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[Washington]

Is there a huge difference in time saving going electrical?

[Howzat]

I would imagine its more ease of use?

[Watsontotty]

In my humble opinion i consider pressing to be the major factor in a bats performance, obviously you can bring in other factors like quality of willow etc but it still in my opinion comes back to the pressing. Press too much and performance will deteriorate considerably and press too light and the durability will be compromised. Its a case of satisfying the bet of both worlds which is what makes this difficult for the manufacturer as we as end users have massively differing opinions on what makes a good bat.

That's where i feel the custom makers can corner the market as they can press the bat strictly to the customers wishes and not just pressed so the bat will last and not come back as a return. Obviously the custom makers need to offer advise on what can be the negative side of a lightly pressed bat and then in my opinion that meets the duty of care.

[Jamieh]

well explained watson! Exactly why I'd like to build my own press so i can take responsibility for the whole process, but probably quite a large project for someone who's just making a few bats for fun in the garage! Still not a bad little project to have! Matt, don't suppose your old man fancies working as a bat press consultant? ha ha

[hell4leather cricket]

I was lucky when i built mine that where dad worked had guys that could weld ,now the guy who done it doesnt work there,so it would be harder to get one built now. Tell you what i will do though  i will take some pictures and post a review of my press ? fair enough ?

[SillyShilly]

How would you say the press was going Matt? Pressing is not something you pick up over night i'd imagine

[Washington]

Jamieh I read somewhere on this forum that you dont necessarily need a bat press to make a bat . . .seeing as your only thinking of making a few bats might be more cost effective to press them by hand? Im sure someone said you can do it by knocking it in . . .obviously this will take a lot of time and patience!!

[Jamieh]

that's awesome matt, would be really interested to hear/see that.

I had wondered about doing it manually, but figured it would take an absolute age and be very hard to be consistent.

[SAF Bats]

Is there a huge difference in time saving going electrical?

Yep especially on a single roller press as you end up having to adjust the pressure as you wind the cleft through the press.  On a motorised press it obviously frees you up to be able to do this

[Jamieh]

Assuming it would be quite physically demanding doing manually as well, well certainly when compared to motorised.

Norbair, when you say adjusting as the cleft goes through is this just a judgement/eye thing? or would you start at a specific pressure and then build up? I'm interested in the process, would you be able to explain this more? I assumed you would start at a low pressure, put the cleft through, and then based on feeling increase the pressure and run the cleft through again, repeating until you have reached the desired feel (ping?).

Also, what would be the sort of variation in how much pressure used? I mean, is there a big difference between clefts, and what would be the minimum and maximum amount pressed (whilst still achieving a good result that is). when I visited hunts, they seemed to put all clefts through at the same pressure, which is obviously good for consistency, but bad in terms of differences in indivual clefts, and made me wonder how much difference or variation in clefts there could be?

Apologies if that is not very clear, I know what I mean, but hard to put into words, ha ha.

[SAF Bats]

I've already mentioned on this thread a bit about pressing and differing clefts. [page 2 I think]

My press is different from the normal presses you may associate with this... I press in a different way to everyone else, well when it turns back up from its changes I do One of the things I knew when I set out on the pressing route was how could I get what I wanted from pressing without having ten, twenty years of experience behind me.  So I went about designing a press that would in some way press based on my theoretical knowledge but do it in practice, I hope in the final change it will do this.[I'm a bit of geek ]  I am lucky that I do have access to bat makers with decades of experience behind them that can help out but, as is common, you sometimes find your views differ on different things but you take it all in when they are talking to you.  Then again if we all did the same thing we'd never any get variety!

There are other batmakers on this forum who I'm sure will be able to help with answers to those questions but it is an eye knowledge thing if they are pressing individually or a happy medium for a long run.

As for Hunts, I dont think it is just them, most that have a big run to do will press everything the same.   Do clefts differ dramtically well that is a yes and no answer.  

