Hi All,

Just looking for a bit of advice. I picked up the below fly press last year and it is in great condition. the previous owner apparently bought it new and used it in his jewelry shop until he retired several years ago (hence the rust form it being stored semi-outside at his house). It is a John Heine Model 86A Series 2 (6 tons). 

There were only 2 issues, 1 being that it looks like someone squashed something with the ram poorly threaded in (see photo of how I collected it above). I have since carefully cleaned up these bottom 2-3 threads and now it screws right in like it should. The second is that it does not have the ball weight and they appear near impossible to find. I have bought a 6" dia x 6" piece of steel with the intention of getting a 1.25" hole drilled in it. Unfortunately I just received a cost from a local fabrication company of $140aud ($100us). I'm finding this a little steep, so I was thinking of maybe welding the weight on. Given this weight will be heavier that the original ball (especially given it doesn't have the 1.25" hole drilled through) I was thinking of slightly shortening the bar (i.e. a little shorter than where the rear of the ball weight would sit) and maybe cutting an angle so the leading edge of the weight is a little higher. The other option would be to flatten a 6" section of the bar and simply sit the weight on and then have 6" welds down each side. 

Does anyone foresee a problem with this? I will be using a stick welder with 6013 rods and could do multiple passes.

Nick. 

Why not put a couple of barbell weights on it? shim the  holes to fit and use the set screw holders to hold them in place?

That's a good idea. One of the nice things about being able to change the weights on a fly press is that you can keep them on for a massive crunch or take them off for a more delicate bump.

Thanks for the replies! I do have some spare barbell weights laying about, I'll see if the centre hole is large enough.

So I tried all the barbell weights I could get my hands on and the centre holes were all too small unfortunately. 

So I ended up running 3 beads of 7024 around it and angled the weight up for a bit more clearance. I think I might smooth off the corners, so it looks a little better and might be a bit kinder if it comes into contact with my head.

All that's left now is to wait for the anchors to dry then tighten, finish the stand painting and then heat treat the dies.

Looks like it might squish some hot steel really soon after sitting around for a year and a half untouched.

Nick.

Weights MUST be solidly attached or they'll just rattle. Think delaminated anvil face or loose hammer head.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Rattle at best; fly off at worst.