Eyelet press

[N10siveRN]

I need an eyelet press for some sheaths and holsters I’m making. I have looked at the cheapo green grommet press and at a HHIP pro arbor press. The arbor press is already drilled out for dies that stick in with a magnet. I can’t find any mention of what size dies fit in it. Also, will the dies on the cheapo one work?

 

[Maineiac1]

I bit the bullet on the CKK press from knifekits and cannot recommend it enough.. Save up the dollars.

 

[N10siveRN]

I ended up buying the HHIP arbor press and I’ll get the knifekit dies.

 

[Kiah]

I have both of those among my presses. The 6mm dies with the cheap green one work fine for 1/4" eyelets. The ones that came with mine arguably press better than my more expensive dies. I can't speak for longevity, but I have no complaints about the results. The main issue is that the base die is way too wide to use on sheaths, so you'd need to grind a good bit of steel off. The press and dies have a weird shank system as well, so the dies won't fit other common presses and the press won't take any dies not made for it.

My identical arbor press is kind of a piece of junk, but others have been fine with them, so I probably got a bad one. The hole in the ram is 1/2" I believe and pretty much there specifically for the three fittings that come with the press. The KnifeKits dies and many other common ones (Tandy, USAKM, ect) use 3/8" shanks, so they won't fit that press without rigging some sort of collar to make up for the size difference. You'll also probably need to either drill and tap a hole for a set screw or pull the magnet out and put a spacer behind it to reach the much shorter dies. And you'll need to drill your own hole for the bottom die or rig up some other means to hold it. Sorry I didn't see this before you bought it.

If you can get your money back on that arbor press and want something ready to go without modding, I'd recommend just getting the arbor press and dies from USAKnifemaker. If you wanna mod the press you bought to work, I'd still recommend getting the dies from them if you haven't bought the others yet.

 

[N10siveRN]

Well, it’s too late to return it. I knew I’d have to drill a hole for the bottom die and for a set screw on the ram. Disappointed in the ram hole size but I can make something work. Thanks for the info.

 

[Kiah]

Well, it’s too late to return it. I knew I’d have to drill a hole for the bottom die and for a set screw on the ram. Disappointed in the ram hole size but I can make something work. Thanks for the info.

I just pulled the press out to see about the hole size and 1/2" is about right. I don't have any KK dies right now, but I dropped one my USKM dies into the hole and it's deep enough that the magnet catches and holds the base and the body of the die itself fits into the hole with a bit of play, which would be fine for pressing as is (or a couple wraps of tape would take out the slack). So if the body of the dies you get are about the same size, it looks like you should be able to get away without doing anything to the ram itself.