Filing a flat surface on L/G
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What I do is take whatever wheel collar I'm going to use, locate it where I want to lock it down; do this without the set screw and use a fine-point Sharpie to make a dot through the set screw hole onto the wire gear. This will be the point of contact of the set screw. Then I take my Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel and make a small "dent" in the wire at this point. When you place the wheel collar and tighten the set screw, it fits on this dent, prevents the collar from rotating. I also use some Loctite Blue on the setscrew.
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I needed shallow slots in the L/G where the 2 set screws sit to prevent the L/G from rotating in the retract . So I marked the width and position of the set screws as recommended above then used a fibreglass reinforced cutting wheel in a dremel to cut a shallow slot then truing it up with a file. Works like a charm. Using the cutting wheel simplifies the procedure ...much less filing to do. Tks for the idea.
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I need to have my flat in a specific location for my retracts. First I drilled a second hole in the strut and left it unthreaded. I then mounted the strut (or wheel collar) using the origional set screw as tight as possbile with out stripping. I then put the assemble on my drill press and drilled back down the unthreaded hole untill the drill made a dimple in the music wire ( it actuall drills nicely with a sharp drill bit, but I use colbalt bits now as they work the best) Once I have the dimple, I remove the strut or wheel collar and then tap it to match the set screw thread. I then remount and use the new set screw to lock down into the dimple. Perfect alignment ever time. I also tighten the second set screw and put a dab of lock tight on for extra measure. Doing it this way makes for positioning perfectly, the new set screw will pull the part into the exact alignment and a bonus is (1) the set screw will not rotate left or right at all since the set screw has a slight bevel on the end that locks into the dimple, and (2) you actually remove less metal. I have done this on wheel colors, retracts and wheel pant set screws and it works perfectly every time
Of course you need the following:
A decent drill press
A spare set screw
Sharp drill bits
Loctite
Some set screws are plated over brass and brass is much softer than steel so you must be carefull to align the drill bit to the pilot hole to avoid making the hole too large. Steel wheel collars or struts are easy, the dill bit cuts true with little worry. To avoid a problem, I mount the drill bit in the chuck, press it into the pilot hole then use my drill press vise to lock the collar in the right position. This way I can dill a bit at time and check the dimple depth.
Of course you need the following:
A decent drill press
A spare set screw
Sharp drill bits
Loctite
Some set screws are plated over brass and brass is much softer than steel so you must be carefull to align the drill bit to the pilot hole to avoid making the hole too large. Steel wheel collars or struts are easy, the dill bit cuts true with little worry. To avoid a problem, I mount the drill bit in the chuck, press it into the pilot hole then use my drill press vise to lock the collar in the right position. This way I can dill a bit at time and check the dimple depth.