Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:32 pm
Antique Miller 6 Lever Padlock Saved! PICTURE HEAVY
Antique Miller 6 levers Double Bitted Padlock
I won an ebay lot for under $20 shipped. When the box arrived, the Miller 6 lever stood out like a sore thumb. After cleaning the lock free of the gunk and dirt, it was apparent that all of the springs were broken/damages as the lock would open just by shacking it side to side (Just for the record, I never aimed to remove the patina. I have now improved my rust removing techniques which have no effect on the beautiful patina).
I used a Dremel with a HSS cutter to grind down the sides of the rivets just enough to clear the hole so that I can reuse the same rivets. Keep in mind that the Dremel HSS cutter has cutting blades on the sides and on the bottom which cut into the body cover. I filed that bottom part of the cutter so that issue was resolved but you can see which rivet was the first and which was the last. I popped the body cover open and all of the broken springs were confirmed and now the fun begins.
Buying new springs is probably not even possible so I saved myself the time from search. After speaking to Lauren, he advised that he uses springs from other similar locks however this wasn’t an option for me as I did not have any other spare locks with springs similar to these. After looking at them closer, they are nothing more than flat piece of spring steel bent in 5 places so I decided to make my own.
I collected the broken spring piece I had and put together a complete spring for comparison. Taking the smallest wind shield wiper inserts, I measured and marked them for the right thickness and width and cut them to estimated lengths. I then drew up a little template as to where the bend points should be and marked each bend point on the new to be springs. Enough playing around, so I clamped the first one in my vise and started to bend using a bigger piece of metal to make sure I would get a good bend. I first bent the middle to also server as my guide point making sure each other bent was equal in length. Repeat to the other 2 and I was done.. almost.
They needed some last tweaks but they worked. I just made springs for a lock about 100 years old lol. For the shackle spring, I took a short cut and purchased a ready spring in the correct thickness which I bent into shape. The shackle spring required much more tweaking but at the end, it took works great. I assembled the padlock back together to make sure everything works and in fact it does. I did not crimp the rivets yet as I plan to make a key (or maybe a cut-away) for this lock but I am very happy with the end results and that I brought a dead old lock back to life and probably stronger then it originally was from the factory
Hope you enjoy this and pictures for your viewing pleasures are below.
I won an ebay lot for under $20 shipped. When the box arrived, the Miller 6 lever stood out like a sore thumb. After cleaning the lock free of the gunk and dirt, it was apparent that all of the springs were broken/damages as the lock would open just by shacking it side to side (Just for the record, I never aimed to remove the patina. I have now improved my rust removing techniques which have no effect on the beautiful patina).
I used a Dremel with a HSS cutter to grind down the sides of the rivets just enough to clear the hole so that I can reuse the same rivets. Keep in mind that the Dremel HSS cutter has cutting blades on the sides and on the bottom which cut into the body cover. I filed that bottom part of the cutter so that issue was resolved but you can see which rivet was the first and which was the last. I popped the body cover open and all of the broken springs were confirmed and now the fun begins.
Buying new springs is probably not even possible so I saved myself the time from search. After speaking to Lauren, he advised that he uses springs from other similar locks however this wasn’t an option for me as I did not have any other spare locks with springs similar to these. After looking at them closer, they are nothing more than flat piece of spring steel bent in 5 places so I decided to make my own.
I collected the broken spring piece I had and put together a complete spring for comparison. Taking the smallest wind shield wiper inserts, I measured and marked them for the right thickness and width and cut them to estimated lengths. I then drew up a little template as to where the bend points should be and marked each bend point on the new to be springs. Enough playing around, so I clamped the first one in my vise and started to bend using a bigger piece of metal to make sure I would get a good bend. I first bent the middle to also server as my guide point making sure each other bent was equal in length. Repeat to the other 2 and I was done.. almost.
They needed some last tweaks but they worked. I just made springs for a lock about 100 years old lol. For the shackle spring, I took a short cut and purchased a ready spring in the correct thickness which I bent into shape. The shackle spring required much more tweaking but at the end, it took works great. I assembled the padlock back together to make sure everything works and in fact it does. I did not crimp the rivets yet as I plan to make a key (or maybe a cut-away) for this lock but I am very happy with the end results and that I brought a dead old lock back to life and probably stronger then it originally was from the factory
Hope you enjoy this and pictures for your viewing pleasures are below.
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