Is there a market for....

[Joe]

James' Hunton tools are the BK (Bees Knees - hey, old people should be allowed acronyms too!). But at £300 for the holder and £100 for each round cutter, they make Swanstroms look like they belong in Poundland! They are not suitable for platforms like BonnyDoon, they rely on proper clamping tables for alignment between stock and die. But they are exactly the right tool for the job.

But James has a very strong point - for the cost of a BonnyDoon, you could buy a fly press, a small Hunton outfit and a few punches.

I don't really understand the BD philosophy, it's the wrong thing whatever your budget... why not just buy a simple 10T hydraulic press for a couple of hundred quid from Machine Mart? I use mine for quite a number of things. You don't need 20T to cut 2mm silver - that's 5mm stainless steel territory! If you've got $1000 burning a hole in your pocket, a fly-press is the tool you want, not a BD! Unless you have Peter's skill to lash one up of course!

[Goldsmith]

Joe, when I bought the Hunton kit, I was making regalia orders so I needed quality tools to cut discs. If you can imagine making 500 medals / badges, each with a circular domed back that screwed in place, then the Hunton and it's tools paid for itself very quickly and it's quality of build means that it is virtually indestructible if used correctly. I bought my Norton flypresses from a local second hand machine tool dealer, I bought two sizes a 3 and a 6 for less than £300 and they were delivered. It's amazing what you can buy from these dealers, one company who I regularly check out is http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/ as you can view their catalog online if anyone is interested in buying machine tools, they also have a decent collection of silversmiths tools and work benches at the moment.
James

[stu_clouds]

Will the other presses that are mentioned in this thread allow you to use the bonny doon tools or do the presses you mention have similar tooling options?

regards

Stuart

[stu_clouds]

You don't have to have a Bonny Doon to use most of the tools. I love my BD but it was a lot of money and even more to get it shipped over.

As im wanting to us a press for things including making bangles, pressing designs into silver and also making shapes ideally with the sillouette dies that bonny doon make, as i no other press seems to have the tooling for all these processes in one i will probably have to go with a BD. Carole do you have a rough idea of how much it costs to get shipped?

regards

Stuart

[ps_bond]

Will the other presses that are mentioned in this thread allow you to use the bonny doon tools or do the presses you mention have similar tooling options?

Susan Kingsley's book describes the fitting in the back - I'll go look it up shortly. The biggest difference that I can think of is that the hydraulic press makes for very repeatable deformation through the use of the pressure gauge - although my use of flypresses has been limited to fairly unsubtle forging (poor man's power hammer).

[Joe]

I've used a flypress for planishing and bending (with a V former). I suspect you could use it for more complex forming, but I've never tried.

This cheap hydraulic press is only £240 - a third of the cost of a the Bonny Doon even before shipping! Looks like the BD tools require a single bolt hole in the top plate - a 10 minute task at any engineering works.

The BD has return springs which will make the ram return quicker and a wide top plattern which may make the tool more stable. It's clearly better but...

[caroleallen]

I can't really remember how much the shipping and import tax was and I think I've deliberately blanked it from my mind! All I remember is that it was a lot of money. As for the tools, most of what I use could be used on any hydraulic press. The only thing that makes some tools only work on the BD is that there's a hole in the top that you push screw fittings into. I'm sure it's possible to make such a hole in other presses.

[stu_clouds]

I just found this 20 Ton Jewelry Press I know its still in the US, its $200 cheaper than to BD it takes the BD tools also it has a bracelet forming kit for alot less than BD. It appears BD is the designer brand with the designer price and i guess its the original so they deserve to charge it (maybe).

Im just checking with them to see if the their shipping costs are less.

What do you all think?

Stuart

[Myosotis]

I just found this 20 Ton Jewelry Press I know its still in the US, its $200 cheaper than to BD it takes the BD tools also it has a bracelet forming kit for alot less than BD. It appears BD is the designer brand with the designer price and i guess its the original so they deserve to charge it (maybe).

Im just checking with them to see if the their shipping costs are less.

What do you all think?

Stuart

I've been looking at these guys as well as, like you say it will take the BD tools and also they have a good range of pancake dies and individual silhouette dies. Only thing i'm thinking of though when your talking about spending that kind of money, is for an additional $500 instead of the BD Classic you can get the BD Mark III which will do deep draw as well, whereas the Potter one doesn't seem to have that ability.

Would be interested to know what the shipping cost is though.

Something else to consider when buying from US isn't just the shipping charges - I recently bought some tools from the US and had to go to the depot and pay customs charges as well before they would release them. Can't remember how much but I think it was the VAT.

[caroleallen]

It's not sexy like the BD but it would do the job. I don't see why you couldn't do deep drawing with that one, though the equipment you need costs nearly as much as the actual press.