Sheet Metal tools, Show me your Guillotines

[DaveH]

Rick,

Good stuff, very useful tool to have.
Good job on the videos

DaveH

[Rickabilly]

Hello Darren and Dave,
The quick smooth action comes from the inertia of the fly weights combined with the four start big pitch square thread, while it does look like a big G clamp there is so much more at play, the power involved comes from the twenty or so pounds of "flying" weights, imagine the force from a twenty pound hammer, this force is then multiplied through the screw thread so that the normal hammer style impact is also controlled for you, no need to guide the hammer means you can really just put your whole body into supplying power and the punch will hit on target every time.

As the weights turn on about a four foot diameter and You use about a third of a turn to get full speed that is roughly equal to a four foot swing of a twenty pound hammer at the end of which all the force and power is exerted instantaneously, and the force from the four feet of the swing is multiplied by the stroke of the ram which is about an inch, so a multiplication of 48:1,

I will try to get a wider shot of the action but being on my own makes it hard to get enough perspective from a camera.

Best Regards
Rick

[Mayhem]

If you lay the camera under the ram we should be able to see the weights swing

[stevec]

I'd like to see a wider shot. I can't get rid of the mental picture of one of those weights smacking me in the bean as I "control the impact"

[Rickabilly]

It's the handle you've gotta watch the weights are a long way up, well over my 5'8" but the handle will take my ear out badly if I'm not careful, the biggest risk is leaving the Ram up when doing a tool change, if it starts to fall under it's own weight which it will, it moves absolutely silently and that handle has all the force of a 20 pound hammer as well, so I use a bungee cord to loop around the handle and hold it back to the wall, if needed I can still pull a stroke with the bungee hooked up but it saves my ear and fingers when setting up so it is a valuable safety feature.

Once setup and when using it it is good practice to always have one hand on the handle, which is a very effective way of retaining your fingers and retain them in a functioning condition.

Best Regards
Rick

[Mike E.]

Reviving an old thread here.

Finally found a great deal and purchased a Denbeigh #6 Flypress on a cast iron stand.  It appears to be just like Rick's, the one in post number 12 on this thread. I've been wanting a large press for awhile now, but not one so big that it requires two people to operate it, as space is going to be limited and metal working is just a hobby for me.

I've seen quite a few nice presses for sale on the internet, but the reasonably priced ones always have been too far away and the sellers not willing to ship them. Fortunately this one is only a couple of hours away and should be quite an adventure retrieving and getting it into and out of my van.  Will post some photos when I collect it next week.

[castellated nut]

(07-06-2012, 04:59 PM)Rickabilly Wrote: Well, Sheet metal working is fun too.
I have a load of Sheet metal gear and I figure Y'all probably do too.
As with much of my gear it's a bit "Hardcore" all bought for hobby use but now pressed into service in my new business.

So here's my Guillotine,
It's good for 1/8" Stainless Sheet x 6 feet long, Make no mistake it is overkill but once you get used to cutting heavy sheet on a Guillotine it is real hard to go back.



Best Regards
Rick

Thanks Rick for the look-see of your Guillotine, I'm just envious of the space in which you have to accommodate it. Here's a picture of my space saving guillotine, just in case you ever want to swap .
   

Good looking guillotine by the way.

john

[Mike E.]

Its been 3 weeks of pretty foul weather here, but today was nice enough to make the long road trip to pick up the flypress. The seller was a real nice guy and made it easy to collect by disassembling and moving everything to the front of his paved driveway. He even borrowed an engine hoist so I didn't have to bring one which made it a very painless matter to lift the cast iron stand and press into my van. The press came complete with its original stand and accessories, which seems rare to find nowadays. Hopefully I'll have it cleaned up and looking as nice as Rick's in a couple of months.

I've noted that with the renewed interest there seems to be in Blacksmithing, the larger models are becoming very desirable and used prices have risen dramatically. New presses, which are apparently only made in India and exported are going for thousands of dollars now.

  

[Dr Stan]

You may want to check out Anvil Fire for blacksmithing tools & equipment.  It has plans for a drop hammer I'd planed to build before I decided my hands already suffered from too much abuse.  Very good site IMHO.

One of these days I'll build myself another aluminum & bronze foundry.   Natural gas fired this time instead of coal.

[Mike E.]

(02-13-2019, 11:37 PM)Dr Stan Wrote: You may want to check out Anvil Fire for blacksmithing tools & equipment.  It has plans for a drop hammer I'd planed to build before I decided my hands already suffered from too much abuse.  Very good site IMHO.

One of these days I'll build myself another aluminum & bronze foundry.   Natural gas fired this time instead of coal.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look on the site. I know how your feeling, as my hands are the same and also now suffer from arthritis, but I don't intend to give up on any of my life interests until the day I can't wipe my posterior by myself; and hopefully that's not anytime soon, lol.