hand-operated machine press with a rack-and-pinion-driven ram
Modifications
Inexpensive one-ton arbor presses from mass-market retailers like Harbor Freight are often modified for use as hardware presses in various ways:
- drilling shaft holes with set screws to hold hardware setting tools
- drilling and tapping holes to hold threaded tools
- adding a large bar magnet to the striking face of the ram to hold tools
- replace the rotating base with a solid plates of steel
- adding a poly cutting board to cover the base