Lock repair

stevejones

stevejones

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Hello everyone. I thiught it would be more appropriate to post this here rather than the gunsmithing section. I have a worn out pivot hole for the tumbler. Its been worn oblong and I'm tempted to partly fill it with weld and then redrill it. Any thoughts? Sorry cannot post pics right now.
 
i built a Jim Chambers small Siler lock from a "kit". i had to drill the holes and tap them, so on, etc. i misdrilled a hole on the frizzen bridle, so i filled with weld, filed back to shape re drilled and tapped. worked ok for me, you`ll just have to set something up do you redrill your hole in the right spot.
 
Mostly right Steve-do weld it back but don't close the hole, and rather than drill which can go towards softer metal -use a Dremel with a small diamond burr and flesh it out to where it needs be. Slightly tight is good then a small roll of 440 paper to polish the hole. This stuff is fun ain't it. Cheers
 
Ok so I guess I'm on the right track. Thanks for the tip about not filling the hole. I had considerd just filling around the edges and filing the hole. Slow and steady wins the race sometimes. The hammer is loose as well. I assume more filler? This gun is going to be a progecr...the under rib has come loose and the nipple is mangled and of course rusted in place. I have tackled this problem before but ever progect has its little challenges.

Maybe I will post pics of this as it moves (I hope) along.
 
I have done it differently in the past. I drilled the tumbler hole larger and round then silver soldered a bushing in the new hole and drilled the bushing to the correct diameter. Something similar for a loose hammer. The advantage of silver solder on the hammer is that before starting you can mark the corners of the hole with a small cold chisel

Cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
I have done it differently in the past. I drilled the tumbler hole larger and round then silver soldered a bushing in the new hole and drilled the bushing to the correct diameter. Something similar for a loose hammer. The advantage of silver solder on the hammer is that before starting you can mark the corners of the hole with a small cold chisel

Cheers mooncoon
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I agree with Mooncoon on bushings. The advantage is that the bushings can be easily replaced if required.
 
i thought of a bushing but it seems a little more complicated....i was considering one of bronze and then peening each side (after counter sinking the hole) but maybe bronze is a bad idea as it is soft.
 
Yes, it would.
How is the tumbler shaft? If the hole is badly worn, is the shaft even round any more? A better repair might be to make the lockplate hole round, and install a new tumbler with a larger diameter shank. The loose hammer situation would also be resolved.
 
I would drill the hole out to 3/8" then use low-temperature silver solder to secure the bushing. Then re-drill the hole. The bushing will be hidden behind the hammer on the outside and behind the bridle and tumbler on the inside.
 
Ol' Flinter said:
I would drill the hole out to 3/8" then use low-temperature silver solder to secure the bushing. Then re-drill the hole. The bushing will be hidden behind the hammer on the outside and behind the bridle and tumbler on the inside.
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That would do it.
 
stevejones said:
Could I fill (not completely) the hole with silver solder? I guess it might be too hard. So welding rod?
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Filling or lining the hole with silver solder would be similar to a bronze bushing; the common and lowest temperature melting silver solder is 45% silver and 55% copper and melts at 1140 F but does not really flow until 1 - 200 degrees higher. Tiriaq's recommendation would imply using a soft solder which melts in the 450 F range. If you used a short length of 5/16" drill rod (or 3/8 depending on the size of the shaft) and could think of a way of center drilling it , you would not need a metal lathe to create a bushing. The purpose of center drilling first is that you are assured of having the tumbler shaft hole in the correct location. The reason for just a center hole is that once the bushing is installed, the lock plate supports the bushing while you are drilling the shaft hole and the wall thickness of the bushing is hopefully fairly thin. Drill rod is a high carbon steel and is more wear resistant than mild steel. An alternate perhaps would be a high grade bolt of the correct diameter because I think the higher grade bolts (marked on the head) seem to be fairly hard to file, if my memory is correct

cheers mooncoon
 
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ok so now I'm getting this. I have a friend who I should be able to give me a hand with this.Replacing the tumbler would be a problematic approach I think as getting the appropriate one and then all the fitting would be a lot of work.So a soft solder would be a non lead solder I assume. I have plumbing solder that has a small silver content and is very strong.
 
Careful with using drill bits. As has been pointed out, they can bend. A reamer or end mill would be better, followed by a bushing. And definitely don't close the whole thing completely if you try to fill. I made that mistake once practicing on a junk Iver Johnson 12 gauge.
 
stevejones said:
ok so now I'm getting this. I have a friend who I should be able to give me a hand with this.Replacing the tumbler would be a problematic approach I think as getting the appropriate one and then all the fitting would be a lot of work.So a soft solder would be a non lead solder I assume. I have plumbing solder that has a small silver content and is very strong.
Click to expand...

Solders can be divided into 2 groups; silver solders or silver brazing which are a mixture of silver and copper and while they come in more than one ratio, the most common locally is 45% silver and it is also the lowest melting at 1140 F but needs to be quite a bit hotter before it flows. It is very strong and almost as good as a weld. Soft solders can be various mixtures of lead and tin or pure tin I suppose and melt in the 450 - 500 F range. Some include a small amount of silver (1 or 2% I think) but all are much weaker than the high temperature silver solders. Their merit is that you do not need an oxy acetylene or oxy propane torch to heat the work and melt the solder and their shortcoming is that if you only have a tiny amount of surface to grip, they are much weaker. In the case of a bushing in the tumbler hole, you do not need a lot of strength because the forces will be in compression and the soft solder is adequate for the job

cheers mooncoon
 
So here is an update on my project. The pivot hole has been drilled and tapped to half an inch (20 tpi) and a half inch bolt has been drilled to .380 (size of the tumbler shaft give or take a few thou..)

in8zsx.jpg


As you can see, the tumbler lines up with the sear. .I have cleaned up the lock and soaked it in Evapo-Rust. The next step will be de-greasing both threads and applying lock tight to the treads. After 24 hours setting time I will cut and file the bolt. Just wanted to hear any thoughts.

2vta87t.jpg


Thanks again everyone.
 
To really secure the bolt bushing you can solder it in place with low temp silver solder or possibly even lead solder, given that you used a threaded bushing. It seems a bit late now but if you had very slightly counter-sunk both surfaces of the lock plate you could peen both ends of the bushing to lock it in place. Looks great regardless.
 
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