Flypress Revival
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- The workshop has recently acquired two super new (old) metalworking machines, a giant bench shear and a flypress. In this video we concentrate on the flypress and get it stripped down, cleaned up and ready for work. Along the way I'll explain how it works and why it's so great!
Next video will be all about the tooling and in the one after that, I'll put the press to use making an axe.
More information on the Benson company, manufacturer of the flypress, can be found in the links below:
www.lathes.co....
www.gracesguid...
www.g8ehx.uk/W...
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Thanks to my patrons Tony and Andy for providing some info on the flypress maker. Benson was active at Robin Hood Works, Nottingham, from 1855 to 1963. The web links they gave me are in the video description.
Thanks also to my mum who has come up with the best suggestion yet for the meaning of the small label - BRD - British Rail Depot?
Anymore information or guesses most welcome!
Big ruddy driver
www.g8ehx.uk/W%20Benson/benson/william_benson.htm
_Bang Ram Done_
There is an entire history about this company compiled by the grandson of the founder. For some reason I'm unable to copy the link. So, if you're interested I found the site as follows:
1) Enter the following into Google: "william benson limited nottingham fly press" and submit it ( don't include the quotation marks;
2) When the page opens click on the "Images" tab;
3) When the Images page opens navigate to a picture of a hand drawn floor plan titled "G8EHX" and click on the image and then the "VISIT" button.
This will take you to the web site. The site is full of interesting facts and information and even includes a picture of your fly press which is referred to as a "screw press".
Anyhow, hope this info proves useful and thanks for sharing the video.
I think whoever owned that press in the past would be happy knowing you got hold of it and are putting it to good use rather than having it melted down as scrap.
I think the old boy who was the previous owner would be chuffed to bits to see that lovely tool being looked after and used. Nice job buddy.
"In the brambles..They've got a similar storage system to me here" 😂😂😂 What a find two awesome looking useful tools saved from scrap great job 👍👍
Since I saw my first Ironthumper video where Land-Rover parts were harvested out of the brambles I started a brambles-hedge just to make sure Land-Rover parts and other heavy metal things would start to grow in my garden, too. It worked. My brambles are full of things. Thanks Maximus!
Excellent comment made me chuckle @@manfredschmalbach9023
It is a thing of beauty and is redolent of an age when England was still an industrial nation.
With all the sh*t going on in the world, your channel is my mental detox and salvation, I could watch you refurb tools & machinery all day long. Thanks Max! 👊🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Max, regarding this company, it was closed in 1963,,, the site was located in St Anne's part of Nottingham city (now a housing estate, Salford Gardens area), and it spanned over a few factory sites within that area of the city... The tag B Rd ''could'' be referring to the Bridgegate Road plant which was part of the company. Bridgegate road is no longer there, but a footpath is still there in the original layout of Bridgegate road next to Salford Gardens.
Interesting possibility, thanks!
The tag probably an asset inventory number- although I suspect the press was pretty immune to your typical petty thief!
A mate of mine has got a small lathe made by Benson of Nottingham. Good on yer for resurrecting that flypress. I'd be tempted to rub a bit of fine emery over that asset tag, very often they were brass.
I'd watch you restore old tools all day. Very satisfying
Dito!
You can almost feel it relaxing and saying….”yes, I’m home now!”
We used to have a line of these at an old fashioned sheet metal place where I used to work in the last century, if I was lucky, I could get from one end of the room to the other without bashing my head on every one of the balls, they were at just the right height :)
After about 4 years there, I developed a giant right arm. Happy days
What a gorgeous bit of kit. Very happy it was rescued!
Nice to see the press cared for again. I have many memories of using such a press to punch out parts for batteries in a research and development environment. I also gave myself a very nasty bang on the head by standing too near the ball on the top arm, while using the press ! ! 😀🇬🇧
Recently got gifted one for the sum of £20 from a 91yr old retired welder who said he had no use for it, neither have i but i wasn't letting it go for that money, now ive got to come up with a use for it
Great job! I often think we are just custodians of these old tools, so well made they last for generations. I am often using the flypress, I find them particularly good for straightening bent shafts- straightened a few cams and cranks out of veteran motors very successfully like that!
Love your channel as a fellow stationary engine collector 🎉
Great find. I still use my NORTON flypress at my work. Self employed blacksmith up in Northumberland
👍🏻
I always enjoy your videos, Max, but this one was special. Mainly we could all see from the very start how happy you were to have received these additions to your workshop.
If only the previous owner could have seen you working on the flypress, I am sure he would have been nodding in approval of your labours.....
