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View Full Version : New to me shop tool - vintage FAMCO arbor press


Gumball
08-21-2018, 10:18 AM
Just found this locally - it's very early (maybe 1930s) FAMCO 3 1/2R arbor press. The "R" designates it as a ratcheting design and the overall rating is 5 tons. Got it with two press plates and the original stand for 350 bucks. Certainly a bit stronger than needed for anything I'll tackle, but the wide throat will make it ideal for things like control arm bushings and such.

You local builders (northern Illinois - an hour or so west of Chicago) are always welcome to drop by and use the lift or machine shop.

..... and yeah, it's as big as it looks in the pic.

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/New%20Arbor%20Press_zpseslyg6c9.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/New%20Arbor%20Press_zpseslyg6c9.jpg.html)
Clover
08-21-2018, 10:26 AM
Awesome, I bet that thing is still better then what the make today and it will last forever.
Fixit
09-20-2018, 09:41 PM
Gotta love old tools... that sucker must weigh in at about 300.
turbomacncheese
09-21-2018, 10:31 PM
Awesome, I bet that thing is still better then what the make today and it will last forever.

Better than my harbor freight hydraulics???? Say it ain't so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice press, though, and even nicer space for it!
idf
09-22-2018, 10:45 AM
[QUOTE=turbomacncheese;340794]Better than my harbor freight hydraulics???? Say it ain't so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another vintage press. Not sure why photo rotates 90 degrees when inserted.

93979
turbomacncheese
09-22-2018, 01:21 PM
I love old stuff like this. Don't have any of it, personally, but the shop I used to work in (part time) had a machine we used to surface heads and flywheels that was built in the 20s. I had to realign my perception of what "precision" meant back then. I had always assumed that measuring stuff in the thousandths of an inch and less was much more recent. Hey, I was younger.

As for the photos, I had an issue with my phone doing that when I turned off the auto-rotate. I would turn my phone to get a better perspective, but the pos was still marking the bottom of the phone as the bottom of the picture. Other than that, I don't have any ideas either.