Arbor Presses!

[weaponepsilon]

Hey I found a guy who regularly sell arbor presses on ebay for under $20! These are the same 1/2 ton ones that Stewmac sells for over $100. Check him out, I got mine on the way.

[thegarehanman]

I bought mine for $20 off of harbor freight. The only catch is that you have to bore two holes in the shaft if you want to use stewmac's caul on it. You need a hole for the actual caul to fit into, then you need another tapped hole for a set screw to keep the caul in. It was a little laborious to drill the hole for the caul, but it only took 10 minutes and was well worth the money saved.

[weaponepsilon]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I have my dads drill press to utilize for the drilling out. I am combining this project with the plans from Jay 5's fret press caul. That way I can stick it to Stewmac. I will also be adapting those plans to build versions of Stewmac's other fretting jigs.

[soapbarstrat]

I thought the StewMac one is 1 ton

[thegarehanman]

Mine's a half ton, and I'm sure if I used the full amount of force it's capable of, I could send the fret into the slot and out the back of the neck. So I couldn't see why you'd need a full ton press.

[soapbarstrat]

That's not the issue. I think StewMac likes the 1 ton, because of the amount of space it allows the neck to sit on.

[thegarehanman]

That's not the issue. I think StewMac likes the 1 ton, because of the amount of space it allows the neck to sit on.

That's possible. The clearence has never been an issue for me though. I fret my necks before they're attached.

[soapbarstrat]

Ok, my curiosity got the best of me. I watched that part of the Erlewine fretting video, and Brian Galloup is using the arbor press and says : "This is a one ton press ya know. You could do damage"

Just want to clarify, because if someone says they've found an equivalent to a StewMac tool, I think most would like to know if it is *exactly* the same, and if not, what the difference is. At least I like to know.

[weaponepsilon]

Look at the picture closely and tell me its not similar. Plus, if you have to have it, the guy also sells 1 ton. I would rather take my chance on a 1/2 ton than run the probability of damaging a fretboard with a 1 ton.

[Guitarfrenzy]

This subject has been discussed many times. I modified my own arbor press a long time ago, the same way as you guys are talking.

I Wanna Build My Own Arbor Fret Press (March 28, 2004)

Arbor Press (Aug 11, 2004)

You bore a 3/8" hole at the bottom of the arbor ram and also you'll need to machine out a place for a setscrew that will hold the press caul in. If you can't do this, then you could go to a local machine shop and tell them what you need done. It will still be alot cheaper than buying their press system. Good luck.

I think what soapbar is talking about as much as anything is the base dimension, which on the 1 ton press is (5'' x 11'') compared to the 1/2 ton which is (4'' x 9-1/2'').