Tricky Work Holding Problem

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi All,

Just picked up this nice DRYAD book Press bought at a local auction, good price because of the damage to the handle.

Handles are sometimes REALLY hard to remove but this one will come off OK.

I would like some suggestions as to the best way to hold this awkward shaped piece in order to square the ends and drill centrally along the axis to allow the fixing of whatever new handle knobs I decide on.

These may be modified brass door knobs or bought in round or egg shaped hardwood items.

Cheers, Martin

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

[Ian ParkinParticipant @ianparkin39383]

Didn’t you do one of these a year or so ago Martin?

have you a a lathe with a big enough bore to slide the handle down?

otherwise grind (with your belt sander )them square and carefully marking out and drill for a piece of threaded studding to fix new knobs

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

If they won't fit your lathe easily, can you use a pillar-drill or bench-drill by clamping the handle vertically in large Vee-blocks, angle-plates or whatever so the handle goes down past the side of the table, so you can then drill and tap the end?

[Bootlegger BlackyParticipant @bootleggerblacky]

Could you find a piece of tube /pipe to just fit over the handle,then fill it with a hot melt glue ? This can then be gripped in a 3-jaw and melted off later in boiling water.repeat for opposite end.Just an idea.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Like Bootlegger, I was thinking in terms of putting the remains of the handle into a tube and filling it with a low melting point alloy, such as Woods metal, so that it can be held more easily to be faced, drilled and tapped..

The fun bit may be popping the exact centre for alignment in a 4 jaw chuck! maybe leaving a little protrudin from the tube and clock that?

Howard

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I'd make use of that big hole in the middle to bolt it to an angle plate or vertical slide

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

+1 for JB's idea, less messing and adequate.

Emgee

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi All,

I will try Jason.s method for squaring up the handle ends. Have got a nice beefy angle plate.

I only have a very small pillar drill with no room for something this size.

Even if I can get the handle in the 4 jaw on my Myford I cannot hold the outboard end safely? Certainly no room in the spindle.

Cheers, Martin

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Take the tailstock off your Myford, and clamp down on the cross-slide using a bolt through the hole in the middle with packing to centre height.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 11/12/2021 10:16:28:

Hi All,

I will try Jason.s method for squaring up the handle ends. Have got a nice beefy angle plate.

I only have a very small pillar drill with no room for something this size.

Even if I can get the handle in the 4 jaw on my Myford I cannot hold the outboard end safely? Certainly no room in the spindle.

Cheers, Martin

If you're going to drill the handles for a knob on the end, why not centre-drill the outboard ends for tailstock support? Then you can turn the handles however you might wish.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Martin, I don't know how long your handle is, but maybe you could use JasonB's idea of using the big hole in the middle and set it up on your cross slide and using your tool post bolt to hold it down, as in my mock-up below to drill holes for threaded rod, and you could use your tailstock to push it, even as an assistant to push it with the leadscrew.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/12/2021 11:14:20

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Nicholas,

I like the look of that idea! Will try that after I have squared up the ends using Jason's suggestion, many thanks.

Cheers, Martin

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 11/12/2021 11:16:10:

Nicholas,

I like the look of that idea! Will try that after I have squared up the ends using Jason's suggestion, many thanks.

Cheers, Martin

Why not square up the ends in the same setup?

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Nicholas,

I think that the set up on the mill will be more rigid for the squaring up?

Martin

[egaParticipant @ega]

This might be a job for a cat head.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 10/12/2021 16:58:00:

Hi All,

Just picked up this nice DRYAD book Press bought at a local auction, good price because of the damage to the handle.

I'd be interested to have visual confirmation that this press was made by a company called Dryad. All the book presses I've ever seen marked Dryad have been wooden or part wooden.

The press you have there isn't a book press strictly speaking, as I've said before.

It's what's correctly referred to as a copy (or copying) press.

A better discussion than in the last link can be found here.

