im looking for a fly press of some sort preferrably near scotland.
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im looking for a fly press of some sort preferrably near scotland.
I don't know if this is helpful but I've seen a bottle jack set in an angle iron frame that was used as a press, probably in a Jinks Mcgrath book
sarah
What you saw Sarah, was a hydraulic press, as in the famous Bonny Doon. What Susan wants, God help her, is a thing with a heavy ball at one end, that you swing round. It frightens the daylights out of me, because with a moment’s inattention it can hit you on the back of the head and crack your skull.Quote:
Originally Posted by sheepy
There are lots about and no doubt the members will come up with a site, but they are frantically selling their stock before Christmas. Dennis.
2nd Dennis' caution! Having used one they are frightening and have a long history of nasty injuries!
There's a sort of rhythm in using them as you send the ball back while you move the target and you can easily find that now-and-again you're not quite as quick at getting the fingers out of the way!
They are, however, the bees-knees for pressing and come up very cheaply on Ebay in the "Collect only" category. 100Kg to 250Kg will fit in the back of a family car! They are very robust devices, ideally bought when rusty and thoroughly used!
May I ask what jobs you need the fly press for. I have one that is not used much these days as I now use an arbour press, which seems to suit most of my small pressing and cut out jobs. I bought mine from Warco and it was dispached to me by courier: http://www.warco.co.uk/Arbor-Press-063856E178.aspxQuote:
Originally Posted by silversusan73
Also if you just search Google/shopping for "arbor press" you may find one that suits, available closer to home.
James
Which model do you have James? By Googling I found quite a few but their info isn't that informative!
I bought a 2 ton arbour press from Axminster a long while ago (with free shipping). It's a lump, but it has proven to be very useful for all sorts of jobs - I probably ought to see about applying it to jewellery too.
I have the smallest size Warco No.0 arbor press, it is mounted alongside me on my bench, you can see it in this photo of my workbench,it's on the right just behind my pendant drills with my optivisor hanging on it.
James
Attachment 2794
Well Axminster is a short drive away so I'd better get over there! Thanks Peter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldsmith
Oh - that's interesting. Good to see you find that size meaty enough. Thanks James.
Please bear in mind that I only do small pressings and shapings, I cut my own leaf work dies in brass blocks and then press soft golds into the dies with the No 0 Arbor press, I also make shapes using brass rod, turned on my lathe such as shaping punches for making egg pendant halves, I press these into a wooden or a lead block, I have also made a straight line angle folder that fits in the press, this is used for adding central veins to leaves as well as folding corners on square frames and bezels.
Below are some of my leaf pressings from my home made dies, pressed with the small Arbor press.
James
Attachment 2795
Thanks James - I'll have a chat to them at Axminster. :)
Wow! They're brilliant James! Goldsmiths are evidently 50% engineer, 50% artist!
It is, after all, a discipline that's been around a wee while longer than online ordering of tools has... Personally, I love being able to make my own tools - although it isn't always the most effective use of my time.
I think you're more 70/40 Peter (and my math is good!).
I thought you might like to see the job that I used the leaf pressings on, it was a nephrite photo frame, not a great photo but it gives you some idea. I pressed the leaves and made up the flower blooms.
James
Attachment 2796
Peter,
I meant to ask if you are a Bond film fan, if so you might be interested in knowing that I made some film props and also some of my work was rented for one of the films some years ago, I wonder if you can guess which film?
James
That's a brilliant story James! Started my morning with a smile!
I've been known to watch the odd one or two... Of the 2 obvious candidates, I don't remember Mr Goldfinger being much of an aesthete; which only leaves Mr Scaramanga. As an aside, there's a Julian Scaramanga just outside Bath who sells specialist cars, but he didn't have a DB5 the last time I asked him :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldsmith
Peter, the Bond villain that handled my props and some genuine pieces was General Orlov, I made some of the Faberge Eggs in Octopussy, they used three of my gold eggs rented from Asprey for a scene in the Kremlin museum, and our workshop made the main four identical silver gilt prop eggs, we had to make four because they were filming scenes with the egg in view in different parts of the world at the same time.
James
Ah... I'd forgotten about the Eggs. I was still puzzling over the golden gun, as that would seem to be a bit of a waste of your skills, but couldn't remember anything more ornate.
sorry to bring up an old post everyone, a quick question would an arbor press be sufficient to use the bonny doon sillouette dies to cut silver sheet pieces out and the texture plates? or would i need a hydraulic press? Can anyone recommend a good press if so?
regards
Stuart
Well I've seen some pretty big arbor presses and you can buy some pretty thin sheet silver... but if you're talking about using a little 1T press on 1mm silver for shapes bigger than a tuppence then no, it won't.
There are lots of hydraulic presses cheaper than a Bonny Doon and of course the fly-press of the thread title.
Thanks Joe,Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe
i am looking at getting a cheaper hydraulic press, it will do the work i want. Does anyone know of any other good die suppliers for jewellery making or are the bonny doon ones a good option.
regards
Stuart
Potter's have quite a big selection http://www.potterusa.com/index.php?o...d=12&Itemid=53Quote:
Originally Posted by stu_clouds
I have one of these but I don't use it for cutting.
Joe