Dake 1 3/4 rear mount arbor press restoration

[Nexoidian]

So I’m new to the forum, but not new to the garage!

I honestly don’t know how I’ve gone so long without finding this forum.

This is my first restoration project. It is a Dake 1 3/4 rear mount arbor press. I’ve had it for a few years. I received it from work as it was going in the dumpster. Since I got it, it has sat in a corner in my garage since I had no where strong enough to mount it. So the other day I was cleaning the garage to get ready for winter and I had to move the press, so I got the bright idea to try and restore it and find a way to mount it. So here it is....

I started off power washing the entire thing.

Then I started disassembly....

Then media blasting and polishing some items with a fine wire wheel

The daisy wheel got cleaned up a little bit with a die grinder and a deburring bit. Then it got the flat surfaces taped off and painted. Once it was done curing in the oven for 48 hrs it was taken to the surface grinder to clean up the flat surfaces

Then came paint

I lightly media blasted and then painted the original dake ID tag. Then I tried to polish but it was very uneven which left it looking a little worn. After thinking about it for a day or two I decided I liked the way it looked and didn’t want it to look brand new. So I coated it in BLO to try and protect it. I think it turned out really good

Then came final assembly. I really think it turned out better than I expected. I greased all moving parts during reassembly with Mobil SHC grease

I got extremely lucky and found this I-beam at work in a metal dumpster. The first pic is how I got it out of the dumpster. I had planned on welding an I-beam to a 1/2 plate but I lucked out.

I anchored it to the ground with 1/2 hilti wedge anchors

This last pic shows the handle I had to make for it. I had no size reference so it ended up a little long. But it’ll be ok

Overall I think it turned out way better than I expected it too. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[LXCam]

That turned awesome bud and whatta great first post. Welcome to the joint, you’re gonna fit right in.

 

[Lucid Moments]

Damn, very nice. I would love to come across a similar press for that price. I don't have enough need for one to justify paying what people want for even a used one though.

 

[Jason280]

Great job!

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Great I have never used an arbor press only a regular one


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[gnpenning]

I really like it.

For some reason after seeing what you did with the dake tag it made me think of gold pinstripes or accents???

 

[Nexoidian]

I really like it.

For some reason after seeing what you did with the dake tag it made me think of gold pinstripes or accents???

I like that idea! I planned on doing all of the raised letters in a different color so it can be read. I think gold may be the way to go. I may have to try and see how good I am at pinstripes

 

[matt_i]

Very nice job! Great documentation and thanks for taking the time to post photos A useful tool for so many things.

Tangentially I'd love to see more info about your paint spray booth

Seeing as you have your own surface grinder, I like to use rings instead of the U-shaped slots for better support. Basically either flat bar with a drilled hole or a custom washer turned on the lathe, or pieces of heavywall tube are excellent too. I have a drawer in a toolbox dedicated to those custom parts which might be able to be reused in the future.

This is a fixture I made to press a bronze bushing into a distributor body...Eames and Atlas are the predecessors to Dake: G.T. Eames actually penned the designs I believe and then the rest was corporate succession and refinement.

 

[RADcustom]

Great job on the press. It looks like the rack was in great shape.

The vise turned out nice too.

 

[gnpenning]

I like that idea! I planned on doing all of the raised letters in a different color so it can be read. I think gold may be the way to go. I may have to try and see how good I am at pinstripes

Look forward to seeing what you decide. In the meantime enjoy it.

 

[Rubberdown]

I have never used an arbor press. Only hydraulic presses. How much pressure is one of those good for?

 

[Nexoidian]

I have never used an arbor press. Only hydraulic presses. How much pressure is one of those good for?

It’s good for 3 tons according to the manufacturer

 

[Rubberdown]

Iiiiiiiiinteresting. Thanks for letting me know! Good luck to you sir!

 

[RTM]

Silly question, that handle seems scary long to me. I have a cute little Dake 1 ton, and the handle is only ~16" long. Do you know how long the original was, and are you worried about damaging things with that handle?

 

[ChefRex]

Very nice! I have access to one at work but would still love one in the garage, especially at that price!
Welcome to the joint!

 

[Nexoidian]

Silly question, that handle seems scary long to me. I have a cute little Dake 1 ton, and the handle is only ~16" long. Do you know how long the original was, and are you worried about damaging things with that handle?

It’s definitely long. I didn’t realize how short the handle was supposed to be. I will end up cutting it down to a better length.

I made the handle back when I originally got the press and it has sat with the press ever since. I’ve never used the press until now because I never had anywhere to mount it. But now I can finally use it

 

[RTM]

Hopefully someone can tell you the right length then. Hate to see you over torque that after all that work.