Dake No. 1 Arbor Press

One of the great things about tools is that you can pick them up cheaply even if you don’t know what you’ll do with them at the time.  Such was the case with a Dake No. 1 Arbor Press I picked up for a good price off of Craigslist.  Sure, I knew I’d have uses for it but I didn’t have any immediately.  Little did I know that I would within a week but more about that in a minute.

What is an arbor press you ask?  It is a machine that generates compressive force using an arm you pull down.  It is geared so that you have a mechanical advantage which allows you to generate more force than you expend pulling down on the arm.  This arbor press is a Dake No. 1 and is rated at a maximum of 3 tons of force with a 36:1 gear reduction.  The base is 7.25″ x 18″ and it weighs about 130 pounds.  Here’s a picture of what it looks like.  Unlike most stuff I buy it was actually in good shape when I bought it!

When I and a friend picked it up, the ram cap (plate that is bolted on the front) was loose.  When I tightened it down the ram wouldn’t move up and down.  Hmm…a quick check of the manual on Dake’s website showed that there should be some shims between the ram cap and the body.    I quickly fabbed some up using some aluminum flashing I had lying around which fixed the problem.  I also put some washers under the ram cap bolts.   If you look between the ram cap and end of the spindle you’ll see a set screw.  This set screw can be screwed in to hold the ram or change the amount of force required to move the ram.  The set screw pushes on a spring which pushes on a tinners rivet which presses against the ram.  The tinners rivet was missing but luckily a trip to Ace Hardware provided a replacement.

Here’s a picture of the other side with a good view of the arm.  I also added some rubber O-rings to keep having the bar slam into the spindle and also keep from pinching my fingers if they’re in the wrong place.

Here’s a view of the data plate on the ram cap.  Unfortunately, I cannot read the model number on the tag.  So, I’m not 100% sure about the age of the press.

What do you do with a press?  You can press apart press-fit parts, separate bearings from shafts, perform staking, riveting, broaching, or anything else you can think of where a controlled force can be useful.  As opposed to a hammer, a press can generate accurate and moderated force.   Below is an example of something that you might want to press apart.  The disk is half of a Reeve Pulley and it has been pressed onto the shaft.

To separate the pulley and shaft, it is set into a cutout in the plate and then a die (in this case a cheap import socket) is placed on the top of the shaft.  The ram is brought into contact with the die and the arm lowed to press the shaft out.  Just remember to catch!

A need that popped up soon after I got the press had to do with this large amount of oak flooring that my wife found for me.  It was held down with staples originally and you won’t want to have your sharp tools hitting those.  As you can see there was lots of wood and therefore lots of staples….lots and lots of staples.

Initially I was pounding the staples out with a hammer and pin punch.  That got old pretty quick though.  Then it occurred to me, could I use my new press?  Yes I could!  So, I make a simple jig and started pushing out staples using the press.  Much much easier.  In use I’d be holding the pin punch.  I’ve gotten a quarter of the staples removed so far and will do the rest as I need to.

Here are some of the staples that were pressed out.  They’re present about every 12″ of the flooring.

I’m sure I’ll find some other uses for it in the future.  But currently the big problem facing me is where to put it?!

Craftsman Tool Sale

If you’re looking for some beginning tools for yourself or someone else you should take a look at some of the sales Craftsman is having.  The sets I’m listing here are at pretty significant discounts though I’m not sure how long the sales will last.  You will have to order online to get these prices because online Sears and the stores are almost like separate groups.   On the plus side, you can pick them up at the store or have them shipped to your house.  They’re also all made here in the US!  I own, have used, and can recommend (for what it is worth) a lot of them.  For the prices they cannot be beat!

Here are my recommendations.  If you want to do light maintenance on your post 1990 car pick up the 3/8″ drive Metric Socket Wrench Set and the 9pc Metric Wrench Set.  If you’re just needing a set for around the house pick up the 3/8″ drive SAE Socket Wrench Set and 9pc SAE Wrench Set.   If you need to take apart smaller things then pick up one of the 1/4″ drive sets.  If in doubt, pick up both the 1/4″ and 3/8″ drive sets.  You may also want to pick up one of the larger wrench sets but the 9pc sets are a good general purpose set.

