i wanna build my own fret press

[Curtis P]

I figure, if you look at the jaws fret press from warmoth, its just like a hand vice grip with some fancy ends, so if i go to canadian tire, buy a set of 10 inch vice grips and then TIG or MIG weld (if its aluminum or not) my own fancy jaws for the neck and then the fret itself, it should work, right?

if i do it, i will borrow my friends camera and show y'all

Curtis

[BLS]

Yeh ive been wanting to do this also. I got a few ideas around here but id like to see what yours is. Thers no way im spending the stewmac price for a arbor press or those jaws

[Guitarfrenzy]

Yeah I just bought the Fret Arbor Set for around 45 dollars from Stew and bought a 1 ton arbor press from Harbor Freight for 40 dollars. The only thing is, you will need to have the ram machined out for the arbor and a set screw hole drilled and tapped to accept the 3/8" Fret Arbor. I think that if you couldn't do it yourself you could get a machine shop to do it for at the most 10 dollars. So that still beats the 129.50 that Stew Mac wants for the whole system. I've also thought about building some of those Fret Press Jaws, let us know how yours turns out.

[JohnJohn]

It should work.Someone had a tool a few years ago something like this.It shouldn't be too hard,a large jaw vise grip clamp,(I forget what the box shaped ones they use for welding are called),with a series of presses for the top and a couple of different pieces for neck shapes on the bottom.Aircraft aluminum for the arbours is fairly simple to work with.

Loads of pics would be cool.Can't wait to see the updates.

A friend of mine built a press using the folding part of a heavy duty display stand mounted on a cradle,worked pretty good.