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How to make a manual printing press from a vintage cast-iron mangle
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In June 2026 we finally completed a 10-month project to convert a cast-iron mangle (which was maybe 130 yrs old) into a printing press. We waved farewell on 18th June when it was taken away to the Shire by its new owner. The printing press emerged very nicely from all the work that went into making it, being a fusion of a heritage machine with a new function and some new materials, in particular the stainless steel rollers. |
Here is the story of how we gave an old mangle a new life.
The mangle was donated in May 2025 after spending decades outside as a garden ornament. It looked quite rough at first: the wooden rollers rotted away a long time ago, the iron handwheel was seized onto the steel roller shaft, the spring hand-screw was seized and the steel spring leaves were corroded to the point of failure. The iron frames, however, had survived functionally okay with some of the original red and green paint remaining.
We thought that freeing the mechanisms might improve the machine’s appeal to potential buyers. We freed the spring hand-screw but were unsuccessful with the main handwheel. It looked like oxy-acetylene would be required, so Chairman Jim called in a favour from Stewart at SS Walker Vehicle Recovery. With heat and a large chisel it eventually yielded. Many thanks to Stewart.
When the mangle was advertised for sale, the only serious enquiry was from someone who wanted it making into a printing press to combine a new functionality with the re-use of a heritage item. This caused a lot of head-scratching, mainly about how to make stainless steel rollers, because we only have basic metal-working facilities. With blind ambition exceeding anything of a plan, we threw caution to the wind and accepted the challenge.
The rollers were based on using 4” NB grade 316 ASTM pipe for the rolling surface, mounted on the square shafts (after much grinding, filing and cursing) with fabricated sleeves and discs of dried beech which were an interference fit inside the pipe. The centres of the main square section of each shaft were found to be at least 2mm offset from the bearing centres. Fortunately we had a donated wood lathe long enough to accept each shaft (using original centre drillings). This enabled the primary beech discs for supporting the pipe to be turned in-situ so they’d be concentric with the shaft centre drillings and bearing surfaces. All easy to say, but it took weeks of painstaking work. To prevent any flexing of the schedule 10 pipes under load they are full of beech end-to-end to make them rigid: thirteen 42mm thick discs turned to a diameter 108.2mm, +/- 0.1mm.
Another wee problem was that the badly corroded long leaves of the spring broke. Aberdeen Sheet Metal, who kindly supplied all the required metal stock for the project, were able to use their press brake to bend new 6mm steel strips into the approximately right shapes. We applied final tweaks with a 10lb hammer using the edge of the skip as an anvil.
We used 50 × 50 mm angle sections for the bed support extensions. These needed welded ‘keys’ to engage with the channel sections of the original frame to ensure they could not move when bolted in place. Fettling these keys to make everything level and aligned also consumed a disproportionate amount of time, tea and biscuits. A new handle for the handwheel was made from the ash wood of an old pair of lawn edge shears.
And the result? When fully assembled it took on its new form as an old-fashioned printing press very well. It very much looked like an authentic working piece of heritage with the remaining original green and red paint, bare cast iron, new timber and shiny stainless steel rollers. Most importantly it seemed to work well and required a straight-edge across a rotating roller to be able to see the minimal eccentricity.
The heritage aspect is echoed by the original maker being local. D. McHardy and Son had premises at 108 & 110 North West Street in Aberdeen, and the business was described as Ironmongers, Engineering and Manufacturing. They were known also for supplying cast-iron kitchen ranges.
A lot of these old mangles probably get melted down, so we were pleased to be able to re-build it as a printing press and for a new owner who is very interested in heritage and conservation and will hopefully derive much pleasure from using it. It might also help with laundry during a power cut!