Arbor Press score.

[T_Bone_TL]

Saw this "benchtop punch" on craigslist, got a real human being who responded when I replied to the ad, and spend $50 green cash money. 2-ton Arbor press from a company that (evidently) still makes them. Missing the usual press support, came with a wicked dull round punch & die and a somewhat less abused-looking but I haven't tried it square punch and die. Not that far from where it was born...just one state over. And has to be the ideal brand for nerds. Probably lacks the sheer punching power of a Roper-Whitney that was built specifically for that job, but one of many roles it can serve.

Perhaps someday I'll have the margins to paint it up to look half as nice as Samantha's old iron.

Right now I'm just trying to figure out if I have the margins to tile the bathroom floor (at least the piece under the toilet) before I finally put plumbing in, or if I just slap it in on bare concrete and then have to yank it out when I find time to tile, which I'd prefer to avoid.

 

[Lex P.]

Great score!

I have a Dake arbor press and stand that I got for free back before I retired. The company was downsizing there manufacturing floor and had a few newer ones they kept. Not that this one doesn’t work like new! It has been put to good use and saves a lot of frustration at times. I’ve used it for bearings to roll pins and beyond. Not sure about the pedigree of Dake vs other brands? Ha!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Among us antique machinery fans, Greenerd and Dake are the top names in arbor presses. Greenerd has been making presses since 1883, most of the time here in the northeast US. One of the great old machinery companies. Sometime in the '90's they merged or were bought by a Taiwan company, and now they distribute some import models, but still build the biggest industrial models here in Nashua, NH. The arbor presses you see in Harbor Freight, etc are all import copies of the Greenerd design.

Yours looks to be an older US made No.2. A fine old machine, well worth buying. It's a standard arbor press, which someone fitted up with a punch & die set. You can easily convert it to a fret press.

Dake is another fine American machine tool manufacturer, around since the 1940's. They are still in operation today, making benchtop arbor presses up to huge hydraulic presses.

My own arbor presses are imports. I will trade them for a Greenerd or a Dake if I get the opportunity.