Got my flypress.

[Screwdriver]

Once you get it into a workshop, it looks HUGE!

The engine hoist has a limited height capacity so rather than lift it onto the table, I bolted it all up first and sort of tilted it into place.

The observant among you will note this is my old Edwards 4A. I have since swapped it out with a Norton 6DB.

I had to buy the Norton as part of a job lot of tools, so I sold the Edwards. The Edwards was a better device but had a smaller locating bore and didn't fit the tooling. With all the buying and selling I do keep track of what a particular item "owes me".

This is how you buy a flypress for £20...

 

[God mode restorations]

Nice... I will do the same with mine once it get started...for now it's outside workshop waiting for me to rub down and primer and paint....

 

[Screwdriver]

Nice... I will do the same with mine once it get started...for now it's outside workshop waiting for me to rub down and primer and paint....

I gave mine a good clean... (excerpt from another forum)


This is why you shouldn't use grease on a precision instrument:

It picks up crap and grinds it into the ground surfaces. I'm hoping there's enough good flat surface left to operate correctly with zero play. Time will tell.

But is is looking grim. Makes my old flypress look like new in comparison.

Gets the primary wash in a tray full of ten year old XT125 petrol (it really stinks!).

Need to get that thick hard grease off, along with a load of hard swarf and chippings

Primary wash complete, transfer to clean tray for a second wash.

Nearly done.

I need to dress the surfaces with a whetstone, some of those edges are razor sharp. Took a chunk out of my thumb already. Then oil it up and nail it back together.

S.

 

[Screwdriver]

Dressed any dings and dents, flattened on a sheet of glass with 800 grit emery.

Oiled up...

Filed off some wear on the stop collar. Don't want those bits dropping into the screw (again).

Reassembled and set up. Adjust split bolt for slight play (about 5 thou), set blocks until I get smooth movement over (nearly) all of the travel. The Norton has ten inches of travel and a ten inch throat.

Then finally, I get to play with some of the exotic toys that have been cluttering up the garage for six months.

Great fun.

Incredibly, those specialist press blades can do this:

On sheet material, whatever length you desire! Amazing. This is going to come in dead handy for remaking some of the brackets on the YPVS Mito and finally, the old RG500/MV Agusta!

S.

 

[God mode restorations]

Dressed any dings and dents, flattened on a sheet of glass with 800 grit emery.

Oiled up...

Filed off some wear on the stop collar. Don't want those bits dropping into the screw (again).

Reassembled and set up. Adjust split bolt for slight play (about 5 thou), set blocks until I get smooth movement over (nearly) all of the travel. The Norton has ten inches of travel and a ten inch throat.

Then finally, I get to play with some of the exotic toys that have been cluttering up the garage for six months.

Great fun.

Incredibly, those specialist press blades can do this:

On sheet material, whatever length you desire! Amazing. This is going to come in dead handy for remaking some of the brackets on the YPVS Mito and finally, the old RG500/MV Agusta!

S.

Nice. A good thred there for when i take mine apart ... definitely be looking for one of those press brakes ...

 

[dobbslc]

Mmmm Mito Powervalve hmmmm drool drool....

 

[Maker]

A Norton 5a went for £48 a couple of days ago, close enough to me that I could have got it collected and it came with a bench. If it wasn't that sodding Kemppi taking up more than it's fair share of space it would have been mine.

Very jealous of your recent acquisitions Spencer.

 

[God mode restorations]

A Norton 5a went for £48 a couple of days ago, close enough to me that I could have got it collected and it came with a bench. If it wasn't that sodding Kemppi taking up more than it's fair share of space it would have been mine.

Very jealous of your recent acquisitions Spencer.

I understand..it was a case of being in the right place at the right time...

 

[Richiew]

I gave mine a good clean... (excerpt from another forum)


This is why you shouldn't use grease on a precision instrument:



It picks up crap and grinds it into the ground surfaces.

This is the most instructive post on this forum that I've read for a while. Thank you.

 

[Screwdriver]

Mmmm Mito Powervalve hmmmm drool drool....

It's a runner. One of these days I'll finish it off!

Needs the forks swapping and the brackets remaking (they are horrendous but the fit is very good), I'll replicate the on the flypress

I dare not show some of my early welding attempts on those brackets...

 

[God mode restorations]

Finally got my press in the shed...what a mission!!! But she is in and now being took apart for clean up ECT...

 

[God mode restorations]

The clean up of parts begins.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Just out of interest, what sort of pressure is exerted by these presses?

 

[God mode restorations]

Just out of interest, what sort of pressure is exerted by these presses?

Now on my knowledge on them. Is the number of flypress is equal to the tonnes it can excert. Mine being 8 tonne

 

[Screwdriver]

It depends entirely on the area of the tool I reckon. Is that 8 tons per square inch?? Probably give you that for a really hefty swing.

I would put them, seat of the pants, finger in the air, circa 4-6 tons compared to say an equivalent hydraulic press. Most of them are vastly overrated too. A "ten ton" jack doesn't necessarily equate to a ten ton press.

There must be a simple test for it I guess. Gonna go ask Google. Mines a Norton 6DB, nominally 6 tons. Whatever that means...

 

[Maker]

Area won't affect force, but it will affect pressure.

The force will be dependent on the mass of the weights, the length of the arms, how hard you throw it, the diameter of the screw and how long the tool decelerates for (That is, if you slam it into a piece of hardened steel, it'll stop almost immediately with enormous force whereas a lump of lead would deform and stop over a longer period with a lower average force). 2 12kg weights, on 600mm arms, spinning at 1 rpm, with a 50mm screw coming to a stop in 0.1 second would have an approximate average force of 55,000 N (Not 100% sure how you convert Newtons (force) to tonnes (mass), I think it's about 5.5t). No idea how accurate those figures are, just guessing.

If you were to actually measure the force with a load cell of some description, I think you'd see an initial enormous peak force (Maybe as much as 100"t") which would quickly drop off to a more reasonable sounding force, with the average being in the 5 to 6 tonne range.

It seems resistive load cells are very pricey, I wonder if you could make one from a hydraulic cylinder and a pressure sensor?

 

[Screwdriver]

Yes it's a nominal figure I suspect. I did try to make some calculations once but it relates to the pitch of the thread and the angular momentum of the weights plus whatever force you can apply via the lever. For example, a quarter turn of the handle provides no more than about 5mm of tool travel. That's a huge mechanical advantage already. In practice, you get a feel for "bouncing" the flywheel effect against the workpiece before winding it up a bit and giving it the heave-ho.

As you suggest, the instantaneous force could be gigantic. Using it with cold steel, I wouldn't want to punch more than say a half inch hole in a quarter inch plate - if that.

 

[God mode restorations]

Why oh why to people do this...is so difficult to find a tool that fits....instead they use a chisel and hammer. Its salvageable with some file work. But really pees me off.

 

[God mode restorations]

Well I have clean some parts. And dressed em as best as I can...

 

[Dieselman 63]

Watching with interest. I love these sort of 'light-heavy' bits of workshop kit, all made of cast iron and those machined screws are a marvel in their own right. I have had my eye on bench top rotary flypresses lately, it's either that or a power hacksaw for the next project. Nice work!