Official Luthiers Forum!

kfish

Just above that press on the page are a couple of 1 ton units at a lower price - is it the magnet you are after?

Ed

The SM caul is 3/8" shank so you are good there. I just measured and the shank is 1" long, so you would be good I would think. FWIW, the SM arbor is drilled to 1 1/4" depth.

Brad

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

It’s the already drilled hole in the shank that accepts the “bits”



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I wasn't the one looking for a press but was responding to the OP.
An update to the conversation, Stewmac has theirs on sale for $77.82

Kent

I saw that:) thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I think I paid about $50 for my arbor press from Harbor Freight, before modifications. I'd have been glad to pay an extra $27.82 not to have to get off all the grease it was packed in and correct the little fit flaws between the mismatched components.

Or get this one. It's already got a 3/8" ram bore. And anything Jet has a good chance of being better than anything HF.

https://www.amazon.com/JET-AP-0-Ton-Arb ... B001BAE2YS.

I went ahead w the stewmac . It is $50 off right now, so I figure why not


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That sounds like a pretty good deal! I have just pressed them in on my drill press once and was pretty happy with the results. One thing that was cool is that I used my spindle lock on the drill press to hold the Fret in after I glued it. Does the stewmac arbor press have a lock down?

New username, same ole Pat Macaluso!

_________________
Pat

Yes sir it does lock down. For the already made modifications and the discount I felt it was worth the investment.

cobble!cobble! cobble!
This turkey worked surprisingly well.
Here is the first iteration of my bottle capper fret press. I pulled the cotter pin and turned the rod upside down and made a home made fret caul out of a scrap of richlite. A large rubber band retracts the press. I think the idea merits making some additional refinements although it works as is. I think I will refine the handle by adding some wood to lengthen it and redo the way the rubberband attaches to the rod. By keeping the fret caul removable I can still reverse the rod and use it as a bottle capper when necessary.

Clay, how did you cut the richlite radius. Is there a groove for the fretwire or is it just a flat* radius?

*I recognize that flat radius is not correct but you know what I mean <G>

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Hi Bryan,
To cut the radius I started with a square piece of richlite and using the end of a pre-radiused fingerboard marked the radius on the block. I projected the line a bit farther on both sides and used the top edge of the thick pencil line to reduce the radius to what the fret top might have. I bandsawed close, then sanded to the line. I drilled the mounting hole with a drill press, and trimmed the sides on the tablesaw.
It is just a "flat radius". Some time ago I bought a couple of Stew Mac fret press inserts and was going to cut a groove to insert them, but they have gone missing, and maybe just as well. The wider surface gives me a greater margin of error for centering the fret.
As far as pressing the fret, it works as well as the 1/2 ton HF arbor press I used to have. It will require a bit more setup to make it as handy. When I bought the arbor press I caught it on a 1/2 price sale for $20. After it disappeared I kept hoping to find another one on sale, but no luck. Now I only see the one ton presses for sale.
Old cast iron bottle cappers like the one I have can be found on ebay for about $10. So if you don't mind cobbling things together it can be a cheap alternative.

Finished the press up to my usual low standards of bodging - it works well enough and hopefully is too ugly to steal.