Pen presses - my opinion

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epossum

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Here are a few thoughts on commercially available pen presses. In a nutshell, don't waste your money buying one. I just trashed the second one I bought. Both failed in the same exact way - the bracket that the press ram goes through bent backwards. (see photo in my album in Miscellaneous) This forces the ram to rise well above centerline. I had two different suppliers version of these presses; unfortuantely they both had the same press ram, handle and linkage mechanism. All it takes to bend one of these pieces of junk is to apply just a tad too much pressure. A part that is slightly larger than it should be easily causes the amount of force you apply to the press handle to go over the limit when trying to press into the pen tube. When that happens the bracket bends and your press is history. You can bend the bracket back down but once bent it is going to bend again every time you try to press pen parts together. Can it be fixed so it won't happen again? Probably, if you have a welder of some kind and can cut some steel gussets to weld on the bracket. Unfortunately I don't have a welder and can't try fixing one of these presses this way. So what can you do? I can't really say yet, but what I'm going to do is get an arbor press. Once I receive it and have a chance to try it I'll post the results if anyone is interested. If you already know about arbor presses and would like to get one I can point you to Enco. They have a lot of good stuff. The web address is use-enco.com - visit and check out their stuff.
 
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Been using an arbor press/punch since I can't recall [:D]

Only thing to watch out is...be gentle...you can crush a pen with that thing. DAMHIKT.
 
You might want to contact Paul in OKC an IAP member who made this for me he also makes the famous PH Designs vise. If you bend,break or destroy this you need to get off the steroids[:D].

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I'm with Dario on this one.

In my shop, I use an arbor press, the components stay vertical, gravity helps me. Seems with a pen press, I need two more hands to operate the machine while I hold the various pen parts.

HOWEVER, Paul's does look like a big improvement, IF you know how to beat gravity.[:)][:)]
 
I use an old non-working drill press. Put small piece of Plex on the head of a bolt and put it in the chuck.. Good to go..

Here is a link that I found on making one... Can give you some ideas..

http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Turning_content/pen_assembly_press.html
 
Originally posted by Huzzah
<br />I use a 12" Bessey K-Body clamp. I really like being able to control the pressing by slowly twisting the handle. I clamp the bar behind the clamping jaws in my bench vise and it is held in place. It has worked well for me so far.
Click to expand...

Hey Steve, I've been looking at one of those. Can you generate enough pressure to force tight pieces together (cigar pen black centers usually give me the most trouble)? I've been needing to move up from my hand clamps.

Chris
 
Can you take a picture showing where the bend is?

I have a similar press and noticed that the thin aluminum plate it was bolted to was flexing. I cured it by bolting the whole thing to a piece of 4 x 4. This also gives me an added benefit.... I can now put the whole thing in my vise thus eliminating the need for 4 hands to put a pen together.

I will however agree that this type of press is not very good and a decent arbor press would be a better choice for some of us.
 
I have been using the PSI press for a couple of years now, with no problems. I have it mounted vertically, handle up, which helps to position the parts. It is mounted on a piece of 3/4" ply. which hhelps stiffen and support it.
 
Originally posted by Malainse
<br />I use an old non-working drill press. Put small piece of Plex on the head of a bolt and put it in the chuck.. Good to go..

Here is a link that I found on making one... Can give you some ideas..

http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Turning_content/pen_assembly_press.html
Click to expand...

Ditto, except my drill press works and I use a piece of 1/4" nylon to set the barrels on.
 
In my shop, been using a 6" quick release machinist vise for years. Precise control and versatile. In classroom, I teach students using a varity of devices, such as bench vise or drill press.
 
I had been using my bench vise with a couple wood jaw covers to protect the pen but some pens do not fit so I was searching for an alternative. I like the control of a screw mechanisim and started making a press using a large C-clamp for the screw. Ailgning everything straigt became a design challenge so I took a trip to the local HF for inspiration.[:D]

I found a 14" Extendable Aluminium Bar Clamp (Item 92731 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=92731). Set me back $10 minus the 15% off coupon, so the price was right. The jaws are about 1 1/2" square, plenty of room for pens and other items to be pressed. It sits upright on little feet and will handle about 7 1/2 inches before it needs extending to the max 13" betwen jaws after I padded them with a bit of purpleheart.

After reading the thread above I'm going to try holding it vertically in my bench vise to get an assist from gravity.

Just my alternative to expensive commercial pen presses.
 
Hmm. taking the HF clamp idea one step further. if one was to use a 3/4" pipe clamp, you might be able to stick it in a (round) bench dog hole in the bench and use it that way. I wonder if that would work. would stop me from marring my vise jaws with pen tubes. hmmm
 
I still use a drill press, or if I'm to lazy toi take the bit out I use my wood vice.
I can see the day coming when I get a new drill press with a longer quill travel and then I will use the old one as a dedicated pen press.
 
I knew what I wanted to build but could not find the right press. KMAB found it for me. I like the control of the screw and the quick adjustment for length.


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Ross, that's a neat little set up there, I like it. What is the wooden gadget on the left for?

Edit in; I think it is to hold the different wooden spacers?
 
Originally posted by skiprat
<br />Ross, that's a neat little set up there, I like it. What is the wooden gadget on the left for?

Edit in; I think it is to hold the different wooden spacers?
Click to expand...

Yes, I built two spacers. Others may follow.
 
ross,

what exactly are the spacers used for on your press? i mean, i know what they're used for but do all your pens come out the exact same length or is the spacer just to prevent it from going too far??

thanks!

andrew
 
Andrew

The spacers oar for two things. one is to hold the pen. That gives you both hands to do whatever. The long spacer is also cut to drive the twist mechanism in a slimline or pkmont to the correct depth.
 
These are great!!!

Before I purchased one from Woodcraft, which has served me well, I used a regular woodworkers hand screw clamp... that give great control, but can be a bit tricky to hold parts.
 
I bought a couple of cheap small drill presses 2-3 years ago for about $25 each new. One for my pen mills and the other I stuck a large bolt with a hard piece of wood glued to it to press my pens. 2 drill presses for close to the price of a commercial pen press and they both can drill too!
 
Originally posted by DocRon
<br />I have been using the PSI press for a couple of years now, with no problems. I have it mounted vertically, handle up, which helps to position the parts. It is mounted on a piece of 3/4" ply. which hhelps stiffen and support it.
Click to expand...

Been using the same one a LONG time and its working fine and seems to be built like a tank . Maybe were not talking about the same press as these other guys I duno ..[:D]
 
Pen Press.
I must say the ingeneous presses are impressive I include my set up to illustrate my desire to use the press from my sit down bench,it is mounted on a pipe held table at eye height.This allows me to accurately site the pen being pressed for verticle both ways.Sitting on a swivel chair I reach behind the lathe for pen parts,press the pen and sometimes buff after finishing standing up.I mention the buff,a lab stirrer,variable speed motor as it is in the pic.
I used a thin Corian plate for the press anvil and arm,I had to redo the thing to make it true verticle since the press is not the 500 dollar 1 Ton Press but a Taiwon one. Peter

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When I started Pen making over 9 years ago, I used a woodworking Bench Vise with an insert. Then I moved to various Clamps and then the Arbor Press. When Grizzly had the "Paper Punch", I got that and modified it.

As many noted, the Arbor Press doesn't fool around... I just use finger pressure.

The Grizzly "Paper Punch" in the top photo can be set for length of stroke and the turret allows proper sizing. John


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