Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Infill lever caps
Frank D. in Montreal
>Does anyone know of a source for infill lever caps other than St. James Bay? I'm looking for a 2 1/4" one. I have one from St-James but the hole for the pin is drilled crooked, so I won't use it. I didn't buy it (I don't have a bill) and it was bought about a year ago, so I figure it might be less hassle just to get one from someone else. AFAIK my only other option is Holtey.
Thanks for any info.
Re: Infill lever caps *LINK*
Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
>Hi Frank
I think that Phillip Marcou would make one for you if you ask him nicely. Link below.
Alternately, what about making one? I am putting together a tutorial on simple levercaps and lever caps screws for the non-machinists (like myself). A by-product of building the jig jointer (current project).
Re: Infill lever caps
ThomD
>I'm pretty happy with all the St. JB stuff I have received over the years, however, the lever caps seem pretty haphazard. One that came with a plane kit was sized so there was no way it would ever fit for width, and another was crooked for the pin to base measure, as you mention Frank.
The crooked one was actually fixable since it was square or square enough to the screw bolt, that all that was actually required to fix it was to regrind the underside. Maybe you have looked at this already, but if not check out those two holes for square, and you may be able to simply re-grind a few lines. All that would have been necesarry in my case was to regrind the forward contact edge, though I did the whole underside, but if one only had files, or something, one could have fixed it with a relatively minor regrind.
If you have a drill press you can easily make a "screw" cap out of brass stock.
Re: Infill lever caps
Steve Evans
>Frank
I'm looking at having some CNC'd from brass bar stock. If you're still looking in a couple of weeks give me a shout.
Steve
Re: Infill lever caps
Frank D. in Montreal
>Thanks for the link (and the idea) Derek, I never even thought of Marcou. I've thought of making my own...it seems like a more of a hassle than I'm willing to go through right now, although I will definitely be looking forward to your tutorial on making them. I'm usually not bad at making my own tools and parts, but I've been quite busy of late and I still want to move ahead on a few infill projects that have been lying around for too long.
Thanks again.
Re: Infill lever caps
Frank D. in Montreal
>Thanks for the advice Thom,
I never even thought of regrinding. But I took another look and it seems too out of whack for that; I could probably get it to clamp, but I won't put all that effort into making a plane (I'm painstakingly slow) only to use a half-arsed screw cap that would make me cringe each time I saw the plane. If I make any more than the 2 I have lined up I'll definitely make my own.
Re: Infill lever caps
Frank D. in Montreal
>Steve to the rescue, again... I'll be sending you a PM on the CWW forum in the next few days.
Re: Infill lever caps
Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX
>Frank, You could also take the St. James Bay lever cap and fill the hole with a steel or brass rod and then redrill the hole for your plane. The repair work would be covered up by the plane's sides and, if done right, would be permanent. You also could redrill the crooked hole larger such that the new diameter would encompass the old and the margin of error.
Thanks Patrick
Frank D. in Montreal
>Good idea. I'll keep the one I have for another plane if I don't try to fix it now.
