Arbor Press Question Advise

opaul

opaul

KNIFE MAKER
I have a HF arbor press and now have a need or would like to have a flaring tool attachment for flaring the ends of tubes for knife handles. Any of you guys have this attachment or advise you can share. The ram arm on my press doesn't have any threaded hole to mount one.
 
I've thought about building one myself. My thought was to build a "C" frame with a spring return top die and a fixed bottom. That gives me one hand to hold the knife and one to work the press. Then your press isn't modified for any other purpose.
 
I've seen people make a fixture to use with a bench vise for flaring thong tubes.
That way they had both sides if the handle secured.
 
Tracy carries them! https://usaknifemaker.com/tube-flaring-dies-for-fastening-handles.html

Make a holder on the arbor press ram..... and drill a hole in the rotating bottom plate...... easy!! :)

Here's some pics of mine....with kydex eyelet dies....

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IMPORTANT NOTE! Be VERY cautious flaring tubing in natural materials! Few of them will hold up with splitting! Flaring tubing is always safest on synthetics like G10, Micarta, etc. ;)
 
opaul said:
I have a HF arbor press and now have a need or would like to have a flaring tool attachment for flaring the ends of tubes for knife handles. Any of you guys have this attachment or advise you can share. The ram arm on my press doesn't have any threaded hole to mount one.
Click to expand...
I have the same Arbor press. I disassembled it at the end of the ram I drew an X, and drilled it out. I went to Harbor freight and bought a package of their hi powered magnets, stacked 2 in the hole. I know the flaring tool your talking about. I used the hole in my press for my Kydex dies. I also drilled the Arbor plate between holes and added the same magnets to hold the lower die. The dies slip in and out easily now. The ram will drill easily it is made from cast iron.
 
Ed's slip on top die fitting looks like a winner. Maybe even simpler than my spring return C frame idea. :)
 
I drilled out the ram for the die and a tapped hole on the side for a set screw, Eds fixture is the best way to go, then you don't have a hole in the ram when your pressing other things.
I never thought of what Ed uses there, I'm surprised the folks that sell the dies don't sell something like that to go with them.
 
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