Hi,
I have a No. 3 (Old Style), and I am planning on fabricating a gripper bar lever for it and I wanted to see if anyone else would want one as well. The more that are made at one time the cheaper they should be, but they definitely should be under $100.
The idea is similar to what is documented in a couple of previous posts, linked to below. I have attached an image that shows my design; I am planning on having it water jet cut from 1/4″ steel, aluminum would be a little cheaper, but I am a little worried that the shoulder screw that it would pivot on would eventual wear the hole. The handle would be made more ergonomic by attaching the two plates by countersunk #10 flat head machine screws, though plastic grips that fit the bar also exist: https://www.mcmaster.com/9692k37, I carefully measured my press for the location of the mounting holes, the middle hole, which is the pivot, I undersized so I can drill to size, the other holes are oversized to account for the water jet manufacturing tolerances.
I don’t know if all presses had the holes in the same positions over time, but if anyone else wants one, I could either omit the holes so they could use their existing piece as a template, or if they can provide exact hole location measurements, I put those in. Similarly, I could leave off the handle holes, if people want a different handle option.
https://vandercookpress.info/2011/03/gripper_lever/
https://vandercookpress.info/2010/02/grippers/
The No. 3 has a bar similar to above but cut off right above the little slot. To install the gripper bar above, you would unscrew two shoulder screws from the slot and the middle hole, and a bolt from the bottom hole that attaches the cam follower. You would then but the gripper bar in place, and screw in the shoulder screws and bolt on the cam follower attachment. The top two plates are just for ergonomics, to have a better handle.
I’m interested for sure. Not sure how to install it given the design posted. I’m game to learn about how this might work.