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Posted

I came across this somewhat unusual looking fly press for sale near me.  Does anyone have any input on if it might be worth picking up?  There doesn't seem to be a hole in the base to punch through other than the slotted plate in one of the pictures, there is no ram guide, no T-slots for tooling, and the ram/top die/tool holder part looks like it probably spins along with the screw.  It looks like it would make a great can crusher, but I'm trying to figure out if it would be useful for anything else since it seems to lack features commonly found on English and Indian fly presses.  Anybody have any info on these?

flypress1.jpg

flypress2.jpg

Posted

The round plate if off of an arbor press, nit for that one. Looks like it was designed to have die sets installed with the two holes in the base, and possible holes in the ram flange - it looks to me that it swivels on the threads

How much are they asking?

Posted

 It looks like it was made to be set up for one particular job with the very short stroke like setting rivets or snaps or embossing thin metal.

Historically fly presses were used for a wide range of trades besides blacksmithing , like jewelry, harness , leatherwork ,making badges, etc, anything that required a quick sure, consistent pressing action as part of the process.

That press doesn't look  really versatile  enough for most general blacksmithing applications without the provision for mounting different top and bottom tools and different thicknesses of material.

I'd pass unless it was really cheap  and you had a use for something within it's limited capacity .

Posted

Thanks for the replies guys- it seems I've overlooked some of the other, non-blacksmithing tasks that a fly press was used for.  Regarding the price, they are asking $175, might take a bit less.  I suppose at that price it might still be tempting to play around with it despite its limitations.

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