With the trial bore completed, measured and measured again, I thought I’d try pressing it in. I put the bearing in the freezer over night, and warmed up the ally in the oven.

The bearing went in very easily and grabbed itself tight when everything came to a constant room temperature. The bearing is reassuring tight, but still runs freely – I’m happy with that. Even Bob said well done!

Onto the rod itself next for the final article. When I’ve got somewhere near I’ll press the bearing out of the test piece. (Or saw it out). As long as I can reliably repeat the process, I’ll have a finished rod 🙂