Just one of those projects!
 

Hi to all, I'm currently deep into drum revision and seem to have little time or even little energy to tackle any other projects big or small? But, sometimes, (there is never really a good time? :eek:) you dwell on a project that has bugged you for years, and you suddenly decide to make time and try to solve a repair riddle. Two overlying factors are, it has to be something rare, otherwise some one would already be doing it, and second, it, the repair, has to be relatively cheap so that it is worth doing? So it is with a facet of magazine repair i have always thought about but never up till now, considered trying. And that is repairing Luger magazine follower buttons when the little teat breaks off in the follower causing the button to spin loosely, and/or come out and bind up?
Well, recently, one of my customers had an extremely nice all original Dutch mag and it suffered from just that issue. It seemed a shame to replace it with the closest available button, and the broken part was excellent in every other respect. So, I decided to repair it? It took only an hour or so, but I spent about 20 hours just thinking about how and what I was going to do and use.
The first hurdle was to make a one shot shade-tree collet to hold the button shank so that it was both tight and concentric in the lathe! After that I used a center drill to start my hole in the follower button shaft, and then proceeded to drill with a number 50 W.G. drill (.070") to a depth of approx. .250" So far so good! I then used a finishing nail that measured .071" to .072" dia. and cut off an ample length and ground the ends flat, so now I have a long skinny pin.
I then put the pin in a cordless drill, and using some W/D 220 just sanded about .001" or less off of one end of the pin. I'm pretty much at a slight interference fit at this point, probably more like .0005" over on the pin. Resting the head of the follower button on a piece of plastic on top of a steel bar, I tapped the pin into the follower button shaft and using a Dremel, cut and ground to length! On some test pieces, I could hardly remove the pin from the part even with a side cutters? It is really in there!:eek: The last operation prior to installation was to take a small torch and anneal just the end of the pin to soften/prep it for the riveting operation! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy, it worked out perfectly... So, now the elves have another little skill they can perform even if it is one you'll probably never need! Best to all, til.....lat'r.....GT..:cheers::cheers:

BTW, why the annealing on the nail pin when /after installation? Well, the nails are pretty good steel to begin with and through out the nail making operation nail wire is drawn thru successively small dia. dies, and every time that happens it causes the nail wire to become slightly harder, it is called skin hardened! (also known as a form of work hardened)The drawing heading and forming operations that follow impart some additional hardness as well. All of this just because of the number of operations needed to make a nail into a nail? The above description of work hardening is great for making a nail better, kind of self tempering, but not so much that they become brittle, in fact some items are stress relieved after manufacture to make them more consistent and in some cases stronger then an un-stress relieved part. Well for a small delicate rivet that I needed to produce, the hardened state of the nail meant that I was going to have to use excessive force the "set" the rivet part? After installation of the pin and annealing with the small torch, it reduced the steel back to it's original, pre work hardened state... riveted like butter, just right..... and there you have it.. best to all, til...lat'r....GT

So, now the elves have another little skill they can perform even if it is one you'll probably never need! Careful! The elves might go to bed one night and forget to remember in the morning!

forget?
 

Hi Jer, my elves can forget what the primary task was even when they have it in their grubby little hands! :eek: But, somehow we all end up at the same place at the same time when a project requires extra effort to get done! Best to you Jer, til.....lat'r.....GT...:cheers:

do you film yourself when doing these projects...?

Hi Tom!
 

Nawww, never have, mostly because i don't know how to do most of the filming stuff, and too lazy to learn.....:eek:.... And I'm pretty spontaneous. I don't know what I'm going to do until right before I do it? I feel more comfortable writing about it on the Luger forum, other then that, the outside world doesn't know me from a stick of butter? Besides, I'm not too photogenic? At 68 years old, I look like a cross between a badger and a panda bear... That's Gods fault, not mine.. Best to all my friends and family on the forum, til....lat'r.....GT...:cheers:

I've done a couple of videos, very difficult not to look haphazard or like an idiot :)

Folks, the Dutch magazine that GT has described is mine. I've re-read his original thread twice, and now have no more idea what he has done than when I originally asked him to "fix the button thing" of the magazine, and he said "sure". It's magical, not just for the outcome, but for the enthusiasm he brings to the task. A true restoration. Again, thank you GT.