Headset Cup Press Tool Question

I am trying to decide whether or not to invest $100.00 or so in a Park press
for headset cup installation. I've used them before, and they do work well.
I don't have any one that I can borrow one from right now, so either I buy
one or fashion some sort of home-made jobber. I usually press in no more
than a couple sets in a given year, so if anyone has any contrivances that
worked for them, I'd like to hear about it. TIA, Nedman

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I am trying to decide whether or not to invest $100.00 or so in a Park
press
for headset cup installation. I've used them before, and they do work
well.
I don't have any one that I can borrow one from right now, so either I buy
one or fashion some sort of home-made jobber. I usually press in no more
than a couple sets in a given year, so if anyone has any contrivances
that
worked for them, I'd like to hear about it. TIA, Nedman

A poor-man's headcup press consists of a large C-clamp and a couple of
pieces of 1x4 wood. Put one of the head cups onto the frame, and one of the
pieces of wood on top of the cup. Place the other piece of wood over the
head tube on the opposite side, and then start tightening the C-clamp. Then
do the other side.

The blocks of wood serve two purposes. First, they protect the surfaces of
the cup and frame from damage, since they're relatively soft. Second, it
allows you to make sure the cup is going into the frame straight (because it
gives you a reference perpendicular to the frame).

Even better than a C-clamp is a very large vise, but it's got to be pretty
big to fit a larger frame.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Nedman wrote:
I am trying to decide whether or not to invest $100.00 or so in a Park press
for headset cup installation. I've used them before, and they do work well.
I don't have any one that I can borrow one from right now, so either I buy
one or fashion some sort of home-made jobber. I usually press in no more
than a couple sets in a given year, so if anyone has any contrivances that
worked for them, I'd like to hear about it. TIA, Nedman

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Cyclus make a much cheaper one.

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004, Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
A poor-man's headcup press consists of a large C-clamp and a couple of
pieces of 1x4 wood.

A wise-man's solution, rather.

Sergio
Pisa

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 07:02:38 GMT, "Nedman"
may have said:

I am trying to decide whether or not to invest $100.00 or so in a Park press
for headset cup installation. I've used them before, and they do work well.
I don't have any one that I can borrow one from right now, so either I buy
one or fashion some sort of home-made jobber. I usually press in no more
than a couple sets in a given year, so if anyone has any contrivances that
worked for them, I'd like to hear about it. TIA, Nedman

If the large washers sold in hardware stores were made with their
internal diameters at a useful dimension, it would be trivially easy
to throw one together from a piece of 5/8" (or similar size; that's
just the one that's reliably available cheap nearby) all-thread, two
nuts and two washers. I have a number of such home-made press tools
for various applications, but I find that I usually end up making my
own washers by taking a piece of 1/4" plate, hole-sawing out two discs
in the needed OD, and then counterboring them on the drill press with
a bit that leaves very little clearance around the threads. With just
the hardware-store washers, it's likely that the assembly won't stay
square. (It also helps to wrap duct tape around the shaft at the
required positions in the appropraite thickness to ensure that the
shaft stays centered in the cups.)

Until recently, all of the frame cups I had replaced were in steel
head tubes. I can't say if aluminum tubes are touchier about the
process, but I expect them to be, and I take greater care with them.
Swapping out the cups in steel head tubes has been a snap.

One caveat: If you are dealing with a virgin frame from a specialty
builder or high-performance manufacturer, there is a distressingly
high probability that the head tube will be only semi-finished; it
might not be the right ID at the ends, or not square, or both. On a
bike that has been in service without problems, I consider this to be
an issue worth ignoring. The degree to which people consider this to
be a must-check thing seems to depend on whether they have the tools
to fix it, which I don't.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Yes, I have a killfile. If I don't respond to something,
it's also possible that I'm busy.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

"Nedman" wrote in message
...
I am trying to decide whether or not to invest $100.00 or so in a Park
press
for headset cup installation. I've used them before, and they do work
well.
I don't have any one that I can borrow one from right now, so either I buy
one or fashion some sort of home-made jobber. I usually press in no more
than a couple sets in a given year, so if anyone has any contrivances
that
worked for them, I'd like to hear about it. TIA, Nedman

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I've use a 7/8" bolt, a nut, and a few washers that I bought at a hardware
store. I've used this system several times on both 1" and 1 1/8" headsets
and it has always worked perfectly. IIRC, it cost me about $2 at Home Depot
Very Inexpensive

Dave

Dave, is it necessary to put pipes on the end of the wrenches or something to
get enough torque to make this system work?

Robert

On 17 Jan 2004 18:32:33 GMT, (R15757) may have said:

Dave, is it necessary to put pipes on the end of the wrenches or something to
get enough torque to make this system work?

Good grief, no! If you can't get them to move in smoothly with a
3/8"-drive ratchet, something is VERY wrong; the effort required
should not be enough to even require a heavy grip.

--
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Yes, I have a killfile. If I don't respond to something,
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Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

No. When you tighten a bolt, notice that for each 360 degree turn, which is
a huge amount of movement with a normal wrench, the nut only moves up or
down the bolt a very small distance. This is a tell tale sign that you will
be producing huge torque with little effort. A basic wrench or cresent
wrench (I'm using a 12" one ) on one end and a pair of pliers on the other
is more than enough. The headset presses in real easy, but just do one cup
at a time. Don't forget to grease everything before assembly and make sure
that the cup is going in straight -- all obvious stuff. Oh, I said 7/8" but
I think I may have actually bought 3/4" or smaller. You can figure this out
on your own.

It's works great and I will be using it again on my soon-to-arrive new
frame. Yippee!

Dave


"R15757" wrote in message
...
Dave, is it necessary to put pipes on the end of the wrenches or something
to
get enough torque to make this system work?

Robert

I used the same approach and since I only do a headset every few years, I
just return the parts to Home Depot as there was really no wear.


"onefred" wrote in message
. ..
No. When you tighten a bolt, notice that for each 360 degree turn, which
is
a huge amount of movement with a normal wrench, the nut only moves up or
down the bolt a very small distance. This is a tell tale sign that you
will
be producing huge torque with little effort. A basic wrench or cresent
wrench (I'm using a 12" one ) on one end and a pair of pliers on the other
is more than enough. The headset presses in real easy, but just do one
cup
at a time. Don't forget to grease everything before assembly and make
sure
that the cup is going in straight -- all obvious stuff. Oh, I said 7/8"
but
I think I may have actually bought 3/4" or smaller. You can figure this
out
on your own.

It's works great and I will be using it again on my soon-to-arrive new
frame. Yippee!

Dave


"R15757" wrote in message
...
Dave, is it necessary to put pipes on the end of the wrenches or
something
to
get enough torque to make this system work?

Robert