It’s Alive!!!!!
Cleaned up a 12x18 C&P I bought last week. I know I may get flack for the way I hooked up the motor. The press doesnt have a wheel on the other side for the leather strap. The guy who owned it before me had it strapped around the flywheel, but I could not get the leather to stay on that way so I attached a rubber wheel to the motor spun it around and viola.
Check out the video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VitcA6kyh5k
Great job. Your method of propulsion was a common approach with these presses. Ensure, though, that you help the start by turning the flywheel by hand prior to switching on the motor. There’s too much drag on the motor when attempting to turn all that weight from a dead stop. Disengaging the rubber wheel from the metal wheel is also accomplished by placing the motor on a hinged base thereby releasing it instantly. Original equipment utilized a pedal/bellcrank to effect that motion. Also, does the press wheel rotate ccw? It’s difficult to ascertain from the rather dark video.
Yes its rotating away from me when I stand at the press or CCW while facing it. The motor is on a hinge but to tighten the wheel you use a bolt that lifts up the hinge to roll against the flywheel