As an apprentice, I once had to turn a new 1 3/4 Whitworth split bush for a fly-press. That was fun!
I acquired a fly press from a steam train restoration workshop. Good price, but half of the split nut is missing. Now need to buy a lathe and learn how to use it. Another retirement project in waiting....
@@Fatcatbaz Sounds like a good project. Not done any machining for 30 years now, but would love to. I'll be cheering you on!
Guess it's one of life's mysteries how a mass of cold steel can warm a man's heart, eh? A taller, lighter version of these was used in the bookbinding industry for uniform or oversized hardcover volumes. With an acme thread somewhat smaller than the monster you've got here, far more PSI than equivalent hydraulic presses can be delivered. With a tall enough opening and enough backing boards (fixtures), 48 or more volumes can be pressed simultaneously. In the Philippines, for example, where a lot of Bibles are still published with manual methods, you might see a standing press, as they are called, towering well over the head of a pressman! And you're absolutely right about excess or too thick grease being a bad choice for smooth operation. Thanks for your wonderful presentation!
I have a love of old machinery, it doesn't matter whether I know what it does or whether I have a use for it. It's just nice knowing you are keeping things safe. Recently found an old horse drawn plough in some undergrowth, all polished and clean on display now lol
We used to have a similar size press in the Norweb fitting shop ...... all long gone now and turned into flats, but back in the 80's it was a place of majic!
It was almost AMSR watching the press wind itself gently down. I could imagine the old guy watching with a big grin!
I first saw a flypress in 1961, behind the garage where my father kept his car and had it serviced etc there was a large wooden building in which there was a number of flypresses, one in the door way was making washers and the one behind was making louvers in sheet metal, everything being made was for the PYE factory just up the road. I got my own flypress in 1994, A Denbigh No.8 made my own tooling for it to manufacture bits for horses, specifically western riding bits. Like an idiot I gave it away when I retired 2009.
Well Max your very lucky to have been given such great bits of kit I must say I cannot approve more of this video. The table top you done was absolutely mega course you got a large piece of 1 inch thick steel plate kicking about 😂 we got a big number 6 fly press at work and my boss cleverly had a hole cut in the center of the table top as ours has a large pass through hole in the base of the fly press. So our table top also has a large hole in it too. It comes in handy whenever your needing to pass a long shaft though to press a bearing off or straighten out a tee joint on the end of some pipe anything like that. I'd suggest if yours has a through hole in the base you should cut yourself a hole in your table top also so you can do the same 👍
I can’t be the only one who remembers a fly press by being smacked on the head by the weights.😂
Excellent job, was very enjoyable to watch. So satisfying to see a discarded piece of equipment saved and made useful again.
I know you said you weren't going to make it all shiny, but when you were oiling it and the lovely black had a bit of luster, I thought, it does look beautiful. That you made it work and so smoothly is the main thing. Happy with you!
When I was an apprentice we tested a fellow apprentice's steel toe cap boots in the fly press 🤨 the fly press won. 😆👍
Great to see another piece of 'old machinery ' saved for another generation. But please Max wear some protection on your hands, having been on the end of some swarf, it hurts.
I came for the Kermit project but stayed for the rest.
Thank you for doing what you do & keep on keeping on 🤘
I was waiting for you to give the fly press a little hug when you told the sad assumed story of it's trip to the scrap yard "there, there, you're safe now", I would have. Maybe that happened off camera ;P
Nice ; as an old metal worker have seen this tool but never knew it's versatileit ; thanks ever so much from old New Orleans 😎 !
Great video. Always nice to see old machinery saved from the scrap pile
Excellent addition to your workshop, and what an elegant casting. Visual pollution seems rife to me these days. Thank your for posting, very much appreciated.
Brilliant. What an amazing way you have of explaining exactly what you're doing & WHY. It had me hooked. Your passion really comes thru - Looking forward to the next stage.
With all the shite going on in our once proud country , it cheered me up and no doubt many others to see you rescue that flypress !. Bloody brilliant.
I once worked at a landrover specialist. Someone bought a Mitsubishi in with a failed wheel bearing. We had to weld up a giant slide hammer to pull the half shaft out. The “hammer” was the ball off of a fly press about 50% bigger than that beauty you have there. It wasn’t pretty but it worked!
Half inch Whitworth? Wow. That takes me back. When I started mucking about with my Dad's tool kit (which he'd "inherited" from his Dad) in the early 70s, it was all AF and Whitworth. Hardly ever saw metric until I started work on our cars in the late 80s.
