Finished my embossing press...light touch needed.

[Tallbald]

Finished my press to do borders with my home made stamps. $45 invested. Removable cutting board plastic surface, and can use now for setting snaps too I think. Mounted on oak board. Works with relatively modest pressure even on some 1/2 inch stamps I made. A little drilling and tapping. Deburring and paint. Have a good day my friends. Don

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Wow, that turned out nice, I've been thinking of getting one of those from Harbor Freight, just might have to do that, at least for the larger 3-D stamps, and maybe my makers mark stamps. I like the way you cleaned it up and painted it, it will be much easier to keep clean now.

               Thanks for sharing pard

                   tEN wOLVES

[Tallbald]

OK. here's what I did, if it helps somebody. I typed this all in when i first tried to post but the pix were too big. There's a 20% off coupon floating around so instead of $50 it was $40ish. Dis-assembled, de-burred, lightly countersunk holes. Drilled a 5/16 inch hole 1 inch deep centered  in end of ram. 1/4-20 tapped hole from right side to secure stamp in ram (mine are 5/16 diameter bolts, made into stamps). Polish ram with 800 grit. Degrease overall, tape off and repaint factory painted surfaces. Cut radiused block to fill radiused area under ram, locate and drill/insert pin to keep block from moving out when in use. Drill a corresponding hole in base to accept the pin, best located when the press is clamped to the base, then removed for base  drilling. Cut a suitable piece of that waxy feeling type plastic cutting board for the table and attach it with two screws to the block. Made a locking screw out of a short hex head bolt  secured to a wood head.When assembled, the block/table can be lifted up and out to remove, and the iron factory table can be put in for other uses. If I don't use this for leatherwork (I can't envision why I won't though), I can still use it in other workshop applications. Thanks all, as always. Don

[KidTerico]

Tallbald nice finished project. Hope it does everything you need done. KT

[Tallbald]

I guess I should have picked up our kitchen before taking photos. Biscuits, sausage, scrambled eggs and sausage gravy for breakfast. Sorry. Don

[Ned Buckshot]

YUM,YUM!!!!!!!!

Ned

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

Ok, I will admit that is a real nice piece of work and a great how to included at no extra charge, but ...

Lets see a piece of leather (scrap) stamped with that great piece of workmanship. 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Looks like a good press. I like the idea. Thanks for sharing, pard.

[bedbugbilly]

Tallbald - great job!  I've been planning on picking up one of these presses for over a month - just haven't gotten to HF yet.  The modifications you made are great!  You really did a nice job of it.  I know from reading your posts that you make many of your stamps.  Any chance you can show us a couple of 'em and a sample of the embossing?  Thanks for sharing your ideas . . . we'll be anxious to hear how it works for you!        And . . . oh . . .  your menu for breakfast sounds great!  What time is the coffee usually ready?   

[Johnny McCrae]

Howdy Tallbald,

What a great idea! You did an excellent job of modifying and describing the Press. I may have to try one of these myself. Thanks for sha.ring this with us

[Slowhand Bob]

Now to figure an adjustable pointer so you can do repetitive edge borders with it. 

[Tallbald]

i'm not sure what you are meaning slowhand. Like a fence to guide my projects? Or a pointer mounted to the frame of the arbor that essentially gives a guide on projects? Hmmm. sounds interesting and useful. Don

[Cliff Fendley]

You did a really good job on that. What a great idea!

How hard is it to keep a good even impression? Can you feel it pretty well?

Thanks for sharing

[Driften]

Good Job! You can also use it for rivets. I have seen them setup for rivets on Kydex and leather rivets are not much different and are done the same way.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Tallbald;  Is that press a 1-tonner?  I see that HF has them in both 1-ton & 1/2-ton, and the Bellingham store is only a 1/2 hour cross the border.

[Slowhand Bob]

You could be right both ways, it could be done as a fence and/or space marker.  Fences are ok for belts and such but I prefer something smaller to limit travel for most of the projects with irregular edges.  Look at the roller type guides on sewing machines and duplicate that for your press.  I think guides help speed the work and save layout marks on the leather.  It should be fairly easy to figure out if they are mounted to the plastic base plate, rather than the press itself.  Check back on some of our older posts and you will also find where we talked a small bit on converting hydraulic presses for heavier duty leather work.  My old day job was railroading  and I already miss the access to heavy old steel laying about everywhere for my govt projects!

[Tallbald]

Sorry folks, I didn't know this thread had any new comments. I chose the one ton model for the extra throat depth and ram height. It let me cut the length of the stamps long enough to still use them by hand if I must. As a heads up, I got my new issue of The American Rifleman yesterday and page 73 has the cherished 20% off one item coupon I used to get the press for about $40. Thanks for the suggestion about a guide. I think an adjustable post type guide could be made fairly easily, and after I finish my wife's holster, I'll likely work on just such a thing.  And thanks all for the suggestion about a resizing program. I had tried going to the Microsoft and other sites, but things seemed to get complicated pretty quickly, and I was concerned about bringing in some virus. I guess I'll have to enlist my 24 year old son for help. Don.