Pen press question

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That's like the one we have - I think we got it from Woodcrafters. Ours has an aluminum bottom plate and I just had my husband add a piece of 1/2" plywood to the bottom because the bottom plate was flexing too much.

Works good. I made reference marks along the adjustable barrel to give me a baseline for pressing different parts (nib, top/clip, transmission). I was mostly doing slimlines. I may have to make a separate reference sheet and put measurement lines on it since I'm starting to do other types of kits.
 
there are plans around for a press you can make yourself, works quite well and its cheap, why do we always readily use our wallets and not our imagination.
 
yes: I like it ,and I spend four months in the mountains of Arizona in the summer. I take it with me because of the size. It's O K for me. Carl
 
One answer, time is money. For me it is cheaper to buy one. Yes I could use a drill press or my lathe but the press is faster and I can leave it set up. Besides I have a issues using tools for other things than what they are inteded for I have messed up a few in the past. This is not the case for everyone I understand.
 
Do you have a drill press? Get double duty out of it and use the same 'press' principle of these 'drill presses.

Works absolutely perfectly well for several folks here!
 
I'll stand by my lathe for a pen press , nice easy way to press a pen together without pressing a trany in too far and have'nt cracked one tube with it , ever .
 
I agree with Butch , and I also just use a wood bench vise..both work great..I hate pen presses..they always got stuff crooked for me
 
Thanks for all the replies. The reason I was interested in a press like the one I linked too, whether I buy one or make one, was to be able to assemble pens away from the 'shop - I think I'll put making one on my tuit list and just try to spend some time with the family as well as out in the workshop!

cheers

Stewart
 
I made two mandrels out of maple with #2 morse tapers to fit my lathe. The lathe then becomes a screw press. It worked so well I did an article on it for Woodturning Design Magazine. It's in Fall Issue #15 and an improvement was added in issue # 19. The thing works great for me, cost nothing, and it is not another gadget hanging on the wall. I am running out of room.

Jim
 
Nice idea, Angelo
I should be able to adapt one of my pipe clamps and bring the pen assembling into the kitchen (where my workshop should be anyway!)
Cheers
Stewart
 
A cam action styled clamp is available from Harbor Frieght and the remaining parts, with some thought, can be fabricated rather easily. Grizzly has them for $24.99 (thought they were cheaper :eek:) but they flex a bit but the base could be replaced with hardwood to solve that problem. I have a pen vise, an arbor press, but think the large bench vice due to excellent control, is hard to beat. Was assembling a Silver Bullet pen and the center ring was glued but stuck; the arbor press became a kit saver that day. It persuaded the ring to move before the glue set. The pen vice would not budge it, so be aware you might need a mad dash to the shop vice :biggrin:.
 
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