Heh. I hear ya. But it's the time involved, (we old guys think of this more and more :) ... for something I might use once. But that's usually a no-good excuse.
That said, I did find a nice piece of brass "tubing" down in the shop that ought to work well for custom cup presses.
1 1/8 inch bore. 1/2 inch wall thickness. Guess I'll probably get the chips flying, but I won't make the whole tool.
Found that huge, threaded bolt/rod in the garage too. ;)

Thanks — great idea. I am one of those who has been saying, 'Yeah ... well how many times am I going to do this, anyway?' Well .. the answer, as it has turned out — more than I thought! So 65 clams and shipping even to Japan may be worth it for the future? Maybe Hozan has one here on this side, but I have always assumed that this was a $200+ tool.

The last time I installed a head-set as DIY was years ago using drifts and mandrels. Took me about two hours and I sweated blood the whole time!

I imagine that all of us CV'ers could use a real think towards a solution as opposed to relying on the LBS.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=282995I tried the threaded rod and washers routine but didn't like it when the cups would get crooked before they seated. So I made this with the help of a mini lathe.

I saw in another thread someone mentioned you can use standard 32mm wrenches on these. It worked on my Shimano 600 headset.

I bought this tool several years ago.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mountain-Bik...item3ca1ba8023

Eventually, I upgraded to the Park Tool, as I have installed a lot of headsets. For lighter use, this one is just fine.

That's a nice fix, busdriver. Well, as it turns out, Otis' inspiration, uh ....kick in the pants... convinced me that though I'm not likely to use such a tool more than once, maybe twice, I might as well get the old metal lathe cranked up and make some custom fit drivers.
After all, I had the materials laying around and found a suitable length of heavy wall aluminum pipe with a one inch bore to use for the fork crown setting tool. The fork crown remover will be a little more involved. Results with pics to follow.

Exactly what I used to say, and I "got by" with a DIY press for a while. One day I built up my Palo Alto, and the DIY press put the top cup in cockeyed - almost split the head tube on a frame I cared very deeply for. Bought the tool the next day (at the time is was only $50 + shipping), and have used it several times since.

Cheap insurance, when you're working on a frame that has value to you.

I went and got 'er did;
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...2#post14937622

My old boss, a machinist did just that, he machined a 2 step collar that fit most 1" headsets. The threaded rod needs to be a tight in the collar to help keep the collars centered and from rocking.

The SB method with big washers is one of the worst methods I've ever seen as there's noting to keep the rod centered and no way to keep the washers from shifting.

I own an expensive cup tool and it has a lot to be desired, it's a compromise to fit in a tool box.