 

Edited By Bill Phinn on 11/12/2021 16:33:57

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 11/12/2021 15:30:39:

Nicholas,

I think that the set up on the mill will be more rigid for the squaring up?

If it's clamped through the centre hole, what difference would the machine it's clamped to make?

It's hardly a big part, and all that's needed is to clean up the surfaces so a couple of small cuts would do the job.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You could make several passes with a small cutter on the mill, if it is on an angle plate in the lathe the up or down load from a larger dia cutter sweeping the whole face may move the part. One reason I suggested a vert slide as that could be used on the lathe to take a few passes by raising and lowering the work.

The other advantage of the lathe is you can use the chuck jaws and tailstock barrel to eyeball the part to the axis

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I'd just file the ends flat and square(ish) then drill and tap by hand as per Ian Parkin above. If you want to do it by machine and you have a fixed steady, centre drill each end by hand, mount twixt centres and skim a length each end so you can run steady on it, then using 3 jaw and steady you can drill/tap axially.

Fixed steady is one of those things you hardly ever use, but when you want it it's a godsend. If you want real frustration you could make up one of those spider things, bit of tube with 2 rows of radial tapped holes, you adjust the screws to get the thing running true, then use the fixed steady on the outside. Saves having to skim the real job, but a real PITA to use.

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Bill Phinn,

Actually a nipping press, certainly by Dryad of Leicester as evidenced by the great big Lion and stylised letter D

cast into the underside!

we have had exactly 12 of these presses over the years from our stock book records, they come in 3 quality grades a-c.

Cheers, Martin

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

It may not be clear from my photo but the handle is a tapered hexagonal section, very irregular in shape.

Bill, I should say that we have also had many Dryad wooden presses and ploughs.

Martin

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

IIRC Dryad were a purchasing agency for school handicraft equipment – in days of yore when handicrafts was viewed as an honest occupation.. Not sure they actually made anything, they had a catalogue of co-ordinated and reasonable quality range of stuff from a pottery kiln to a paintbrush. I've got a steel straightedge here with their mark on it, recommended for use with a Stanley knife like wot you'll never see in a class room ever again.

Methinks this is a job for some bigger technology than a Myford. If you are in the general area of West Gloucestershire I'll volunteer to do the repair for you for a contribution to charity. My ideas are running in terms of drilling a hole lengthways for some studding to hold the bits where they belong, then light the gas and toasty warm for a bronze welding repair. Have you got two baubles, if you'll forgive such a personal question?

PM me if it's of interest.

Rgds Simon

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Simon Williams 3 on 11/12/2021 22:24:46:

IIRC Dryad were a purchasing agency for school handicraft equipment – in days of yore when handicrafts was viewed as an honest occupation.. Not sure they actually made anything, they had a catalogue of co-ordinated and reasonable quality range of stuff from a pottery kiln to a paintbrush. […]

.

The mighty are somewhat fallen: **LINK**

https://www.dryadeducation.co.uk

MichaelG.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 11/12/2021 22:05:53:

Bill Phinn,

Actually a nipping press, certainly by Dryad of Leicester as evidenced by the great big Lion and stylised letter D

cast into the underside!

we have had exactly 12 of these presses over the years from our stock book records, they come in 3 quality grades a-c.

Cheers, Martin

Thanks for the information, Martin.

I'm a bit sceptical whether the lion and letter D alone mean it was made or marketed by Dryad, at least if we're talking about Dryad Handicrafts of Leicester, established by Harry Hardy Peach, which is the company whose name is on the 20th century school-orientated bookbinding equipment I'm familiar with.

We could really do with consulting the standard reference work on these sorts of presses, namely:

Rhodes, B. and Wells Streeter, W. – Before Photocopying: The Art and History of Mechanical Copying, Oak Knoll Press, 1999.

Sadly, I don't have a copy.

An example of a press similar to the one you're working on (with the lion and the D) is shown being restored here.

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