 

Socket Wrench Sets

1/4″ Drive Metric 10pc Socket Wrench Set $10 Link

1/4″ Drive SAE 10pc Socket Wrench Set $10 Link

3/8″ Drive Metric 10pc Socket Wrench Set $10 Link

3/8″ Drive SAE 10pc Socket Wrench Set $10 Link

Deep Sockets

3/8″ Drive Metric 9pc Socket Set $23 Link

3/8″ Drive SAE 9pc Socket Set $23 Link

1/2″ Drive Metric 9pc Socket Set $22 Link

1/2″ Drive SAE 9pc Socket Set $22 Link

Wrenches

9pc Metric Combo Wrenches $15 Link

9pc SAE Combo Wrenches $15 Link

12pc Metric Combo Wrenches $30 Link

12pc SAE Combo Wrenches $30 Link

26pc Metric Combo Wrenches $45 Link

26pc SAE Combo Wrenches $45 Link

Condenser Checker

I thought I’d show an “antique” piece of electronics equipment called a Condenser Checker I picked up cheaply and fixed.  A condenser is what they used to call a capacitor.   A capacitor is an electrical device that stores a charge and they come in all shapes and sizes.  The capacity of charge that they store is measured in units of farads.  Capacitors are usually labeled with their capacitance but sometimes you want to check this value or see if it leaks.  Leaking is what you think it is.  A leaky capacitor won’t hold a charge which is bad.  There are dedicated checkers but they are expensive.  Usually, multimeters have the ability to check capacitance but their range is limited and only allow you to check smaller capacitors.  So, the alternative for me was to pick up an older checker.  They might need to be fixed up some and may not be as accurate as the modern checkers but they can get pretty close.  For the “work” I do (antique radios) I don’t need highly accurate values.

So, let’s see what this thing looks like.  It is a box that has a central tuning knob, a “Magic Eye” tube, range selector knob, a function knob (lower right corner), inputs (middle bottom), and Power Factor knob.  The “Magic Eye” vacuum tube lights up  and as you turn the Tuning Knob a pie slice of the “eye” will darken.  The Range Selector Knob has three devisions: Resistance, Capacitance, and Voltage.   The checker  has the ability to check resistance using the “Rx100″ and “R” positions.  The other settings on the left side of the knob sets the capacitance range.  The values under “Leakage Test” specifies Voltage.  The  Normal/Leakage Knob allows you switch between Leakage and the other (Normal) functions.  The Power Factor knob allows you to adjust for energy loss in an imperfect capacitor but I’ve found that it tends to stay near zero for modern capacitors.

Here’s a couple pictures of the inside of the checker.  The checker works by balancing the test item against a known constant value.  As the bridge is balanced the “eye” changes.  That’s the short version of it.  The known constant capacitors are pointed to with the green arrow and the known resistors are pointed to with the red arrow.  These capacitors could be replaced with modern capacitors but the current ones have tested well.

Here’s a view of the bottom.  The blue and black tubular items are capacitors I replaced.  The older ones are the yellow paper tubes.  They’re filled with a wax that dries out and leaks out over time.  The ones that remain tested ok.  I also replaced a couple resistors and some wires that were damaged.

How do you use it to check capacitance?  First you set it to the range you think the capacitor is in.  Next, hook up the capacitor and turn the tuner knob until you get the greatest area of darkness on the “eye”.  If you picked the wrong range, switch and try again.  In the picture below I’m testing a 0.02 uF capacitor.   The tuner knob is close to the balance point and there is a sliver of darkness on the eye.

In the next picture the tuner knob is turned a little more and is now set to the location of greatest darkness.  There is more contrast in real life than the picture shows but you get the idea.  As you can see, it isn’t totally accurate but it is close.  The capacitors have a tolerance on their labeled value.  I think the one I’m testing was 5% or 10% so the results aren’t unreasonable.  I tested a 0.047 uF capacitor and tester showed ~0.043 uF so the accuracy varies.

