Anatomy of a Trigger Bar

[sheepherder]

...(Also sometimes called a 'sear bar')...

Warning! Small parts fall out easily!

I've read posts here about cleaning your trigger bar, they usually suggest pushing the plunger in & out in a container of solvent. I had mine out today, and decided to 'clean' it. I put some lacquer thinner in a small can and pushed the plunger in & out repeatedly. To my surprise, the assembly came apart in the can...

The small pin is not secured [pressed] in the body, it is just held in by spring tension on the plunger.

Very tiny pin, about 3/64" in diameter. To get it back together, I used a #56 drill bit to assemble the bar, and then used a magnetized 1/8" rod to push the pin in (and the drill bit out) while holding the plunger in.

Pictures below.

From now on I will be very careful about handling the trigger bar.

[lugerholsterrepair]

I took one apart once..was trying to get it all back together when the plunger flew across the room while pushing it in on the spring. Try as I might I have never found it.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by lugerholsterrepair

I took one apart once..was trying to get it all back together when the plunger flew across the room while pushing it in on the spring. Try as I might I have never found it.

That teeny tiny pin on mine stuck to my drying rag and fell on the floor of my shop...For $1.00 I'll tell you how I found it...

(Took me ~15 minutes)...

(I can't find anything smaller than a wheelbarrow on my workbench!)

[mrerick]

I've adopted the habit of taking things with springs apart inside a plastic garbage bag. That way, I limit the potential for travel into the unknown...

[alanint]

I use the same plastic bag trick. I also have a large magnet on a stick for those retrieval jobs.

[Ron Wood]

Rich,
I am impressed...your workbench actually looks worse than mine and I didn't think that was possible

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Ron Wood

Rich,
I am impressed...your workbench actually looks worse than mine and I didn't think that was possible

Only in the middle of a project... If you look close, at the bottom of the pic you can see my long-barrel Luger barrel in my barrel vise...I took that while milling the sight base...Notes, tools, bar stock, reamers, end mills, cartridges, TV remote...All within handy reach...

The bench is usually bare for dis-assembling, reloading, cleaning pistols...I have a stool but except for having a rag draped on it, it's never used...

[Neil Young]

Rich:
I really like your trick of using a magnetized steel rod to hold tiny pins for insertion. I have always tried to use a pair of needle nose pliers to hold the pin, with mixed results. Good tip!

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Neil Young

Rich:
I really like your trick of using a magnetized steel rod to hold tiny pins for insertion.

It's a very weak magnetism. I think if it was any stronger it would pull the pin in sideways...

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by lugerholsterrepair

I took one apart once..was trying to get it all back together when the plunger flew across the room while pushing it in on the spring. Try as I might I have never found it.

Jerry, here's a suggestion. It's probably too late for that one, if anyone has done vacuum cleaning of the space where it was lost, without monitoring the bag before disposal. Here's what I do: I have a cleaner with that tornado action, where the dirt swirls around in a clear plastic tank. Pop a strong magnet into this canister, and it will capture anything ferrous that swirls past it. The magnet I use came from a computer hard drive--it's a rare earth type and really strong for is size. My little lost Erma springs all come back to me now!

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

It's a very weak magnetism. I think if it was any stronger it would pull the pin in sideways...

Problem solved: Center drill a pocket for the pin in the end of the magnetized rod with a #55 drill. Your rod can be powerfully magnetic and still keep the pin pointing the right way. You'd use this to start the pin, then the brass punch to set if flush. Needle nose pliers, tiny vise grips, locking forceps are all handy in certain circumstances, but they will all tend to mark the pin when applied.

[Curss]

Brilliant idea with the vacuum!

[lugerholsterrepair]

Yes..love the vac idea. My plunger ended up among a desk area piled with all sorts of junk.

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by lugerholsterrepair

Yes..love the vac idea. My plunger ended up among a desk area piled with all sorts of junk.

I predict ultimate success. Unless the "crime scene" has been disturbed, it's only a matter of systematic paper shaking and magnet work!

[lugerholsterrepair]

Yeah..well come on over and get with it! 3 years and I havn't seen hide nor hair of it. I even saw it's trajectory, heard the click against the wall and saw approximately ..I looked for weeks. Tore the whole area apart cause I WANTED that part! All I know..or suspect anyway..it's still in my Wife's office side of my leather shop.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

I predict ultimate success.

Maybe in YOUR shop. My floor is littered with steel, aluminum, brass, and Delrin scraps and lathe/mill filings. I sweep and vacuum [Sears Shop-Vac; no bag] daily, but trying to separate the steel scraps from the lost parts is time consuming and sometimes fruitless. For the teeny tiny pic from the trigger bar, I went over my bench work area with a magnet and deposited the liftings to a clean bench where I could paw through the dust bunnies, cob webs, and unknown detritus looking for the pin. No luck. Finally I swept the floor area, scooped it to the desk and went over the pile with the magnet. Everything the magnet picked up went on another clean surface, where I went over it with a magnifying glass. Success!!! I couldn't see it with my naked eye but it stood out under the glass.

Strangely, nothing else turned up...No dropped nuts, washers, cotter pins, straight pins, setscrews, or half pair of socks...

I'm thinking of getting a bigger magnet.

[ithacaartist]

My version is, of course, over-simplified. Rich is right about the dust bunnies and extraneous stuff in which the magnetic items are entangled and stuck. Going through it a pinch at a time to feel for the part...reinforces the habit of using the plastic bag method for dis-assembly in the first place!

Jerry, I had a very similar experience--hearing the Erma firing pin guide and its spring hit the shop window, having a brief glimpse of their trajectory, and isolating the landing area in a general way. First pass came up empty, even after sweeping and magnetizing. But it had to be there...and six months later when I got around to moving the stack of sheet steel and plywood leaning against the wall, it was finally revealed.

+1 on the bigger magnet. The best one I had for outdoor work was a ceramic magnet about 2" square and maybe a foot long. It was encased in a light gauge stainless steel shell, with mounting lugs on the ends. A housemate worked here at Borg-Warner and had purloined it, presumably from a magnetic separation process in the manufacture of automotive chain. I added wheels and a handle to it, and it would pull submerged 16d nails up out of the ground. Now it is lost. (I think it might be in Amherst, Mass. where I worked on my buddy's house...) So, no substitute for a robust magnet.

It is strange what surfaces, sometimes you get the part you lost last time, and the object of this search still eludes.

[lugerholsterrepair]

David, Yes..I am hoping it will show sooner or later but I have long since replaced the plunger. About as easy to make one as find the one I lost.

One trick I have used with a regular vac is to put a sock over the nozzle. Everything gets sucked into the toe of the sock and you can turn it out to search the contents.

If I had the brains God blessed a goose with I would set up a capture tent for stuff like that...

[wlyon]

At my age searching for things is a daily pastime. Part of my social life so to speak. Bill

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by wlyon

At my age searching for things is a daily pastime. Part of my social life so to speak. Bill

=1! Now, where did I put those glasses?