Sat Mar 14, 2015 2:27 pm by Lauren
I could have done a re-riveting chapter, and believe me, I have an EAGLE padlock right now that's giving me serious trouble. The temptation is there to grind the rivets off and produce new ones like I have done in my early days of this hobby. Each time I have done this, I end up regretting it, because I was too impatient and I realized it wasn't necessary. I believe this why so many people are attracted to cut-a-ways. In contrast, I have done tear downs thinking it was absolutely necessary to do so, and at the time it was. There's a few chapters in my book that allowed me to produce tools for two similar locks based on past tear downs. The good news is- nobody has to do the tear down any more based on my sacrifice and inventions on these locks.
The problem with riveting is- finding the same material that the manufacturer used. Often brass is mistaken as bronze. Good luck finding sizable bronze round stock that can be machined down. I was at Industrial Metal Supply in Sunland, CA a few weeks ago and I noticed that they sold bronze rods (close to 1/4 inch in diameter) for welding. This may be the ideal material. Common half-hard brass is way too soft in my opinion. Maybe, manufacturers did use brass, only- it was "full-hard". Half-hard will work in a pinch, but the design of rivets are often "spacer rivets" (fatter inside between the lock case, thinner through the locks cases). When the rivets are pressed or hammered to a "mushroom shape", the tendency is to bulge the inner diameter of the rivet. This bulging may prevent lever tumblers from moving freely. Riveting is an art in it's self. Just remember, the value of the lock will be greatly reduced when repaired.
Gordon...thank you for your kind thoughts. I'm just a perfectionist and I felt the revise was necessary for future purchases. Like I said.. the message is not retarded by my spelling errors. I think there was about ten in total. But it's fixed now. Also, I added a picture of my self on the last page. No body, but one member has ever met me or knows what I look like. I keep telling my self that I have to go that Los Angeles monthly meetup.
You did a great job.
