Fretting press

I have been using my drill press for fitting frets for the last 8 years or so but the constant pressure wasn't doing the machine any good as I noticed lately that the table was a bit out of square..So last year I bought a smallish arbour press to do the job instead.. I spotted a few good ideas on the web and this forum so I pinched them..and this week I finaly got round to modifying it... After removing the round cast iron anvil bit and the Tommy bar and discarding them in the scrap bin..I drilled a couple of holes in the base and screwed in a piece of beechwood for a new anvil.. I drilled and tapped the end of the rack and fitted a top caul made from an old shaft key..Then I removed the pinnion and machined it down and bored out the end to take an old worn out 3/8" socket..this will be used later to fit the 3/8" torque wrench (I'm waiting for this to arrive in the mail).....along with a limit stop fitted to the rack, and a return spring thats about all there is to it....Here are a few pics...if anyone else is thinking of making one and anything aint too clear ? ask and I'll try to explain.

The torque wrench is a great idea.
Unfortunately, i'm not a machinist so this is beyond me.

You don't have to be an engineer Beau. My student will be doing his fretboard tomorrow - I'll film it for you. Ken's is the deluxe version. I've had my r&p press rigged for a couple years now and it works great. I can't remember the last time I dressed a fretboard.

My solution distinctly low tech...

This makes me think of a tennis racquet stringing machine that uses a lever to apply force, but instead of using a torque wench, some use a long lever with a weight out on the end that's adjustable so you can set the amount of force. Seems like this drop weight lever idea could also be adapted to a small press for consistent fret pressure.

Torque wrench arrived this morning..One thing I didnt realise was that the torque action only works on right handed threads ..If the wrench is fitted to the left hand side of the press this is not a problem..But for me! being a right handed person I prefererd it on the right and it won't "click" on the right when pressure is applied ..I soon solved the problem by removing the ratchet and square shaft part and reversing it. ..and it now works champion.:cheers:
here is a couple more pic's showing the return spring and wrench fitted.

What torque do you use? Is it different for different woods?

FarmerBill said:

What torque do you use? Is it different for different woods?

Click to expand...

I've only tried it on rosewood so far and 65-70 NM's seems about ok..But the torque wrench is second hand and I don't know if it's calibrated correctly...But! I have another 1/2" wrench that is accurate and I can test it against that one.

You don't need much. Mine is set at 30 I believe...