On this pressing matter, I used the Var #07 Cotterpin press extensively. Exclusively is more like it, since in the 60's and early 70's, that was all we had. I never worked in a shop that used hammers, we always had the Var - yet Var themselves listed #63 "cotter pin copper mallet weighing 14 ounces; "for setting or removing crank cotter pins without damage to threads or frame.". Yes, the #07 can be used to remove pins as well as install, one must be careful to hold the tool steadfastly or it would bend the threads of the pin to be removed. The leverage depends on a cam lever which if not lubed will cause the tool to "hang" and possibly break. On the other guanto, it was made from cast metal, and we all know about stress risers now, (thanks to the discussion of Campy cranks which break or don't break, depending on one's personal observation it would seem). So don't toss an old one around and nick it up. Cotter pins themselves were a challenge. One learned the skill of grinding/filing the slope of the wedge accurately since that determined if the cranks end up at 6 & 12 o'clock, respectively. The Var #371 cotter pin vise clamp was useful in holding the pin in a consistent manner to make the filing adjustments...but file too much and the pin went in too far, and you started over with a new pin. I kept a cabinet of pins from every source I knew, since there were slight differences in the slope of the wedge in those pre-CNC machine days as well as some pins were available chrome plated, others simply zinc plated. Well-meaning customers were always preemptively over-tightening the keeper bolt on the end of the pin, without understanding the wedge, and of course, stripping the threads, requiring replacement. I soon learned it would be a lot faster if I replaced both sides in such cases, as they would match, rather than me trying to file the new one to match the old one on the other side. If I was lucky, I could just drop in two new pins and press them in. But remember! always lube before insertion.
Ricardo Bulissimo Verdi, Nevado
Prodotti Oldfarti