Pen Press

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jkeithrussell

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I need a new pen press. Before I buy another one, I thought I'd ask: what is your method for pressing pen parts -- what type of press do you use? I'm thinking about getting an arbor press instead of the horizontal type.
 
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I use my drill press. Just turn a piece of hard wood into a dowel like a large drill bit. On one end I leave it flat on the other I put in a concave. Put the dowel in the chuck and put a piece of plywood or small board on the drill press table and press away.

Bruce
 
i have one of the spring loaded ones with the metal base from PSI (i think). i bought it cause it looked like the one kenny mayes was using when i took his pen turning class except with springs. the springs are kinda handy as i dont have a lot of strength in my left hand and the press will hold the parts in place for me.
 
bruce119 said:
I use my drill press. Just turn a piece of hard wood into a dowel like a large drill bit. On one end I leave it flat on the other I put in a concave. Put the dowel in the chuck and put a piece of plywood or small board on the drill press table and press away.

Bruce
Click to expand...

I do the same. The dowel was the very first thing I turned. Then I use used wood blocks for different length pens to press against. Plus I can't justify 30.00 for such a simple device.
 
Well, my local Harbor Freight is out of stock on the arbor press. PSI is out of stock on their press. I guess I'll have to rig something up on my drill press.
 
I really do love the PSI press. For a bench mounted horizontal press it's the best out there by a long shot. I've had others...

Dale
 
I use a 12" Aluminum Bar Clamp I picked up from HF ...

barclamp.jpg
 
I also have the 1 ton Ceentral Machinery arbor press from Harbor Freight. It was on sale for $30. I just checked their website and it is 49.99. I don't know if I would have gone for it at that price. I had seen a few posts on the internet from people with various horizontal presses and a few had problems with the press not being able to handle the pressure over time. I used to use a vise on the side of my workbench but had problems with it going absolutely straight from time to time. The same thing can happen with the arbor press, but I seem to have a lot better luck with it.
 
I use my lathe . I turned a couple of wood dowels to fit the MT tapers in the HS and TS about a year ago and it works great . I switched to delrin about 3 months ago . I'll never do it any other way , it's very easy to control and presses very gently .
 
I'm using the bench vice I inherited from my grandpa. Using some oak boards as "pads" to press against inside the vice. Somebody suggested adding magnets to the boards. Brilliant!
 
jkeithrussell said:
I need a new pen press. Before I buy another one, I thought I'd ask: what is your method for pressing pen parts -- what type of press do you use? I'm thinking about getting an arbor press instead of the horizontal type.
Click to expand...
Great idea! I switched over to the Harbor freight 1 ton press a few hundred pens ago and am all smiles! This thing will press thousands of pens together and won't be any the worse for wear, a fact that can't be said for some of the horizontal wood contraptions!
 
I too use a 1-ton arbor press. It was purchased from Enco and is far more solidly built than any pen press I've seen. If you have problems with alignment while pressing parts together, use a grooved wood/plastic block as a jig.
 
Like a couple of others that have already responded, I too use my lathe - and always have. I used to use the mandrel with the correct bushing in place to hold one end of the pen body (making sure enough of the pen body extended beyond the end of the mandrel to receive the part being pressed) and would use a block of wood against the tailstock to push the part on to the pen body.

In the last month, I have been using this new tool (see link). I wasn't looking for it, just stumbled across it. It's much faster than my old way and the material seems to be holding up just fine to repeated use.

Jason


http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/s...n_Ultimate_Assembly_Tool___pen_ultimate?Args=
 
When my PSI pen press gave out (base kept bending), I took it apart and put one end in my pen vise and the other end in my drill press chuck. Works well except you have to be careful because it can generate a lot of pressure.

Ken
 
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