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  #1  
Old 12-04-2003, 01:14 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Half ton Arbor Press Comparison

I have been using a Grizzly half ton arbor press for about 10 years. This week, I ordered two additional half ton arbor presses from Enco and I thought there were a few differences worth noting here.

First off let me say that either press seems more than capable of doing the basic job that you would expect from a small press like these. There are some differences between them though. Some of those differences will matter to some people and not to others.

First off, the ram on the Grizzly is stouter than on the Enco. The Grizzly's ram is 7/8 " square while the Enco ram is 3/4" square. Not a lot, but there you are.

The Grizzly ram has a hole in one end to accept tools like snap setters, blade straightening tools, and forming dies. You would need to drill and tap for a set screw in the Enco ram if you wanted this feature.



As you can see from the picture, the anvils that come with the presses are slightly different. The Enco anvil has 4 slots but 3 of them are the same size. Different sized slots are useful for selecting support under the work piece. The Grizzly has 3 slots, all different sizes, and a large work area which I find very useful.

Those are the primary and substantive differences. Less important are the cosmetic differences. If you look closely at the pivot on the Enco anvil you will see it is a roll pin. The Grizzly anvil has a larger diameter solid pin. Also, close inspection in the cut outs of the anvils will show chipped and ragged edges on the Enco unit and chamfered edges on the Grizzly unit. While none of this affects the use of these little presses I feel that these small differences are indicative of the overall quality control at the two factories where these were made and no doubt contribute to the additional price of the Grizzly.

So, which one should you buy? If you want to use tooling on the ram and you don't have the tools necessary to drill out and tap the ram then the Grizzly is the only choice. Sometimes, the Griz can be found on sale for $20 and I'd say it's definitely worth the extra $5. But, at it's usual price of $30 (twice the Enco price) you 'll need to decide if the heavier ram, improved workmanship, different anvil, and the tool holding ability are worth the extra money in your particular case......


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Last edited by Ray Rogers; 12-04-2003 at 05:25 PM.
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  #2  
Old 12-04-2003, 01:56 PM
Darren Ellis Darren Ellis is offline
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Hi Ray, great comparison, many thanks for taking the time to put that together. You know, sometimes, the fit and finish of a tool can just make it nicer to use.

I've got two arbor presses, one I have a cold stamp mounted in for stamping blades without the worry of double stamping, and the other I use solely for pen/pencil assembly. I suspect there are many uses for arbor presses that I don't currently use. When you have the time, could you post the different uses you find for yours and what tooling you've adapted or made for them?

-Darren


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  #3  
Old 12-04-2003, 05:26 PM
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I haven't really had to make much tooling to use the press the way I need to use it. For instance, the press works just fine out of the box for pressing bearings into my folder blades. All that requires is the flat end of the ram and the proper sized slot in the anvil under the blade.

The press is also used to press in the blade stop bar in my folders. Again, nothing special needed for that.



In the picture above you can see the press being used to install the pivot into one side of the knife (the picture is posed for this discussion, normally the opposite side of the knife would be used). The highly complex and sophisticated tool that I made to assist in this process is that block of aluminum under the knife parts. The sides of the aluminum bar are flat and very parallel. Into the face of the aluminum bar a perpendicular hole has been drilled. The hole is precisely fitted to the diameter of the pivot so that it guides the pivot as the ram pushes it home. This provides some guarantee that the pivot will be perpendicular to the side of the knife as we would want it to be.



In this picture, the press is used to straighten a blade. Three small sections of half inch drill rod are used to concentrate the pressure at the desired points. The two pieces on the bottom have a flat area on them so that they won't roll away too easily. Some day, I plan to attach the top piece to the ram. This is why I bought the two Enco units - so that they can be set up permanently for blade straightening. My shop occupies three buildings (not counting the smithy) and heat treating is done in two of those locations, thus two presses. The presses work much better when bolted to a table, otherwise I'd just move it to where I needed it.



