Peter Jourdain wrote, in the context of selling an Ideor Asso frame <snip>:
PLEASE NOTE: It will take me a couple of extra days before I ship this, as I have to get my mechanic to pull the cotter pins on the cranks. I don't have a press and don't want to do the old "hammer job" on this.
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Before someone gave me a Var press, for a couple of decades I used a very simple jig to do this. It's major disadvantage was that it required an assistant to hold the frame. Basically, just build a support for the crank arm, with a recess for the cotter, and hammer away (using driver to contact the cotter itself. I made mine with a ~12" - 30 cm 2x2 piece of wood, just long enough to lift the bike a bit off the ground, so crank arm would rest on the board with the bike slightly off the floor. Top end was rounded to a cylinder, to get closer to the right side, and drilled for the cotter. I used a radiator clamp around this, to keep the wood from splitting under load. Bottom anchored to a flat board to keep it erect. Now, I'd do it differently: 12" pipe set on flange screwed to board- hardware store items. Brass washer on top to minimize marring the crank arm. hope this is clear.
harvey sachs
mcLean va.