thoughts on using harbor freight arbor press

[rmatchell]

I got a gift card for Christmas and was thinking about getting a 1 ton arbor press from harbor frieght for making some lead wire and possibly drawing some 9mm cases down for jackets. Just wondering what experience you guys have had with the press and if I should just go up to a 6 ton aframe press. This is mainly just going be something to play with.

[Dan Cash]

I have a 1 T Harbor Freight press and it is a good piece of equipment, but for what you are suggesting, I would get a bigger arbor press. Am not acquainted with an "A" frame press but bigger is almost always better.

[bangerjim]

Those Cheap HF presses are great for what they are designed for.....pressing arbors on/off wheels and gears. Beyond that, who knows? I have seen several of the in the scrap yards that were broken off at the neck from some kind of abuse at some time!

I have a 1/2T, 1T arbor press and a 10 ton hydraulic frame press I built from STEEL frame material for heavy duty stuff.

I press in/out a lot of mechanical stuff. I do not swage anything gun related. If I wanted to, I would build a dedicated swaging press as well detailed in several threads on here in the past.

banger

[HollowPoint]

I'm using a 1/2 ton arbor press I got from local Harbor Freight store to swage 30 caliber lead bullets for powder coating and in a few weeks I'll be using it to swage my own air rifle pellets. I just have to finish up my pellet Swaging Dies.

It's true that these arbor presses aren't really made for Swaging but, I can't afford a dedicated Swaging press and $40-$60 dollars for an Arbor Press is a whole lot less than the $400-$700 for a real Swaging press. I just had to make my Dies so that they fit concentrically on my Arbor Press that's all.

It's always nice when you can buy the right tools for the job but not everyone is blessed with those resources.

HollowPoint

[rmatchell]

I agree i tried doing some swaging on my rockchucker but kinda nervous about putting to much stress on it. Ill have to think about which one I want to use.

[mdi]

I have a 1 ton arbor press I got from Enco (I believe its a 1 ton). I have used it to put together about 1,000 .38 Specials with a Lee Loader. I do have other presses, but a change up is good once in a while. My arbor press has been used for other tasks one where I put my full weight on the handle (215 lbs), with a small cheater, and bounce on the handle. I would not be afraid to try swaging if I could afford good dies...

[rmatchell]

I will most likely make a simple set of dies norhing fancy im still learning. I guess the best qustion would be what kind of force do I need? I know when I make lead wire on my rockchucker it seems like it doesnt take a ton of force. More of a steady force that at least seems might be better suited for an arbor press, but I could be way off.

[bangerjim]

Both have mechanical advantages........RC is a compound lever.....AP is a rack & pinion gear.

You will just have to try the AP to see if you need a cheater bar! Just not too long or you could damage the AP.

banger

[rmatchell]

They also have the 6 ton bench top model that is hydraulic press. So ill have to look into it.

[firefly1957]

I form lead wire with a setup that has a bore of .82 inches a 10 ton press is not enough force unless i heat the unit to about 350 degrees.

[Sitzme]

I use a 20 ton HF hydraulic press to make lead wire and I doubt that anything lighter would work well. My ingots are .75" dia and about 5" long and the die is the part that moves during the process. At times it would probably be better if things were preheated but after it is flowing some heat is generated and it extrudes OK.

To be a bit more precise, the die is pushed through the ingot instead of the ingot being pushed through the die.

[rolltide]

Sitzme, could you post a picture of your setup? I have been thinking of making one, and your process seems totally different than anything I have imagined. I would be very interested to see it. I don't mean to hijack the thread on arbor presses.

Roll Tide

[Cane_man]

I have a 2 ton Enco, I really like it, I use it to draw 9mm cases down to 7mm jackets... sometimes I have to slip on a 30" section of water pipe to the handle to give me a little extra leverage, but other than that it works great

[singleshot]

Sounds like a 50 ton HF hyd press would be about right?

[singleshot]

How much force/pressure does a swage press generate? I never would have thought a 10 ton press was too small...

[RugerFanOH]

Can you use the 1 ton arbor press with a punch to work with firearm pins? (to reduce the risk of scratching if the punch slips)

How much force can one generate with a hammer?

Thanks

[Forrest r]

I have a 2 ton Enco, I really like it, I use it to draw 9mm cases down to 7mm jackets... sometimes I have to slip on a 30" section of water pipe to the handle to give me a little extra leverage, but other than that it works great

+1

I have a hf 1 ton and it takes a pipe to swage 9mm/380acp jackets down to turn them into bullet jackets. But I'm only doing 1 draw .380 to .354. I wouldn't even attempt to make lead wire with a hf 1 ton press. I bought it to make gas checks and swage 9mm/380acp cases down and that's about all it's good for.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

did you anneal them first?? lube them?

[john.k]

Theres tons of hydraulic bits and pieces going for scrap every day.Guys are always talking of building presses,when all thats needed is a bit of hydraulic stuff powered by an old car steering pump driven by a 1 or 2 hp electric motor.Ever seen the hydraulic cylinders used to extrude aluminium shapes.Hoses can be expensive,but for small applications ,use airless paintspray hoses,they can be used up to 6000psi.And you never need go over 1500-2000psi for what you want.

[tenx]

got the 20 ton hf press, lots of pumping involved so ended up getting an air/hydraulic jack, one piece of advice, my compressor went to 140 psig before it shut off, that's enough to make the 20 ton press wreck it's self. put a regulator on it or you will eventually bend everything.

[country gent]

We did a lot of forming and bending in the ahrbor presses at work. We would make a small die set with lead posts clamp it down and feed stock. These little die sets did yeomans work like this. Ours were 5 ton mechanical presses. We also pressed shafts bearings and other parts in them. The drawback to the hydrolics is the number of pumps on the handle it takes. An air over hydrolic or electric pump set up is better but the ram still starts and stops as it moves

[TheDoctor]

Keep in mind that air compresses. If something lets go, you can have a HUGE amount of stored energy.

[Mauser 98K]

to draw jackets with an arbor press id first make a die and punch holder to go in the press that has guide rods to keep everything centered so that one side of the jacket does not end up thinner than the other and it makes things go a lot easier.

208514 this setup can also be used to swage the bullets too and was what i used b4 i made my pneumatic swage press.. all it does is mount to the press and the ram squishes the springs and they push the pieces back apart.. this is just a rough drawing to give an idea of the design and the drawing dies you will use will be the ones mounted to the die plate.

[Mauser 98K]

208515

this is another design that would theoretically work with an arbor press. it is as simple as i can figure out and it is machined out of a solid piece of tool steel and a notch is cut in the side to allow the jacket material to be put in the bottom portion drawing die. the top part and the bottom part are one piece and will guide the drawing punch into the bottom die. the thing about it is still you got to figure out how to machine the bottom drawing die portion and how to remove the drawn jacket off of the punch afterwards.. the easiest way i know of to do the bottom drawing die is to make it a separate insert that is machined separate from the main die body and then it is put into the die body after machining..

[clodhopper]

Clicked on your attachment with eager anticipation, Rats, it does not work.

[Mauser 98K]

208557 well that was weird... here the second one is again...

[country gent]

One problem with springs is they take away from the presses total force compressing them. we bolted the top of the die set to the ram with a shoulder bolt. to raise and lower it on the dies rods.