Dake Arbor Press Refresh

[ndnchf]

I've had this Dake 1-1/2 (3 ton) arbor press for about 5 years. I use it all the time and it is a great tool. Its been well used, but not abused. Last week I finally decided that it deserved a refresh.

It was disassembled and stripped to bare steel. Everything was cleaned and inspected. Fortunately no serious issues were found. The tinner's rivet that is supposed to provide friction to the ram to keep it from dropping by gravity was missing. But it had been held up by old grease, so I did not realize it was missing. After stripping it was primed and painted with Rustoleum dark machinery gray. I made some new shims for the ram cover plate and reassembled (adding a new tinner's rivet). All in all, a pretty simple, straight forward job. It works smoothing and look like new.

I saw elsewhere how someone had taken an old drill chuck and embedded magnets into it. Then it can be placed on the end of the ram to hold a punch. Pretty neat idea and I'd like to make one. Now to find a donor chuck

 

[Cahark]

Nice press! I wish mine was a ratchet.


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[larry_g]

I saw elsewhere how someone had taken an old drill chuck and embedded magnets into it. Then it can be placed on the end of the ram to hold a punch. Pretty neat idea and I'd like to make one. Now to find a donor chuck

A lot of arbor presses have a hole in one end of the ram for fitting tooling, does yours?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[ndnchf]

A lot of arbor presses have a hole in one end of the ram for fitting tooling, does yours?

lg
no neat sig line

No, both ends are flat. There ia a nice commercially available magnetic chuck with a set of punches for around $55. I may just go that route.

 

[ndnchf]

Here is the magnetic chuck I mentioned. Its made by Mathews Engineering. Seems like a pretty nice rig.

http://www.mathews-engineering.com/store/p4/Arbor_Press_Magnetic_Pin_Press_3%2F8%22_Chuck_Tool.html

I've pressed out a lot of things by trying to hold a punch perfectly vertical and keeping it aligned while bringing down the ram. Three hands would have been helpful. This looks like it would make the job much easier.

Have any of you guys bought one?

 

[SweetD]

^ That's a cool magnetic chuck setup - for $55+ shipping, I think I would try to make one myself first...

Nice refurb on your Dake as well!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Here is the magnetic chuck I mentioned. Its made by Mathews Engineering. Seems like a pretty nice rig.

That's a neat idea, but do you have to do any machining to the face of the ram to make sure it's nice and square to the world, so the chuck will be vertical? I'd assume over time the face of the ram can get pretty beat up from use.

 

[ndnchf]

That's a neat idea, but do you have to do any machining to the face of the ram to make sure it's nice and square to the world, so the chuck will be vertical? I'd assume over time the face of the ram can get pretty beat up from use.

If the face of the ram is battered, it would be a good idea to face it. On my Dake I looked closely, one end has a few minor marks, the other is pristine. On mine, the ram can be flipped over and installed the other way. I suppose Dake thought about that and designed it that way on purpose.

 

[Cahark]

I faced my ram in the mill. It was pretty beat up and out of square. After that I pocketed out an old Jacobs chuck to accept magnets. It works very well as a third hand, plus it’s a good use of an old chuck that needs a rebuild anyway.





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[LXCam]

First off your refresh turned out great, nice job! But that chuck idea is priceless. My arbor press has a 1/2" hole and I've machines more then my fair share of adapters for specific projects. I've also struggled more times than I care to remember trying to hold a pin in place for a quickly job more times unsuccessfully than successfully. I'm gonna have to make myself one of those.

 

[ndnchf]

Cahark - yours is the one I saw a while back, great idea. I don't have a spare chuck laying around. But will keep an eye open for one or buy that ready made version. Thanks.