What a wonderful piece of kit. I had never heard of such a device, but now I know you can get a heavy duty, precision-engineered tool and a home gym all in one.
Great stuff, thank-you. I'd love to see you restore more old industrial machinary similar to Fred Dibnah's work. I think their would be a big market for such videos.
Most enjoyable Max. I'm amazed at the condition of that weighbridge deck after a decade or more unprotected. I wish I had a lump for my workbench. Best wishes.
Great video and great old piece of equipment. Have a good week. Marc from Australia 🇦🇺
Very Jealous, your workshop is very simple and practical like I want with an old Laithe & Milling Machine can make or modify just about anything.😊
I love old machinery because it built strong and to last. I am a machinist retired now at 74. I like your channel because you care about old machinery too and have the skills to get it in good shape. Watching from Texas a new subscriber.
Great Video. I think a mechanical/electrical engineering student would learn more from you in four weeks on the job than a year at University. I wonder what they would make of towing a weighbridge platform out of a hedge? You must have the highest value hedge (fund) in the country. Be well.
Very nice casting on that fly press.
Great to see such a lovely piece in a happy new home with a new custodian.
Superb press great video, where the screw joins the ram and you put extra washer in you need to put a small amount of oil in this acts as a shock absorber. Told to me many years ago by an old friend
Well done Max; what a lovely old bit of machinery now in good hands.
Hello, I saw the beautiful fly press and had to watch. I can't believe this press was for the scrap yard and all it needed was some TLC. Thank you for saving that wonderful old, useful tool. You have it setup nicely. You earned a New sub today. Cheers from San Antonio, Texas USA.
Interesting video as usual..here I am watching from my French farmhouse kitchen..I was born and bred in Nottingham and worked in St Anns before moving to France over 20 years ago, not surprising a company such as Benson's existed in Nottingham think of all the heavy industries we used to have there.. Boots Raleigh Players etc.
I remember using one of these on short term fill in job when I was young. Much bigger than that, the tool was higher than waist height. and it had a long L shaped handle that you had to really watch out for, It would give you a hell of a clump if you weren't paying attention ! I made a lot of U and L shaped brackets for the welders to make a mess of.
Bloody good job it got saved!
To follow on from my sledge hammer comment the other day.... you know you're hard-core when you start a metalworking job with a shovel. :)
I used one in the mid sixties at r w morisson engineering in manchester ,nice to watch you restore one max
Function over form every time ,does look good mind. Thanks Max
I’ve always wondered where plate steel comes from…
You grow it in the garden, fertilise it with shock absorbers and harvest with a Land Rover. 👍
I bought an old Italian olive mill ruin, and on the site is an old olive press which has a giant threaded rod/ bolt which looks similar to that one only a little longer.
Amazing piece of cast iron, still works as well.
Love the look you got with the WD 40, keeps the history of the tool, not like a you tuber I watched who stripped all the paint off a drill press and then used body filler to smooth out the casting marks, I have tools that my late father used and love the marks and dent that he put on them and a few that I have added.
I have many tools that come from old timers workshops in exactly that scenario...some of them would make you cry, people can be incredibly callous when it comes to stuff their people owned and loved..and I do mean loved, the care and attention I find in my those tools that the relatives just want rid of ...not even to sell just to bin them os incredible.
That is a beautiful flypress
I think brd 21 might be the keighley post code bd21 which is bradford road 21 possibly unit 64 or number 64
Codes like that can be put together in odd ways that only the original owner knew
You poured out the petrol and I immediately thought did you turn the forge off lol
so how many discs over 3 did that table take to cut...
Something you might find later is that you want a hole through the table for putting longer tooling in place.
Thanks for sharing
Here in Australia, the Great Seal of Australia is applied to certain documents with one of these. HM King Charles approved its continued use in September 2022.
I checked "Graces guide" on the net and the following was listed:-
William Benson Ltd of Robin Hood Works, Robin Hood Street, Nottingham
1855 Company founded
Makers of machine tools, stationary steam engines, screw presses, Jacquard card punching machines, shafting, gearing, pulleys, hoists, pumps, malt crushers.
1963 Company closed. Site subsequently redeveloped and road layout altered.
Great video. I am looking for old unwanted flypress now, a no brainer addition to the smithy. Thanks, subscribed 😊
An interesting fact at the outbreak of ww2 all Whitworth head sizes dropped to the next size down so 1/2 became 7/16 the thread sizes stayed the same to save metal it was never changed back...
