I am easily perturbed and find that on newer planes that the lever cap screws move when the lever cap is removed for sharpening. At this point the cap is either too loose or tight. I’ve been putting blue loctite on the threads and they stay put but are easily turned with a screwdriver.
Cautions: Don’t use red loctite, it will require extraordinary measures to move if at all and don’t touch the nozzle of the dispenser to the screws, especially brass. The brass ions will cure the loctite in the nozzle.
Neat idea, easy to implement and a really good solution!
One of my pet peeves is when you tighten the cap iron screw and the cap iron moves and/or the cap iron lifts up on one side. Happens on one of my oldest Stanley planes. I've tried filing the high spots off of the mating surfaces of the screw head to no avail. Any other solution?
This is sort of OT - I was once told that Loctite cured by the absence of oxygen. I was told that the copper in brass scavenges the oxygen and "getters" the adhesive, making it cure rapidly. I've always assumed Loctite was a glue in the Cyanoacrylate (CA) family as they cure quickly without air / oxygen.
In fact, I just searched on Loctite 242 (the blue stuff) and came up with a technical data sheet that says: "The product cures anaerobically, when there is an absence of air between close fitting metal surfaces". So I guess my source of information was correct!
This document mentions the ion's role (page6) in curing in addition to the anaerobic part. I don't think I've ever used the primers but you will have to wait longer for stainless vs. brass. In a production environment letting parts sit overnight before disturbing isn't a welcome idea.
I find that they eventually cure even when less active metals. Where I work it's mostly stainless fasteners in aluminum and it's all loctited without primers. The material is dispensed into tiny containers and applied with toothpicks but I don't know why they went with that. It could just be that a drop is way too much for an M4 screw.
I got the tidbit on touching the metal from a loctite rep years ago. I always did it before I heard that and the bottle I use is decades old. Sounded good enough to pass on.
"when you tighten the cap iron screw and the cap iron moves and/or the cap iron lifts up on one side. Happens on one of my oldest Stanley planes. I've tried filing the high spots off of the mating surfaces of the screw head to no avail. Any other solution?"
The cap iron lifting sounds like warpage or mismatch between the iron and cap iron. Try putting each on a flat surface to see if one is twisted or bent. I usually snug a cap iron screw so it can be put in position with a firm squeeze or tap on the side of the screw, then I tighten fully. I've had them move trying to go full tight in one shot but the gap sounds like something else.
You could also have a burr or uneven thickness on the two sides of the slot. Pitting can cause that on really old planes.
Try swapping another cap iron on that iron and see if the problem follows one of the pieces.
I've always assumed Loctite was a glue in the Cyanoacrylate (CA) family as they cure quickly without air / oxygen.
I use CA glue as a thread locker often - got the idea from machinists. If a thread has to be released a 200W welding iron heats a part and it's loose again. Never tried on planes though. Should work, it's just a matter of providing sufficient heat for CA to release.
Here's something about that glue: turners can actually make their own hollowing tools by drilling a small hole in a steel bar and gluing in a machinist bit at whatever angle they want using the thick stuff. When they want to replace a worn down one, they simply heat it with a torch and it comes right out.
Just watch some metal turning videos, they use it all the time, esp. the mini lathe folks. Eliot describes a cutter set up that could be fussy if you need a particular relief or rake, so it’s easier just to glue it to a bar rather than trying to synch it in a particular way in a holder.
The bottom line is that CA glue has a great holding power, like, you could turn a small bowl which is glued with CA glue to a face plate, and then just give a sharp directed whack (using something like a screwdriver or a dull chisel) at a glue line — and it will readily release. It glues metal to metal, there’s this Clickspring guy who glues and then turns thin brass parts (think clock gears and such) using CA glue. Have a look, his ways of working are mesmerizing. Since metal is not affected by the temperature at which CA releases they prefer heat, a small blowtorch or a welding iron works great.
I’ll send a photo tomorrow. Yes, I have glued machine bits into a bar . I learned the method from David Ellsworth. The only tricky part is grinding a little cylinder onto the end of the square cross section of the machine bit. I lost a small jig I made to do just this. It rotated the bit against a spinning grinding wheel.
Not sure what one can see here. But here it is. This one is on a larger straight bar for the beginning of a hollow form. Some are on smaller curved bars that I have to make as I go along (using a torch to heat and bend the bar) in order to turn a hollow form through a small hole. You often have to keep making these tools as you progress in order to fit the tool through a small hole and into all parts of the inside.
Hi John. Was the info below useful to you? I don't suppose you need it for bow making. What are you using it for, if I may ask? Are you a turner, also?
Just curious, that's all. I have no real interest in turning thin walled vessels - they are beautiful! I'm always interested in clever tool ideas. Never know when it might be useful. Maybe even for bow making!
I do play around with refurbishing and altering older vintage camera lenses, so I'm often trying to do some delicate metal turning especially when adapting something. Never know when I might need some clever lathe idea!
