used my press to break the bead on a motorcycle tyre. The press tool was a square-headed 1" bolt. If I could only work out how to use the press to put the new tyre back ON.

Let me know when you figure out the part of putting the tire back on maybe we can patent it.