Gravity Sucks

As Dan mentioned previously, there's been tons o' fun in the press maintenance department. For instance, today I adjusted the platen on our press, a task which filled me with trepidation, largely because all of the reading I've done on the matter is made up of phrases such as: "Adjusting the platen should be done VERY RARELY," or "Platen adjustments are best left to experienced pressmen," or "Why in holy hell are you attempting to adjust the platen yourself, you dumb [idiot]?"

It turns out that adjusting the platen is indeed a tricky procedure, but let's face it: it's not rocket science. It's basically some nuts that you turn with a wrench. Whoopee!

Much more difficult was moving the press from a broken down pallet on to wooden skids. When we bought the press, it was screwed on to a rickety wooden pallet. This made it easy to move with a pallet jack, but was unsuited as a long-term base for the 900 pound press. The slats eventually cracked and the poor ol' press developed a serious list to one side. Not good. So with the help of my father, some 2x4's, patio paving blocks, a car jack, and some steel u-bolts, we successfully lifted the press off the pallet and got it on to skids. We took pictures at every step to document the process:

Just that quick and easy.