Tech/maintenance Hinge tube Repair

[neos]

Hey guys i am on the last key for this top stack repair and I am having some trouble getting the rod through due to a bend. I have tried the methods online and can't really find anything.
Just for reference, the amount of rod going through is shown in the pic
does anyone here have some tips or pointers?

Thank you!

 

[Stephen Howard]

The very first thing you *must* do is make sure that the rod screw is straight.

The big trick is to pinpoint where the bend actually is and in what direction it goes. Sometimes you can figure out the direction by looking at the end of the barrel (hinge tube) with the rod inserted - you'll often see that it's pushed over to one side.
I'm assuming you don't have a press so will have to use pliers (with protected jaws...cardboard is usually sufficient).

My approach to this particular key would be to insert the rod screw from the far end of the key, get the pliers on the touchpiece arm and apply some force in various directions in an effort to see if any of them allow the rod screw to slide in further. The tricky bit is keeping a pushing force on the rod while you bend the arm.
One little tip is to put the pliers in a vice - which then gives you much more control and allows you to get another pair of pliers on the key while pushing the rod screw in.

At some point you often have to take a punt and bend it one way or the other - and hope that you're not dealing with an S bend.
If you can get the rod all the way through, even though its binding on the barrel, it's often easier to fit the key to the horn and do the bending in situ.

There is another method that uses an slightly undersized rod with a gentle bend in it, which is driven through the barrel with a drill. As the rod is spun through the barrel it centres it up. The drawback is that it can expand the ID of the barrel...which requires other techniques to put right.

 

[neos]

The very first thing you *must* do is make sure that the rod screw is straight.

The big trick is to pinpoint where the bend actually is and in what direction it goes. Sometimes you can figure out the direction by looking at the end of the barrel (hinge tube) with the rod inserted - you'll often see that it's pushed over to one side.
I'm assuming you don't have a press so will have to use pliers (with protected jaws...cardboard is usually sufficient).

My approach to this particular key would be to insert the rod screw from the far end of the key, get the pliers on the touchpiece arm and apply some force in various directions in an effort to see if any of them allow the rod screw to slide in further. The tricky bit is keeping a pushing force on the rod while you bend the arm.
One little tip is to put the pliers in a vice - which then gives you much more control and allows you to get another pair of pliers on the key while pushing the rod screw in.

At some point you often have to take a punt and bend it one way or the other - and hope that you're not dealing with an S bend.
If you can get the rod all the way through, even though its binding on the barrel, it's often easier to fit the key to the horn and do the bending in situ.

There is another method that uses an slightly undersized rod with a gentle bend in it, which is driven through the barrel with a drill. As the rod is spun through the barrel it centres it up. The drawback is that it can expand the ID of the barrel...which requires other techniques to put right.

hello, thank you for your reply what kind of press do you mean? i do have a vice and some pliers. i did the rest of the stack as the regulation keys were all bent misaligned

 

[Stephen Howard]

Just a simple workbench hand press. Fairly cheap to buy from the usual sources. Just make sure there's three or four inches of travel...or you might not be able to get certain keys in it.

 

[PigSquealer]

what kind of press do you mean?

Arbor press.

 

[turf3]

I'd probably put Visegrips on the long keytouch arm and another pair on the tube next to the arm, and see if I can't shift things that way. You want to put your un-bending force where the bending force was. You might be able to get the tube into a vise. Just holding the tube and pulling on the arm is likely to bend the arm.

The whole thing is a bunch of careful micro-bending and checking and repeat over and over till you convert your one large bend that binds the rod, to a bunch of tiny little bends that don't. Inspection is done by sighting down the inside of the tube at a light source. I would not advise anyone except an experienced pro to use any power tool of any sort on this job.

 

[JayeNM]

Hey guys i am on the last key for this top stack repair and I am having some trouble getting the rod through due to a bend. I have tried the methods online and can't really find anything.
Just for reference, the amount of rod going through is shown in the pic
does anyone here have some tips or pointers?

Thank you!

As noted already, straighten rod on a bench motor (absence of bench motor, a good strong drill is a distant but feasible second)

If still a problem, the key barrel is bent and usually a technique called 'whiffling' is employed. Steven mentions this in his final sentence, first reply.

It requires another rod which you ard gonna bend in a few places, though. And a bench motor again.

Take another rod, close to same diam as the original, bend it in two places along maybe a six to eight inch span of its length, slight bends.

Put it in bench motor chock. Slide key barrel onto it just a bit, whichever side it goes into more easily. Hold key firm, turn on motor. As rod is rotating, slowly and with firm hold on the key, push key onto rod. The key will start to straighten the rod some, but the rod is also straightening interior of the barrel. It is steel vs. brass walls. Steel gonna have an effect. Then pull key off. You can add a drop of key oil to rod before inserting the key barrel if you like.

Give the original rod a go. See if it improved anything. If so, repeat procedure. if need be....

This is way quicker and more successful than me trying to 'eye' the barrel bend and then using two sets of pliers to reverse it...

Go slow, do not 'jam' the key onto spinning rod, it may get stuck in there, which is not end of world but can be a pain to extract.