Hello all,
I want to suggest an alternative to the arbour press, one of my personal favourites the fly press, they have a similar basic design to the arbour press but instead of the rack and pinion using a four start thread on a vertical axis, used simply as a screw press they have a similar mechanical advantage, but in addition they have two fly weights (they look like cannon balls) mounted on tapered spikes on each end of the horizontal swinging arm. To make use of these you simply lift the ram off of the work a little by backing the swing arm up, then pull sharply even my little Sweeney and Blocksidge no2 baby model has more than about 20lbs of fly weight, which means that a good hard pull will give about 40% more force than using an arbour press and then pounding on the end of the handle with a 12lb sledge hammer, then they also made the big models, they also have a massive variety of tooling for punching, forming, pressing, bending, hot and cold forging etc and very effective stop for setting finishing depth. I can't imagine working in a shop without one nowadays, funny really considering that the engineering world seems to have forgotten their efficiency let alone their charm as a Victorian hangover. Apparently they are being made again but only in India, I suppose for use in developing countries where power isn't always readily available. Lucky folk them, with Engineering challenges a plenty and the ability to solve them using only resourceful thinking and muscle power, rather than being limited by convention.
Rick