Is this thing Printing Press Related?

Arbor press, if I am not mistaken.

HavenPress - thank you, I appreciate it. Excellent, now I know what this garage sale find is. Now to find a use for it in the shop. :-)

It is an arbor press, used for pressing on bearings or anything that nneeds to be press-fit (and removing them). Not really printing related, but certainly has a place in the printing industry.

I have seen these arbor presses converted for hot stamp by attaching a heated pallet to the end of the shaft.

John Henry

Used to have its bigger brother, Yes Arbor press, used mine for pressing bearings in etc, donated it to local industrial Museum, (now with Hydraulic unit), I have some small tools and Tool Holders, (for the lathe) by Alfred Herbert, Edgwick, Coventry, they WERE the biggest and best Machine Tool Makers in this Country, but sadly long, gone but masses of History on the Internet!!! … . . Tony Griffiths, at Buxton in Derbyshire on . . [email protected] advertises *the worlds biggest Machine Tool Archives*, although He is a very busy man, often in the U.S.A. almost certainly He will know???

With a bit of jigging it would make a reasonable round corner cutter .

thank you everyone. Interesting read! i’m curious as to why it has a rounded bottom plate - flat seems to be the standard. But I’m sure they came/come in different models, depending on exactly what it was used for. Now I know what it is, so I’ll continue researching.

Round bottom plate is for pushing things out of things.

The base plate on these things are usually removable so as to allow for different tasks ,a solid base for assembling something , a base with a hole for pushing the centre out of something , these style machines were often seen in cobblers with an eyeletting attachment for folding the back of the eyelet for laces holes.
you show what is basically a power source for driving all sorts of adaptor style tools exactly in the same way any press would .
as i said would make a good round corner machine .
These are sometimes seen used to dome button plates for making those horrid tin badges and for pressing the parts together .

thanks Peter. The possibilities!