I have replaced my stewmac fret press, and cauls, with the Fractal Fret Press from J.Edwards.. After completing my third fretboard utilizing this fantastic tool I cannot recommend it enough.
Yes, It isrelativly expensive, but I feel it is well worth the money in time and labor savings.
I have found that if you are careful while preparing your fretboard, and test the frets with a fretrocker while installing, you can virtually eliminate the fret leveling and crowning steps.
On the last two necks, I have been able to move from fretting, and end dressing , straight on to the polishing phase. There are a couple of really nice features of this press that make it stand above the old stew mac unit.
First, it does not have a groove which forced you to center the press exactly over the fret and secondly you are not required to change cauls for different radii. This means if you are doing a coumpound radius fretboard the fractal press adapts to the radius. The secondary advantage of this articulated press is that the pressure is equalized across the fret, where it is not on the stewmac style unit unless the caul is centered at the apex of the radius.
It works equally well on finished necks or fretboards before they are attached.
When working on a finished neck I adjust the neck with the truss rod to ensure that the neck and fretboard is flat before installing which allows me to check my progress with a rocker and ensure that the frets are fully seated before moving on.
Check it out here:
https://www.jedwardsguitars.com/store/p/fractalfretpress