DiResta Letterpress Restoration 

Interesting choice to use cartoon dynamite for the rollers.

That wire wheel revealing the lettering was so satisfying! Well done.

Nice restore Jimmy!.... I couldn’t tell how hard it was to slide those sleeves onto the rollers. But an old bicycle mechanic trick is to spray hairspray into handlebar grips as a lubricant, twisting them on while wet. The hairspray will dry slightly sticky allowing them to not slide off. Might work the same for the rollers if needed in the future....

That gold spray painting technique was great. Spray then dab where you need it with a small dowel. Brilliant! As always nice work my man!

Until the rollers went on, I had no idea what that round plate was for. Cool seeing that back in action. Looked like new.

Watching you wire wheel the flaky paint off the side of that thing is the most satisfying thing I have ever watched on youtube. Followed closely by the gold lettering going back on!

Derusting parts in a mesh pencil bag was heckin' clever.

I will never get tired of letterpress videos. Great job on the press and the video. Bonus points for the gold lettering "chef kiss"

I went to Bergen Tech in Hackensack for Printing graduated in 1968 letterpress was still a part of our shop at the time. Bloody Well Done.

When I was a kid, I had a Kelsey catalog and I wanted one of those Excelsior presses. They had a small one that would only print no larger than a index card. I was going to print business cards for people and make a pile. I was cool to see this old one of yours brought back to life.

Built when we weren’t a throwaway society. Love these old machines.

Jimmy “ain’t got time for two coats, I’ll do it in one” Diresta

I restored an identical press last year! Made extensive use of Evapo-rust. Amazing stuff. I asked a friend of mine who restores old player pianos if he knew where to get replacement rollers, and he turned me on to Ramco Roller Products. They take your roller rods and trucks, clean them up and install new roller material on them. They did a great job with fast turnaround. Your solution was quite clever, though. This is a great little press. Nicely done. :-)

Once I was loved & I worked with a song in my heart & then I got old & parts of me needed renewing, but I didn't get them & I was discarded, put amidst the old & unloved & people gawped & new not what I once was. Then I was bought, cleaned, worn out bits replaced & then I sang again & I made beauty & this so caught the imagination of others that some of of my sisters & brothers who were in a bad state like me were also rescued by folk around the world & then we sang again as choirs like we did before. Thank you Jimmy!

Not sure what was more mesmerising, putting the gold pain on the lettering or the final prints. LOVE this project! Another beaut raised from the grave.

Thank you, Jimmy. Big fan, from London, England. I used to use these in junior school in the 1970s. The school got us kids to print the blank report cards. Seeing those rollers brought it all back.

That is is very cool little press. Every time you post a press video it make me happy that old tools like these aren't just weighed in for scrap valueand you give them a forever home.

People don't like when you make a video about making signs but when you make a video about things that make signs it's a hit. Genius idea and cool restoration.

I like how the top plate rotates slightly with each press. Genius.

The sound of the mechanism. Awesome resto.

I've got a Kelsey 9x13 I'm doing a resto to right now. Love what your doing.

Wow.... This is my new favorite Jimmy Diresta restoration videos.... That red flannel shirt was great contrast on the black during the reassembly... Genius

I couldn't figure out how the ink plate was going to work and finally decided it must be manual. Then the parts arrived and it all came together. I love the craftsmanship from back in day. Everything had a purpose and you could figure out how it all worked by taking it apart once. Great video!

Restoring old tool is always fascinating to me.

I heard you talking about this press on the podcast and knew it would be cool. The gold lettering was a nice touch. Very cool restoration.

Fantastic as ever to see the squeaky wheel get the Jimmy kick. Amazing tool salvage!

By far my favourite Diresta videos are restoring old printing presses.

I'm absolutly falling in love with this press, black and golden letters = extraordinary ;-) Great press-renovation 👍 Thanx for the video :-)

love watching you restore old machinery and use them.

I never thought of a printing press as something of interest to me. They're neat just not my thing..until.. I see that cute lil thing. Just the right size to play! I didn't know there were such things. Thought they were pretty much all like your others or bigger. Something else I'll be watching for lol... thanks for sharing

Lovely job - that KELSEY will be worth a few bucks if it ever came up for sale. Over here in the UK an Adana of similar build is worth around £600-£700 second hand. Well worth hanging on to Mr Diresta.

