I purchased a rather expensive press given what it is - a threaded rod with two wing nuts. Cost over 30 bucks when I could have made something myself from the hardware store for less than 10.

The threaded rod and wing nuts with the fancy logo on it had no way of determining whether the bearings were parallel when they were put into the bike. What I did do was set the bike down on its side while I pressed in the bearings one at a time. I tried centering the threaded rod as I pressed the bearings in one at a time but the partner I was working with kept saying that the threaded rod was off-center even when I thought I had nailed it.

Upon final visual inspection the bearings looked relatively parallel but my eyes aren't calipers and in all likelihood there was probably some deviance from the bearings being absolutely parallel. So, is this an issue, and if so, how can I correct this? Buy the even more expensive Park Tool bearing press?