ausfire Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 We came across this old machine in our 'resource pile' recently and I am reliably informed that it is a fly press. Can't see any maker's name on it anywhere. Probably powered by belt from a stationary engine or steam engine. It's been sitting there for the past 40 years or so, but is in remarkably good condition. I'm thinking of hauling it out, cleaning it up and placing it on display with some other old blacksmithing gear. I am unsure of what to write on an explanatory label, and I would like to know if it is indeed a fly press, roughly what age it would be (guessing 1900 - 1920??) and what it was used for. Here it is: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 I'm really not sure but isn't that an eccentric press? Greetings Gergely PS: Oh, Aus... you and your "resource piles"... (deep sight) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Greetings Aus, Looks like a punch pressti me. The flywheel is for inertia not for flatbelts. Forge on and make beautiful things .... Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 NOT a flypress! Some sort of a punch press and not nearly as generally useful for smithing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingXS Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Looks like a John Heine power press. http://www.johnheine.com.au/images/Typical%20Press%20Layout.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 It's a punch press, specifically an OBI punch press. Not a fly press, there is no "give" or rebound rather the ram needs to cycle all the way to and thru the bottom of it's stroke every time. Some of the blacksmith shops around here use them but they are a single operation machine that operate a dedicated die pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Definitely a Punch Press, helped my brother in law clean out a shop with about 15 of them from 2 ton to 70 ton plus ran some for a couple years. I have seen a few used in local blacksmith shops but limited use in my mind. We scraped 7 of the smaller and the 70 ton one as I couldn't see where I could use one enough to bother getting 3 phase in my shop. They use specific dies to do certain jobs and must make a complete cycle to operate. Production type machine and dies are very expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Punch press great for chiseling lines and decorations child not so good for hot forging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 We would call it an eccentric press and they are very effective for punching and pressing. Check out your 'pile' you may have some die-sets if you have some, with a bit of effort you can jerry up some tooling . I used to use mine to punch/make "domecaps" mostly. Also useful for making multiple 'leaves' etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 If you decide to scrap out the punch press, save the flywheel(if you can get it off). It would make a great base for a portable post vise stand. Also, if the legs are bolted to the press, save them for mounting grinders, buffers, etc. Heavy and very stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Thanks for the help. So we'll call it a Punch Press or Power Press. I'll guess at Circa 1900. It looks very similar to the John Heine one in Flying's reply. How would it have been powered?? I would like to write a general statement (in layman's terms) about what it was used for. Perhaps something like "used with various dies in the blacksmith shop for general repetitive punching and pressing work". Any other suggestions welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingXS Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 John Heine still exist and still produce a large array of the presses. They are also regularly availible on ebay & gumtree. If you send them an email with a photo they may be able to provided more info on the model and date, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Usually had an electric motor, all ours were 220v 3phase don't remember the HP we had so many. The motors were mounted on the back up close to the top. Most of ours this small were used for secondary work, bending, trimming, final holes. Limited use in a Blacksmith shop as most shops don't do repetitive work like this. We had some that were set up to do the same job everyday and ran 20+ yrs, as long as the orders kept coming in. A lot of the early ones were forced out by OSHA rules for hand safety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Well most modern blacksmith shops don't do production runs of items but back 100 years ago a lot did in the cities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 John Heine still exist and still produce a large array of the presses. They are also regularly availible on ebay & gumtree. If you send them an email with a photo they may be able to provided more info on the model and date, etc. Thanks XS, Done that. We'll see what they say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 Well, I received a very helpful reply from John Heine: It was one of the first presses we made in about 1895 to 1900. The name would have been on a plate on the front of the slide, please see photo attached. We have an identical machine in our archives. It was approx 8 tons capacity and they were used for stamping out metal items, eg ends of containers (food cans, tobacco tins etc), cutlery, brackets etc. Regards John Heine And here is the picture they sent: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 aha! good work darryl! as i said on the day, after i called it a "flypress" (i was thinking "flywheel"),i corrected myself when the real name came to mind, to "punch press". i also called it a "heine" press, but as you know, we couldnt find the plate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iron woodrow Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Greetings Aus, Looks like a punch pressti me. The flywheel is for inertia not for flatbelts. Forge on and make beautiful things .... Jim inertia has to be created from somewhere, and in this case, power would have been transmitted to the press via a flat belt on the flywheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 I'm thinking for display purposes we might find a stationary engine and set it up with a flat belt. Or maybe we could free it up and run it off our steam engine! (A bit ambitious, I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 The one that I used to own and every other that I've seen live have been run with an electric motor spinning a v-belt pulley (mine had 3 v-belts) and the v belts simply wrapped around the big flywheel. Plenty of contact area for the v belts on that large a diameter even without grooves for them to run in. IW something funny going on with your posts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewOC Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 That is a cracker Ausfire! I've only seen the common mid-20th C Heine presses, (as on their website) never an early one like that. Now for you to trawl your local history for where it came from and what it was used for! Who made tins, pen nibs and sheetmetal widgits in your district?? Have you used 'Trove'? This might be useful: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/titles?state=Queensland happy hunting, Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingXS Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Glad the tip turned out to be fruitful. Are you going to display as is or clean her up, maybe a full resto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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