you recently had trouble with one homemade headset press, and then did something different and had success. what was the difference? i am probably going to make one tomorrow, and want to avoid doing it wrong. learning from one’s own mistakes is well and good but i think it’s better to learn from the mistakes of others.
Aight. No problem. I’m writing this all in a way that made sense to me, so apologies if it’s a little wordy and confusing. Feel free to ask any questions afterwards.
The first time around, the press looked like this:
One long bolt, two wide washers, two rubber washers to act as a buffer, and a nut to tighten it all up.
First problem: the direct friction between the nut and the washer was making it a bitch to tighten after a certain point.
Another problem was that the inner diameter of the washer was a little wide, so it would kind of wiggle around the bolt and even part of the nut would slip slightly into it. So it was damn near impossible to get it to go down straight.
I also thought the rubber washers were a bad idea. They started to break once pressure got to a certain point and it didn’t exactly help to hold everything in place.
…
Second time around, I removed the rubber washers (they were already broken up anyways), and bought some smaller, tighter washers to put between the large ones and the nut. This got rid of the wiggle and I also think the extra layer eased some of the friction. I also applied grease in between all washers and nuts to make it all easier.
Took me about 2 or 3 tries to line up everything right, but once I got it set, it was pretty smooth. One wrench to hold the bolt head on one end, another wrench for the nut, and started turning. It all went right in.
Ian, just wack that shit in with a rubber mallet, son.
ftfy
nah, i don’t trust myself to get that shit in straight. i may have found a use for that 650c tri frame heath gave me, though, practicing setting hs cups with a mallet.
and naterod, thanks for the explanation–i see very clearly now what not to do. thanks a lot!
No problem. Good luck!
i’ve always had luck with a pair of phone books and a rubber mallet.