[Speedub.Nate]

This post is one in a series of twelve posts depcting the build of my Hollowpoint MkIII. Link to MkIII / Speedhub bike build post.

Oh goody, more homemade tool solutions. About four years ago, I put together a post titled "Thanks Gearjunky - 99¢ headset cup remover". It was a length of PVC tubing sliced open at the ends to impersonate a headset cup remover. Only problem was that every few uses, the PVC would become chipped along the edges and eventually shatter. Someone much smarter than I ran with Gearjunky's idea, but made their tool out of copper pipe. Not too long ago, I copied, and have been using this for maybe a year already. I must say, it's much improved over the old PVC design. This is a simple piece of 1" copper, capped on one end, and flared open on the other with four 4" cuts. Combined with a rubber stopper to hold the flares open during the removal process, it's worked like a champ each and every time. And, since I'm banging on metal and not plastic, I retired the rubber mallet for a real hammer. Bangs out headset cups in a snap. The second tool is a low-tech headset press. God bless Mike T., but I simply can't bring myself to whack a headset cup into the frame using a 2x4 and a hammer. For me, the answer is a simple 3/4" x 8" UNF (fine-threaded) bolt with a stack of fender washers. A 1/2" bolt would be ever better for this application. The UNF threading requires 16 turns per inch of movement for a 3/4" bolt, or 20 turns per inch for a 1/2" bolt. Avoid coarse threaded UNC bolts of similar diameters -- they would require 10 and 13 turns per inch, respectively, resulting in a less even press and a greater chance for the cut to get crooked while going in. Here's a bunch of pictures.

	Index of MkIII Build Posts
MAIN: MkIII / Speedhub Build Pics Iron Horse MkIII Naked Frame (March 2005) Hollowpoint Speedhub Build Pictures (April 2003) Cane Creek AD-12 Air Chamber Volume Adjustment White Brothers 2006 Technology	White Brothers DT 1.2 Fork Porn Stripping Anodization Bottom Bracket Drain Hole Drilling & Installation Drilling Out Cable Stops (Full Length Cable Run) Dremel Cut & Prep of Cable & Housing	Hopey Steering Damper Installation Stripping & Polishing an Aluminum Frame Homemade Headset Removal & Installation Tools Star Fangled Nut Removal (Drilling out the Star Nut)