If the bat maker was physically picking up the clefts and running them through I'd like to think they could pick up a cleft and feel that this is a good one or have a quick tap on it and hold it back for special attention later.  Alas I imagine it is some other chap that does the clefts feeding and just wants to get the job done

If you have an aim for what you want from your pressing I suggest you design from the bottom up based on a pics available. Or find a local engineering works with a few old boys in there [or down the pub] and tell them what you are after. They'll work wonders on the design and it won't be over engineered

Press pressure banded about is up to 2tonnes a newsletter from James Laver [http://www.laverwood.co.nz/newsletter/16.htm]

"In the early part of the bat making process the surface of the willow cleft is compressed with a roller, applying approximately 2 & 1/2 tonnes per square inch of pressure to the surface. This reduces the size of the piece
of willow by some 5mm and provides a protective seal on the bat that is enhanced by knocking the bat in."

[Jamieh]

Sounds interesting! Without asking for your trade secrets what would be the advantages of your way of pressing?

yes, I've done a bit of a design based on pics of others and what I'd like to achieve, which is the ability to adjust and measure the pressure applied accurately for future reference, etc. but don't have the advantage of knowing any batmakers except for those who have been kind enough on here to offer advice, so I'm sure once I have a crack at building something Ill run into problems!

Think I'm about ready to have a bash at creating something, the only component I am missing for my prototype is a roller! not really sure where to find something appropriate (size and shape) seems like most have a convex shape on the rollers to give the edges and face a bit of initial shape.

[SAF Bats]

Sounds interesting! Without asking for your trade secrets what would be the advantages of your way of pressing?

Consistency across various cleft types and ensuring I press to a certain thinkness on the blade

yes, I've done a bit of a design based on pics of others and what I'd like to achieve, which is the ability to adjust and measure the pressure applied accurately for future reference, etc. but don't have the advantage of knowing any batmakers except for those who have been kind enough on here to offer advice, so I'm sure once I have a crack at building something Ill run into problems!

Think I'm about ready to have a bash at creating something, the only component I am missing for my prototype is a roller! not really sure where to find something appropriate (size and shape) seems like most have a convex shape on the rollers to give the edges and face a bit of initial shape.

You can get a roller made up from your local engineering workshop ensure you get a good finish on it... If you have a part made you should be able to get the roller radius from the curve on the blade or guestimate for a finished bat

[tuffers007]

Consistency across various cleft types and ensuring I press to a certain thinkness on the blade

You can get a roller made up from your local engineering workshop ensure you get a good finish on it... If you have a part made you should be able to get the roller radius from the curve on the blade or guestimate for a finished bat

have made 5 bats from pre pressed and handled clefts so i am of course now an expert in bats!
on a serious note i would love to press my own. are pressing machines easy to get hold off or are they more of a custom build? reason i ask is i can only find them for sale from overseas(pakistan,india). would be a great to be able to do everything including the pressing!

[Red Ink Cricket]

have made 5 bats from pre pressed and handled clefts so i am of course now an expert in bats!
on a serious note i would love to press my own. are pressing machines easy to get hold off or are they more of a custom build? reason i ask is i can only find them for sale from overseas(pakistan,india). would be a great to be able to do everything including the pressing!

I will give the advice that was given to me a quite while back. Stick to what your doing at the moment. Whilst it's fantastic that you want to do it all, get some more practice in and really learn what you are doing. Last effort looked a lovely shape but it's only your 4th. I was keen to do it all but I was conscious of not running before I could walk. I went from part mades to just pressed clefts which I handled myself and then finally once I was happy the handling was spot on I purchased the press. Probably a good 100 plus bats in between the 2 stages.

I can help source a press when youre ready. They aren't cheap and unless you know an engineer who welds and has access to everything it's going to cost you to make it in the UK. If youre pressing, you also need to think about machining the clefts down and then handling them, all of which isn't cheap.