Here’s a picture of it checking the value of a 330 ohm resistor.  This mode works the same was a checking the value of a capacitor with the exception of the position of the negative probe.

To perform a leakage test the “Range Selector Knob” is set to the appropriate voltage.  The “Function Knob” is rotated and held in the “Leakage” position.   If the “eye” closes and then returns to having a portion of the “eye” darkened the capacitor is not leaking.  If it partially closes or flutters around then the capacitor is leaky.  If the eye closes completely the the capacitor is shorted. Upon release the “Function Knob” returns to Normal automatically.

In checking capacitance the checker outputs 60V AC and in leakage mode can output over 400V DC so it is something you want to be careful with.

Here’s a closeup of the eye.  It’s like HAL 9000 but clearly good as you can tell by the color!

I realize none of you will probably ever pick one of these up but at least you have an idea how it works!

Fixing Things: Small Stuff

I don’t always get have fun fixing old radios, restoring vises, or cleaning up antique tools.  Sometimes I actually have to fix stuff around the home.  Here’s a short post on one of these occasions.  A couple months ago we bought a new light fixture to replace one over the kitchen table.  From the bottom of the fixture, a threaded rod sticks out and on the end of it there is a decorative plastic nut that holds another piece on.  I noticed the other day that this plastic nut had cracked somehow.  Of course they don’t have a replacement for this at the store and I’m not going to buy an entire fixture.  So, I wandered around the store and came across something that I could modify to work.

Here’s a picture of the parts. The one on the left is the broken plastic piece while the one on the right is the aluminum part that will need modifying.  Notice that the threaded holes aren’t the same size…so that’ll need fixing.

The first thing to do is figure out what size threads are on the light fixture.  To do this, I use a thread pitch gauge.  To use it you flip through the leafs until you find one that matches the thread.  Once you’ve found the pitch of the threads, you can figure out the diameter by measuring the diameter of the threads or looking it up on a thread chart.  Below is an example of how to use the pitch gauge.  This picture isn’t from the lamp though.  In the picture below, you’d read that the thread pitch is 20.  From there you can measure the diameter to determine that it is a 1/4″x20.  The threaded rod on the lamp had a thread count of 27 per inch.  Referencing a thread pitch chart, I determined that it was a 1/8″x27 NPT (national pipe thread).  This is very annoying because there is not much in the stores that is this size.  Luckily I have a pipe tap!

Before you can use the tap to thread the hole you have to enlarge it to a specific size.  Most thread charts list the drill diameter required.  For the 1/8″x27 NPT size, a “Q” size (0.3320) drill bit is required.  To hold the cap I came up with this…contraption.  Yeah, it’s not pretty but it worked.  Necessity is the mother of invention and all that.  As an aside, you don’t want to try to hold parts in your hand while you’re drilling into them.  Never hold metal parts because the drill bit can grab it and may cause you harm.  I found a drill bit that was a little larger than the existing hole and started increasing the diameter of the hole using successively larger drill bits.

Once I had the right sized hole drilled, I placed the cap in the vise between two pieces of wood to keep from marring the surface.  Carefully start the tap making sure that it is perpendicular to the surface.  For every half rotation of thread cutting, back the tap out one turn to clear the threads.  Then advance the tap until you feel it starting to cut again and repeat the cutting and backing out steps.  Pipe threads are different from regular threads because they’re tapered.  So, you can only go so far before before the tap gets really tight and you’ll have to quit.

I removed the tap, blew the chips out of the cap, and went into test it on the lamp.  Well, it turns out it didn’t fit.  It wouldn’t even start on the threads.  What now?  Remember how I said pipe threads are tapered?  I went back and enlarged the hole two steps to a “S” diameter and taped the cap again.  With a larger hole the tap could go in farther.  This time the cap fit the lamp!

Here’s a picture of the lamp with the new cap.

So, there ya go a “simple” fix!  OK….maybe not too simple if you don’t have the right tools but if not you’d have an excuse to go buy more tools.