Sunday, April 27, 2014

Random Repairs

I should mention that I’m updating the blog while using my treadmill desk. In no particular order here are a few things I worked on this month.bezel1 Our friend Tonya has had this bracelet for years. The stone fell out and she attempted to fix it herself. Then she sent it to me. I hate doing jewelry repairs but it’s for a friend, so…
  bezel4 The stones were raised with sawdust underneath as you see by the gap.bezel5 I used a bamboo chopstick to make a tool for pushing open the bezel.bezel6 Stone removed and bezel somewhat massaged back to oval.bezel7 I decided to try some cork gasket material.bezel8I put the stone in and carefully teased out the cork grains from the opening, then solidified everything by wicking in some superglue.bezel3Then I burnished, pushed and burnished.bezel2 Not perfect, but the best I could do without de-soldering the bezel and fitting a new one. Tonya was happy.
button3 Felice likes these boots.button1One button had broken.button4 I made a coil of brass wire with a loop.button5 Made it screw-like and screwed it into the torn hole.button6 button7 Folded the torn metal (from the original loop) over the new loop.  button2Looks pretty good.
DSCF2416DSCF2420 The electric mower wouldn’t start. This plastic piece inside the switch assembly had broken. I used superglue to glue the pieces back together…DSCF2423Then mixed up some J B Weld epoxy and filled all the voids in the piece with it, adding some pieces of stainless steel wire for rebar.DSCF2425I added a piece of shim stock on the other side. In hindsight I should have put a few holes in the shim stock to grab the epoxy better.DSCF2427 Then I let it dry. DSCF2429 The switch assembly. Notice that they use a trigger style switch inside the housing. DSCF2434 The piece went back in and the mower works. If it breaks again I’ll make a new one from scratch out of aluminum.bshammer1I can fix anything with my BS hammer.

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