[TheForge] Kick Press

[Jay Hayes]

Bob, I have two kick presses. Both have their own cast iron base. They 
are indeed very useful for lots of things. In some ways I prefer them to 
a fly press because you have booth hands free to hold the work and or 
tooling.

Right now, my smaller kick press is set up for a job bending little 
clips like a mini press brake.  I'm using my larger hick press like a 
treadle hammer to do veining on a bunch of leaves that are being forged 
for a railing job. It is very easy to control the hit and it has a lot 
of power. I can knock out a leaf with several hundred hits in no time. 
One hand guides the work while the other guides the punch, as I sit on a 
stool and barely have to exert any force with my foot to deliver a each 
blow. 

The kick press can be fitted with all sorts of tooling. A fixed hammer 
head on the ram and a lower doming die makes it a snap to dish out a 
blank into a bowl, hot or cold. I also have a bunch of die sets that are 
set up for various other jobs that either stamp out small widgets or do 
punching, riveting, forging, or embossing. The die sets allow matched 
tooling to be held in precise alignment and the whole setup can be 
changed out quickly. Spring tooling can also be used fixed or of hand.

Jay

Bob Ehrenberger wrote:
> A couple years ago when I was visiting a friend's shop I was admiring his 
> kick press, he said that they show up at the local industrial auctions where 
> he lives.  I told him that I wouldn't mind having one if he could pick one 
> up cheap (like $50 or less).  I hosted BAM's hammer-in yesterday and he 
> showed up early and said he had something for me.  There was a kick press in 
> the back of his pick-up. He had gone to an auction and they couldn't get a 
> bid on it so the auctioneer added it to a pile of stuff that Don wanted. He 
> ended up with the pile and the press, only then did he remember that I 
> wanted one.  Since he basically got it free he said I just owed him for 
> hauling it and we could work out some kind of trade.  Well, later on he was 
> talking about how much work it was to ring out fleeces (his wife is into 
> fiber) and it sure would be nice to have a working wringer washer. It just 
> happens I had an old Maytag in the barn, so the deal was done.
>
> Before I can use the press, I need to make a stand for it, and it has no 
> tooling. I was thinking that it would be good for sheet metal work.  Do any 
> of you have a kick press, and what kind of tooling do you use with it?
>
> Robert Ehrenberger
> Shelbyville, Mo.
> eforge at centurytel.net
>
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