Bolster plate for Famco 13R Arbor Press

[MyLilMule]

I bought this Famco 13R 4 ton arbor press at auction. Got it for a really good price. But this style has a larger "throat" than most I have seen (yes, this is factory. It's more obvious from the bottom) and has no obvious way to use a bolster plate (daisy wheel). Which is fine, but I think it would be nice to have one just the same. These were not a very popular style - don't see many of them out there - which might be why the hammer price was pretty low. I'm just curious if anyone else may have one or seen one adapted with a bolster plate. Just want to get some ideas should I choose to try and make one.

 

[Martin W]

Nice find! How many ton is that?
Looks like a plate was bolted to it before. If you have some 5/8" plate you could make a bottom plate with a center pivot out farther and make your own daisy wheel. Would be reversed to a Greenerd, but actually may be stronger.
Martin

 

[MrWhoopee]

Looks short, what is the height under the ram?

 

[MyLilMule]

Looks short, what is the height under the ram?

11" IIRC

 

[jetlag]

The downside of those armature-style arbor presses is the limited height under the ram. You could build a base with a second shelf about 6" below the OEM base, and adapt a section of steel bar stock that could be installed or removed from the bottom of the ram, as needed.

There's enough ram leverage to handle broaching activities, if you could add a little vertical capacity. My ratcheting arbor press has 16" below the ram, and I primarily use it for broaching. I have a 3 ton plain arbor press for rebuilding bearings and other similar work, and it's got about 11 inches below the ram.

 

[Jake M]

I bought this Famco 13R 4 ton arbor press at auction. Got it for a really good price. But this style has a larger "throat" than most I have seen (yes, this is factory. It's more obvious from the bottom) and has no obvious way to use a bolster plate (daisy wheel). Which is fine, but I think it would be nice to have one just the same. These were not a very popular style - don't see many of them out there - which might be why the hammer price was pretty low. I'm just curious if anyone else may have one or seen one adapted with a bolster plate. Just want to get some ideas should I choose to try and make one.

Given the design of that press, I'd skip the "daisy wheel" approach. Were it me, I'd take advantage of the four mounting holes, and screw down a plate. Something easy to remove though, as you WILL think of something else you want to do..... But I'd lay a plate across that with a decent sized hole. What's that, a three or for ton press? Half inch maybe? Five eighths? Once that's in place to act as an "apron" on a general purpose press, you could knock out simple, easy much thinner smaller "plates" to "size" the hole from job to job. I wouldn't try to make anything fancy or complecated. There's too many ways to use that to lock it down.