That table certainly isn't going anywhere! I'd love to see you build a huge over engineered squat rack :)
The detail is way beyond me, but just a fabulous video. Thank you
I used to use a fly press at Deeside Engineering in Llangollen, making brass hinges.
You were going to make some axes. I was on the list... 🤣
Put a throat in the table so you can press bearings off shafts etc. Careful with those bob weight as all our fly presses had drop on weights so they couldn’t shoot off.
Always like watching your videos cracking job as always
Great job Max, and quite the find! Grafting away on an old fly press takes me back to my apprenticeship, more years ago than I care to count! 😉
Nice one! 😃
Fly presses still scare me, and I haven't touched one for 30 years, such a huge force.
I have no space for a flypress, I have no use for a flypress as a pipe maker, but I really want a flypress!
Lovely! Thank-you!
As to legacy, each shed-occupant needs to specify in a will where the kut might best go: Men in Sheds, Tools for Self Reliance, Tools for Africa come to mind.
Reminds me of the old Stamp Duty press in The Aldwych back in the day, when I'd get sent in there as a motorbike courier to register share certificates. (At least I think that's what I got sent there for. It was all a long, long time ago...)
good see you put vid out on channel thank for the share on wot you do thanks keep up the vid you do thanks lee
These - or similar - were used for printing as well I believe. Litho printing in particular where you need a lot of force to press the paper into the inked plate.
unbelievable somebody would scrap those tools, good save.
wow. Great to see my hometown nottingham being front and centre...
I rescued a no.3 from work, as no bugger could move it.
Passed it on a few years ago, as a hydraulic press was more appt for what I do. Hope it's still in use.
Great to see that saved again. 👍🏼
Great video 👍I also have fond memories of flying press work with the benefit of a Walkman 😊. someone put a snap it charge under the stop and see how high you would jump😂😂😂
Don't forget to put some soft impact protection on those table corners to protect your legs.
the smile on your face says it all dude we all love new toys have fun my good man
Very cool Max. I love seeing old tools restored and put back to work.
First thing I’d do is bathe screw and slide with oil. Nice find
Very useful bits of kit, although removing the balls and handle is a bit of a faff, the kind I've used before just sat on a square taper and gravity kept them in place. If you ever do any punching with it you'll need a hole underneath to let the slugs fall through 🤔We used to hang a bucket under the table to catch them. Oh what dull repetitive days they were 😂
I’ve never seen one of those before here in USA I’ve used lots of different presses looking forward to seeing you actually use it
Good job.
I worked in an animal feed mill when i left school ( 1985 ) the maintenance shop had a press similar to this, i think it was called a Denbigh , was used for pressing in/out bearings on the rollers on the pellet press machines amongst other things, didn't have the big weights but 2 long handles either end of the top shaft, the internal shells on the pellet press rollers were phospher bronze and we used to nick them from the workshop and weigh them in for scrap, i was only on 40 quid a week so made up my wages, nice job on the fly press
Thank god there's still people like you about...can you tell me is there much difference in size between.. Whitworth and imperial...i remember my dad had a set of Whitworth spanners when i was younger..
Have a look in the old Zeus book 😊
It's a different way of measuring - both imperial and metric are A/F 'Across the Flats'. The 1/2inch Withworth I was using there is similar to 24mm or 15/16 imperial!
Great video. Very impressed with Kermits pulling power
Another thing about fly presses is that they inspired Samuel Adams to come up with the idea of economics. Pin makers going from 40 pins a day to 40,000 pins a day with the advent of the fly press meant a drop in the price of pins, supply and demand, market forces, and so on.
love my old no 6 still finding new uses for it after 20 yrs
Your boundless passion and enthusiasm are great to watch Max. Enjoyed this video right through!
Hi Max. I live in Nottingham so Benson and its history is of interest to me. The Nottingham Industrial Museum at Wollaton Hall might have some additional information and the Nottingham Archives might also be able to help. Cheers.
It’s obvious you’re chuffed with it & so am I, almost too much lol, love it 😍, great stuff 👍
Hi Max
Posted a link for loads of info on fly presses. May be useful buddy 😊
A literal iron thumper!!
Love this channel, glad to see a beautiful bit of kit not go to waste. Looking forward to seeing you forge the axe 🪓👍🏻🙏⚒️🔥
Half-inch Whitworth bolts date this to pre WW2 in which case the BRD Plant number may refer to Base Repair Depot, a WW2 abbreviation as that plate is a later addition to the frame.
Perfect video for dinnertime. Hope you're good Max!
What a fantastic find in the scrap yard , may it serve you well
@14:20 "Cared for and functional" - You've just described my Series 2a Landy 😉