Okay, here goes: Yes, Mike Orlen seems to be the best man on the subject. I just followed his very nice photos of a repair in progress. First off, clean the radius of the hook with carbon tet or equivalent to make sure no grease or oil remains. Lightly polish radius so you have nice shiny metal to tin. Flux the radius with acid flux, heat hook until you can flow a drop of solder onto the surface and with an acid brush, paint the radius so that it is now tinned. Next, prepare your shim material in a like manner. Since I've never installed a shim thicker than .002, I tin the backside of the shim with a small soldering gun, electric. Now, lay the shim in place in the radius (does not have to be cut to the correct size yet, you trim it with a sharp Xacto knife once the solder job is done, place the dowel center of correct diameter over the shim, clamp lightly with a c-clamp, and heat the juncture at the radius with a small flamed propane torch. You will know when the job is well done by the dowel settling down as the solder melts at the tinned juncture. I have used neoprene bottle plugs --- True Value Hardware here in Lake Zurich to plug the chambers so that I can fill the barrels with water to keep things cool immediately around the hook area. If necessary, you can lap the shimmed joint to a fine fit with a bit of 600 grit wet or dry paper and oil using the dowel as a mandrel. In MHO anyone doing any other kind of a repair by dovetailing or other intrusive means is simply ill informed. The integrity of the hook is compromised once you start removing metal for a dovetail or other kind of joint. Yup, Mark 775, Mike Orlen was the originator of the idea on this board. Chopper
Last edited by chopperlump; 06/03/09 11:15 AM.
