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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

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    I just made some new eyelet covers for my Yale time locks and they need to be aged. I tried some vinegar/salt solution and then heated with reasonable results. Just a quick try with out experimentation.

    Here is a finished eyelet next to a nickel plated original.

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    Temporary placed on the time lock. Struggling to find the right pins for mounting the eyelet.

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    Last edited by Brian Morland; 16-04-17 at 05:11 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,754
    Country: Wales

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    Those look great 00247, the profile looks spot-on to the originals, are they the escutcheons to cover the keyholes where the movements are wound?
    Wondering did you turn them with a form tool and part them from solid bar or did you turn your own formers and press them from thin discs cut from sheet? Not easy to tell unless we can see the backs of them.

    Why are you struggling to find pins to fix them when you could make a small handful with shoulders for riveting or with threads, in a fraction of the time it's taken to make the covers you've shown there? Surely just get some 1/8" bar or whatever size they need and turn them down to size to rivet in place or thread them in.

    Ageing brass is always a challenge, as its different every single time, so confess to using a whole wizard's list depending on the brass, what it needs to match and the timescale etc.
    The nuts on the back of the vault door were turned from a Naval type hexagon bar which has a nice yellowish tint anyway, only reason being I had a length of it the right size. They aren't treated at all though, what you see is a few months natural dis-colouration to the gold colour. It's probably helped along by the monthly 6 foot of rain and cold conditions we get here in Wales.

    The grade of brass also has an effect on what colour it'll go as well as the conditions, some grades seem to want to corrode and not develop much dis-colouration or patina. I learned to avoid the commercial potions in bottles, unless you want your item to have that unmistakeable classic look like an "antiqued" Walmart light fitting.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    147
    Country: United States

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    Yes, they are the winding hole covers. I ground a piece of tool steel to the shape of the eyelet cover. That took a while of trial and error. I turned some 5/8" brass to the required .560 diamater and cut the end with the ground tool.

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    I have the parting tool mounted on the adjoining side of the tool post so it is at a perfect 90° angle. Simply reverse rotation and cut the eyelet cover off. The digital readout makes it go quite fast.

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    I'm no machinist, just a newbie trying to learn so I hadn't thought about making the pins. I don't think I'm good enough to make pins that small. Some 19 gauge escutcheon pins should be correct but they are hard to come by here in the states. More thinking needed. Thanks for the suggestion.

    To drill the hole in the eyelet cover for the pivot pin I made a jig out of scrap brass to hold the eyelet cover. A spare cover was used to guide the .040 #60 drill. Then with the new eyelet cover in the jig assembly I flip it over and drill from the back. You will be happy to know I am using a UK Eclipse pin vise to convert my drill press. Slowly, I am learning.

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    1,754
    Country: Wales

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    Well you done a great job there, you've ground your own HSS tool steel to make the form tool so honestly the pins will be a walk in the park as they are very basic turning. Also, seeing you've set your lathe up with that toolpost and the DRO digital readout you'll figure them out and have them made in no time. My 918 lathe is 'well past its prime' to say the least, the carriage and feed dials are that inaccurate through decades of wear and backlash I do precise work by hand measuring with a vernier and micrometer!

    Seeing the tool steel you ground reminded me it doesn't seem to matter how many of those HSS steel bars you grind to a particular shape, you always end up making another for the next job! You'd think you'd have most angles and shapes covered, as you end up with a tin full of them, each one ground different at both ends, but still end up re-grinding another every single time!

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    Last edited by Huw Eastwood; 15-04-17 at 08:27 PM. Reason: Problems with invalid attachments after moving post to individual thread

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Devon UK
    Posts
    3,117
    Country: UK

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    I have 19g esc pins if you want....

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