Just finished my redesign pen press.

[Talfalfa33]

Hey Guy's,

I'd like to know what you think of this. With some aluminum bar scraps from work and a small sliding clamp from harbor freight that I dismantled for the locking mechanism and slide bar. Then with a little machining on the Bridgeport at work and a nylon bolt from the hardware store to replace the rubber end in the toggle clamp.
I made this to be adjustable and position it without any backing blocks. So with just a flip of the levers and slide the press base back and for shorter pieces, just slide it up and it locks in place.

 

[plantman]

Very nice!!! If the mind can think of it, the hands can make it. Well most of the time anyway. Jim S

 

[edstreet]

This looks almost what my pen press is. Not sure which company I bought it from several years ago.

 

[rherrell]

That looks great! Now all you need to do is mount it vertically, I find it easier to assemble a pen that way because gravity helps hold things together before you press fit it.:biggrin::wink:

 

[OOPS]

I was trying to figure out how to do the same thing, as I was tired of putting different combinations of spacers in mine, making new spacers to more accurately space things, etc. But I just couldn't figure out how to do it. Thanks for showing how you solved this problem.

 

[nava1uni]

Looks good. I like it better then anything that I have in my shop.

 

[alamocdc]

Wow, nice effort! Beats my cobbled togeth wood v ersion!

 

[Talfalfa33]

Glad I could show something that will help others with making something work easier. This could also be made out of wood and a t-track. That's what I was using is a 1x4 oak with a t-track recessed down the middle and a t-bolt and wing knob to slide the block back and forth. But the track wore through from having to tighten it so much.
If anyone has any questions on anything, I'll try to answer them the best I can.