In the third picture the press is set up to press a rivet of the type used to assemble kydex sheaths. The ram has been reversed so that the tapped end is available. Into that end of the ram, an ordinary snap setting tool has been secured. So, I didn't have to build anything to use the Grizzly press for setting snaps and rivets. All I have to do is insert the correct setting tool and place the matching anvil underneath.

There are surely many other applications for these versitile little presses. Feel free to jump in here and tell us how they are used in your shop.....


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Last edited by Ray Rogers; 12-04-2003 at 05:31 PM.
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Old 12-05-2003, 01:09 PM
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Jeremy Krammes Jeremy Krammes is offline
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Thanks Ray, for this thread. I was thinking of getting a press in the future for setting pins. This will help alot.

Jeremy


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  #5  
Old 12-05-2003, 01:17 PM
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Originally posted by Jeremy Krammes
Thanks Ray, for this thread. I was thinking of getting a press in the future for setting pins. This will help alot.

Jeremy
Same here Ray. Thanks. I was actually going to buy the Enco model this week. Now I'm all conflicted. he he.

-Ben
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  #6  
Old 12-05-2003, 03:19 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Ben,

Well, no need to get all conflicted about it. I just checked the Grizzly site to see if their press might be on sale but it's not. Worse yet, they apparently are not building them like mine anymore - guess I should have checked that sooner. Now, their anvil appears similar to the Enco anvil. It has 4 slots and, as best I can tell from the picture, they are in only two sizes now. Most important, the ram is no longer tapped.

So, the ram may still be larger or it may not and I'm confident that the level of workmanship and finishing is better than the Enco unit but now it appears that is the only thing to consider when deciding whether or not to spend twice the money ......


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Old 12-05-2003, 04:00 PM
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Messinger Messinger is offline
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Thanks Ray. The tapped ram was really the biggest consideration. Sound's like I'll be getting the Enco and tapping it myself. No big deal. Thanks again. I love it when people post this sort of stuff. It's always helpful.

-Ben
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  #8  
Old 12-16-2003, 06:37 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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One last follow up on the Enco arbor press. I just finished drilling and tapping both of mine. It was easy to do and required only a drill press and a tap.



I also made a simple jig for straightening blades and titanium liners. All that was needed was some drill rod. As you can see, the bottom part is simply two pieces of half inch rod connected by a piece of 3/16th. The connecting rod is a slip fit so it is easy to adjust the distance between the rods. It also prevents the rods from rolling off the press. The ends of the connecting rod are slightly peened so the 3 pieces can't fall apart.

The top piece of half inch has a short piece of rod pressed into a shallow hole so that the tool forms a T. The base of the T is held in the ram by the screw at the front .......


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Last edited by Ray Rogers; 12-16-2003 at 06:40 PM.
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  #9  
Old 12-16-2003, 07:15 PM
MJ Hofbauer MJ Hofbauer is offline
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For anyone interested in a third option, theres a Central Machinery one being sold by Harbor Freight for $26.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3551

Looks to be comparible to the Enco from Ray's description, which I'd prefer more features if I paid more. But it's another press, and just thought I post it for an additional option. -MJ
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Old 12-16-2003, 08:07 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Thanks for listing still another source for these useful little tools. Any place that sells tools probably has this same press or one very similar.

From the specifications and the the picture I would say that the HF press is virtually identical to the Enco press but it costs nearly twice as much. If someone wanted to spend that much, the Grizzly press is only $3 more and has much better finsih work.

As long as we have to modify it anyway, it's going to be very difficult to beat the Enco press at $15 ........


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Old 01-04-2006, 11:05 AM
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i go for the cheepest one i can find drill out and tap and i have two set up i use them for leather work and one is suposed to stay at home one is for shows (i some times do on site leather work) but its just so easy to set them both up next to eachother one with a punch and wood block and the other with the rivit seter or gromit or what have you (i have a therd one ill get to taping one of thees days so i can leave one in the show box for a change) i have a 1 ton foot operated arbor press in the knife shop that works wonders for seting pins first time i used it i was asking why i ever hand peend pins it even made the bolsters nice and ftat to the tang :-) its my favorit light press right now


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