I love the "simplicity" of old tolls. Its complex where you need it to be, maintaining the design beautiful as ever. Amazing restoration and one more tool added to my want list. 😂

Since it is all iron you can spray it with Easy Off oven cleaner (the generic stuff does not work very well) put it in a big bag and let it sit overnight. It will take everything off.

Not only do you inspire people to make, but you also inspire people to restore. Thanks Jimmy! Now I have to get after a similar press in my basement.

I liked the intro with the AvE-esque classical music. Nice touch.

That is, without doubt, the weirdest ink jet printer I've ever seen. There's real joy in keeping old machines alive. Thanks Jimmy.

So very awesome. The most amazing part to me is being able to look past the rust to see the diamond. Nicely done.

I could watch your restoration videos all day! Great tip on using the pencil bag in the Evaporust! Thanks for sharing!

It’s a machine of liberty. I can’t imaging how many pamphlets pure of freedom of speech were pressed from tools like that. That thing is amazing.

Beautiful work Jimmy. I think I want to go find one to rescue! Thanks.

Beautiful to see something originally made in my home state brought back to life!

great resto . nice lettering technik . thank you Jimmy

Hello from the bike mechanic world! Love your videos, I've learned so much from your channel over the years. I thought I'd give you a quick trick for putting rubber hose or tubing onto metal rod or piping if it ever gives you trouble: stick an air compressor nozzle under the tubing and blow a little air in-between the rubber and the metal. Helps that bad boy slide right on. Thanks for all that you make and do, Jimmy!

For a moment, I panicked when the raised letters were painted black....and then came the gold!! Awesome Job! DD

Wonderful job at preserving our GREAT PAST. I too have a “think” for printing. Loved it Sir.

Like adopting kittens or puppies from the SPCA, restoring old letterpresses is sooooo rewarding. Nice job Jimmy!

A renovation video, one of the very few who don’t mix it up with restoration, lovely little press that you have given another 100 years life to. Did you test the paint for lead before you started to mechanically remove the paint, don’t want to loose you now that you are in the groove!

I love that you give these old presses new life! Looks great!

this is just awsome, great restoration! I can not find the right words to say how awsome this is.

WOW! :-) Great restoration video. That small press is an interesting size. Great antique shop find. Would love to find one. Cheers!

What a lovely press!! Similar to the Adana ones we get in the UK. Love the gold detailing.

I think this deserves a Stan Lee print in the near future. I would definitely pay money for one of those! 🤩

Great to see back in action. Added to the link up of the other presses for sure.

amazing work. Long live to the printmaking!!! Long live to mr. William M. Ivin Jr.

Great job, Jimmy. I love bringing old tools back to life, you certainly did that little press justice.

Amigo lo veo desde Cuba, Usted a recuperado una máquina que es una obra de Arte de las Artes Gráficas.

great save!

Another beautiful tool saved. Thank you.

Beautiful restoration Jimmy

Love that punch at 02:23! Oh wait, that's a Torx screwdriver!!

Oh thank goodness you painted the lettering ... I was really heartbroken when the coat of black went on .. and I thought.. AAGH! the lettering is so cool.. and then you came back with the gold. THANK YOU .. I don't know why, but it looked wrong without the lettering being visible. Thanks Jimmy for the inspiration.

Lovely bit of kit to have restored very nice work 👍 prints are awesome too 😁

Nice little press! Never seen one like this before. 👍

Awesome! What a fabulous machine! :)

Man, that cup brush makes quick work of the job!

Sweet little machine! Perfect home shop size. Must find one! Nice lettering trick Jimmy.

This is wholly remarkable. In every way. Hats off to you, Jimmy. What a fine result and the knowledge to restore it.

Makes me want to go buy one of these smaller printing presses.

you need a picture of a female maker! I don't know why I love these renovation videos but I do. It's so much fun to see something old new again.

