Repairing a Broken Window Latch

The weather is somewhat furnace-like this week. So I wanted to leave the windows open in our bedroom at night. Unfortunately the latch on one of our windows had broken. I could have gone to the local Habitat for Humanity store and hunted up a replacement latch but I decided to try to fix it.

I removed the latch. It is made of some sort of pot metal.

I drilled a hole in each end of the broken pieces.

I used a small piece of Music Wire to strengthen the joint. I probably drilled in about 3/8" in each part. The music wire is stiff and strong.

I mixed up some J-B Weld Epoxy and smeared some on both ends of the rod.

Squished the parts together.

Then I smeared some extra JB Weld on the part.

About 3 or 4 hours later, with the epoxy pliable but not runny, I molded it around the latch.

The next day, with the epoxy hardened, I screwed the latch back on the window and was able to lock it. If it doesn't break again in the next week I'll paint the epoxy black, not that it impacts the overall aesthetic of our house.

Some links and tools...

Sorry for the short post, we've been far too busy lately. This is my haul from a yard sale last week


The oil can is for Kent's collection, the Goodell-Pratt drill has in good shape with 4 bits in the handle. The gouge has a rosewood handle and I was able to clean it up and sharpen it. Anyway, the pile was $2.00 which is a good score.

Here are a few links:

• Graphotype.net
• Search for the "Old Bill" machinist stories in Popular Science. Great information!

Henry the Machinist.

Henry has been drilling the holes in his Lego earrings for a while but I always set the drill press up for him. I figured it was about time to teach him how to set it up as well.

Putting the drill bit in the chuck.

Tightening the chuck.

Turning it on.

Positioning the work.

Drilling the hole. He drilled about 30 legos.

I still helped him out but he's making great strides towards understanding how the drill press works and how to drill a hole where he wants it to be. Now we need a lathe project.

Here's a great tutorial on inlaying precious metal into steel.

Small Improvements.

So I've been bending over uncomfortably lately...

I had the Taig lathe mounted on a roll away toolbox and the height wasn't ideal.

While cleaning out the mess in the carport I found the red toolbox in a pile of stuff I bought at an auction. It raises the lathe up so that I don't have to bend while adding two more drawers for stuff to my shop. Win-win.

The other annoyance was that the roll-away tended to want to roll away, even with the caster locks engaged. So I added two angle iron pieces on either side that trap it against the wall between the two workbenches.

This is an example of the sort of hijinks we get up to on Thursday nights. Gregg is proving a point with an 8' fluorescent lightbulb and a running car.

Easter and Legos

Today I went out with the boys and we stopped in at Goodwill. I found the Lego Crystal Sweeper kit for $7.00. It was missing one guy and a couple of tiny pieces. Lego gets upwards of $70.00 for it. I put it together with Henry this afternoon. Why are Lego kits so damn expensive? Also the toy selection at most area thrift stores has shrunk horribly under the weight of the impending CPSIA legislation. It's harder and harder to find good deals like this. Anyway, Henry wanted that kit and now he has it!

Boy playing happily.

Really? $70.00?

Felice dyed eggs with the kids before Easter. Henry likes eggs.

Then they made Matzoh ball soup.

Jillian, Olivia and Max hunt for eggs.

Aleaha found one!

That afternoon we went over to another egg hunt. Lauren and Max relaxed a bit.

Danger of Papercuts

Hmmm...

Henry started sticking post-it notes on my face when I tried to say goodnight to him.

That's Max's friend, "Puppy". It's a stick with a bunch of leaves impaled on it.

Henry made some decorative headgear for toothbrushing.

Here's a video of a small turret lathe in operation.

Great film tag lines.

Fuchs Surface Indicator

I'm helping a friend dispose of some tools and thought this little indicator was worth showing.

I had already cleaned the gunge from the face, but the whole thing is somewhat dirty and rusty.

Loosening the clamp on the right allows the case to separate. The little knurled nut is used to engage or disengage the mechanism so that the body can rotate.

I cleaned out this side.

This was difficult to clean as I didn't want to completely disassemble it. Tiny hairlike springs make me nervous.

The small pinion transmits force when screwed down against the larger gear. The one coil spring provides tension.

I flushed out the filth with solvent, scrubbing lightly with steel wool and a toothbrush. The small hair spring is hooked into the other end of the indicating needle wire that's staked into the small gear.

Back together, very lightly oiled. The indicator is responsive again!

BRATSCHI MFG CO
Fuchs
PAT NOV 18 1913
CLEVELAND O USA

I searched a bit and found the patent, #1079169. The "Fuchs" is one Leon Fuchs of Dayton, Ohio. There are some small differences between the patent and the production model.

Cleanliness

Henry likes to clean.

Here he is cleaning the toilet. He set up the safety flasher.

Max is pensive.

Max and Henry clean the sink.

Henry looks bored.

Henry cleans his face.

Max!

Here's a neat way of generating large radii grooves.

Cosmic Diary: Greenwich 1894

Machining with Spud

My neighbor Chris, who also goes by Spud, came over this afternoon to work on a few projects for his dragster.

He had already made some parts but wanted some aerodynamic radii added. Ok, they are just for looks, not drag reduction.

So I used my Shaplane tool to make some radii.

Pretty.

Pleasing to the eye.

I then turned my attention to making a mandrel out of plastic for him. I used a half center to support the work while allowing a facing cut.

This end will be grabbed in his smaller Atlas lathe when he gets back home...

I turned the OD with a shoulder at the chuck end.

While I worked on the mandrel, Chris was milling slots in the smaller parts.

Chris, hand on one crank and the other ready to drip some cutting oil on the slitting saw, with panache and élan, to boot.

The finished saw cuts.

I didn't take pictures of the drilling and tapping of the mandrel because I was: a) busy working on it and b) it was boring. That's one of the exhausts of his dragster mounted on the mandrel. He needs to trim the powdercoat from the bottom section and needed a way to fixture it on the lathe for that.

It's tapped for the screw that when tightened expands the mandrel against the inside of the tube.