Recently scored a Dake Arbor Press No. 001 locally. The thing was an ABSOLUTE mess. Caked on grease, machine oil and caked with chips. It was mounted to a steel plate that weighed more than the press. Over a lunch break at the studio I decided to pull her apart and see what I could do to bring it back into action. Just when nothing seemed to cut the grease, I recalled how I use a simple non-toxic combination of baking soda and white vinegar to clean up tough stuff around the house. I made up the slurry and I couldn’t believe me own eyes: That combo took off all the years of caked on grime faster than the strongest cancer causing chemicals.
Here it is all pulled apart in the basement shop:
After about 5 minutes with a green scrubby and a warm soapy bath, I dried it off and went to work masking it off for a coat of etching primer. Check at how that Arm-n-Hammer just knocked the grease right off… First coat of primer/paint is on the right:
While I waited between coats, I went onto Dake’s website and sure shit if they still don’t make the same model AND the construction drawings with the exploded parts drawing is basically a spitting image of my arbor press. It’s missing it’s brake spring and I bet the new one would fit this one. How’s that for product longevity? Still made in the USA right in Grand Haven Mich. I like this…
After a few coats of paint, off came the masking and I reassembled it good as new. I’m pleased with the result. This will be a dedicated piece of tooling to form my chainstays. Just need to fabricate the die/tool to hold the chainstay for repeatability and we’ll be off and running.
Dake Arbor Press No. 001 Redux
Recently scored a Dake Arbor Press No. 001 locally. The thing was an ABSOLUTE mess. Caked on grease, machine oil and caked with chips. It was mounted to a steel plate that weighed more than the press. Over a lunch break at the studio I decided to pull her apart and see what I could do to bring it back into action. Just when nothing seemed to cut the grease, I recalled how I use a simple non-toxic combination of baking soda and white vinegar to clean up tough stuff around the house. I made up the slurry and I couldn’t believe me own eyes: That combo took off all the years of caked on grime faster than the strongest cancer causing chemicals.
Here it is all pulled apart in the basement shop:
After about 5 minutes with a green scrubby and a warm soapy bath, I dried it off and went to work masking it off for a coat of etching primer. Check at how that Arm-n-Hammer just knocked the grease right off… First coat of primer/paint is on the right:
While I waited between coats, I went onto Dake’s website and sure shit if they still don’t make the same model AND the construction drawings with the exploded parts drawing is basically a spitting image of my arbor press. It’s missing it’s brake spring and I bet the new one would fit this one. How’s that for product longevity? Still made in the USA right in Grand Haven Mich. I like this…
After a few coats of paint, off came the masking and I reassembled it good as new. I’m pleased with the result. This will be a dedicated piece of tooling to form my chainstays. Just need to fabricate the die/tool to hold the chainstay for repeatability and we’ll be off and running.
Before and after. Giddy up.