Jimmy when I watch you working at the lathe and the printing press it takes me back to my Junior and senior high days. I went to Alva T Stanford Jr. High and Sewanhaka High school and learned to print and mostly Machine shop / Technical Drawing.. Thank you my brother

Another Great Video JD! Thanks for Sharing the journey Brother! Have A Super Week!.....Gus

jimmy very useful machine turned out, you have golden hands. you're just great

I have a deep seated love/hate relationship with wire cup brushes. I genuinely LOVE how they strip off rust, paint, and general gunk like a banshee with morning breath but I HATE how they throw off bristles like a sadistic Borrower with a blowpipe (and try to eat your delicate bits if you take your eye off them). Lovely to see that little old printing press brought back to life though.

You hand tool rescued it

I know it is not exactly your style but if you are ever offered an ABdick 360 grab it. This will be the collectible of tomorrow. I was trained on one in HS and they are a modern version of this thing. Best machine I ever used.

Awesome restoration Jimmy! That South bend lathe is begging for a motor upgrade! A 1 HP, 3 Phase unit with a VFD would transform that little machine into a very capable workhorse. I've done quite a few of them, and would be happy to come help you out.

I print Christmas cards on my Excelsior 5x8. Good rescue!

painting the gold paint with the back of the brush,, do you know how many raised lettering ive messed up trying to use the brush side, what a great tip, and the press came out great too,

Loved the gold lettering!

That's the perfect sized hobby press. Sweet!

Very nice Restoration i love when People take the time to do it.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Excellent work, I did print work years ago, fun to see a very old little press back in action.

One of the first great weapons of the information age, it's beautiful.

Love the black "band-aid".

Very nice. Great job. Saved another press. Impressive!

Thanks for the video. It inspires me to go try to restore a foot operated old round wet stone on a stand. :) I have been putting it off.

Second life. Much better than modern printers, and the cartridge is just super)

I always love watching you restore these machines & as an artist it's awesome to see this method of printing being brought back... Everyone, including me, takes for granted that we can just run everything through photoshop and print out as many copies, basically as big as we want them... NICE JOB... Have a great day, take it easy...

The Gold paint, exquisite

I just love your restoration videos, Jimmy. The amount of work and attention to detail you go through. It shows in the final results. Thanks for sharing.

Must have felt good printing money at the end there, hard earned and well deserved, long term and short, thanks for the video and inspiration Jimmy.

Thank you for these videos. You are truly an inspiration to the little guys out there just tinkering around.

They payoff for me is when the gold goes on the letters. Well done!

Very nice restoration.

Very cool Jimmy !!!!!! cool printing press.

Can not wait to get a print from that classic

I never knew something like this ever existed!! This is really cool Some history lessons and amazing restoration! *It can't get better than that*

Having done a rehab on a very old 3x5 Kelsey to make wedding invitations, these can be tricky little presses to calibrate. First, it's a good idea to replace all of the springs because the tension needs to be even or it will pull the rollers more to one side than the other and mess up the ink distribution on the printing plate. I couldn't tell if DiResta did that in this case since they look new, but I saw him put the old ones in the rust remover. The silicon ink roller is a good idea, but there is a guy I found online that will replace with the original material, which does a better job of evenly spreading the ink. There is a company called Box Car Press (boxcarpress.com) that makes a really nice base plates to help with aligning the card stock with the printing plate. Printing plates can be made using image drawing programs (ideally vector based) and then sent off to companies that can convert those images into printing plates with adhesive backgrounds for pretty cheap. The process is done by hand, so they will alert you if something may be wrong... they warned me my 3x5 printing plate may not work correctly for my application, but I told them to go ahead anyway because I was doing something a little different (it worked fine), but it's really nice to have an expert opinion involved. If anyone decides to do a project like this, pay attention to the rust in the images because these are iron and the screw-threads may be really corroded, potentially requiring some brass inserts (this was the case with the carriage on my press). Lastly, if anyone wants to do this, go for it - I really enjoyed the restoration and it's fun to have a small printing press. Mine is bolted to wooden base I made for it. On my "to-do" list for it is to replace the wooden base with an organizer / storage box, and make a custom CNC cut carriage to replace the original.

Вот так повезло Джиму найти такой пресс) Класс!

It's amazing how well that old iron cleans up. Nice done Jimmy!