Set Triger Materials

[whitebear]

What kind of iron or steal should be used to make the triggers in a single lever set trigger, one where the rear trigger must be set to cock the lock.

[David Rase]

I use 1018 mild steel.  You can get it from a number of souces.  I use On-line metals http://www.onlinemetals.com/  Speedy metals is another source.  I use 1084 for the springs which neither of the above listed sources sell.
David.

[Bob Roller]

 The two single lever triggers I made for Taylor Sapergia and Jim Kelly
were made from 1018 and case hardened.Pins were .0934 drill rod and
the springs were 1075.

Bob Roller

[David R. Pennington]

I forge old wrenches I buy at the flea market for junk prices into the plate and I like to use old circular saw blades for triggers and levers. I like old hay rake teeth for main spring and old hack saw blades make good light springs. Drill rod for pins.

[Dan Fruth]

I use 1018 steel...5/8 x 5/8 obtained from Macmaster carr for the plate, and 1080 or 1095 for the springs and the triggers. You can find 12" long pieces of 1095 on e-bay...just search 1095 steel. I use music wire for the pins...you can get a tube of that stuff from MSC....Dan

[Habu]

I'm with David R.: pretty much scrap stuff, with the shanks of broken drill bits for pins.  It isn't that I'm opposed to using new materials, I just usually get a notion to make something and build from the materials on hand. 

The lock I'm working on now is another matter, I actually planned it before I started building.  Definitely not the norm for me. . . .   

[Bob Roller]

 5/8x5/8 square for trigger bars!?What kind if triggers use a bar that big on a muzzle loader?
 I used 3/4x3/4 square on the double set triggers I made for rolling blocks years ago but those
were another thing entirely.


Bob Roller   

[Old Ford2]

A good source for pins is 3/32"(.093") & 1/8" (.125" )tig wire.
It is constant and tough. Most welding shops have ample supply in their scrap bins.
Also another good source for good spring steel ( though getting rare ) are leaf springs at the scrap yards.
One complete leaf spring from one side is good enough for a loooong time.
Fred

[Acer Saccharum]

Drill rod, nitrided ejector pins, dowel pins or punch pins can be gotten from MSC or McMaster-Carr.

I have a bunch of cut-offs from mold ejector pins. They are glass-hard and are perfect for this use.

[Dan Fruth]

Bob...I used that size for the width, and sawed off what wasn't needed. I don't use 5/8 thick stock for the plate. I have a band saw, and sawing away waste is now easy...I think the last set I made was 1/4 thick............Dan

[Old Ford2]

To BPRITCHARD
Thank you for the tip on hydrated lime sounds like a very good idea, with the files, and yet have good and manageable steel to work with.
I would bet that would work with truck leaf springs as well.
I hate buying tools steel to cut it up and throw most of it away.
Thank you again for the idea.
Fred

[kutter]

Cold rolled steel, 1/8 or 3/32. Scrap usually. Discarded angle iron and a hacksaw has provided me with lots of material over the years. I just case harden it when done. Casenite is nice but I guess they don't sell it anymore. I've got enough to last me, but there's some other surface hardening compound(s) around now.
If I need something thicker like the bolster area on a trigger plate, I usually build up that portion by brazing on a piece to the strap.  Just easier than cutting a thick piece down and leaving the bolster in place,,at least to me.

If you braze it, you can still case harden it w/o it falling apart. Silver (hard) solder will let go under case hardening heat. But I've used it too and not bothered to case harden the plate at all,,works fine.

Annealing old flat files and cutting them up is a good scrap source of tool steel. I used to throw them into the wood stove and let them cool w/the fire to soften them.
I don't burn wood anymore so I heat them dull red w/a torch. Then bury them in a metal  office size trash can I kept that's 3/4 full of wood ashes. Works for slow cool annealing of any part(s). Bury it in the dense ash and comeback tomorrow and pull it out. It'll still be warm sometimes.
You have to be able to harden and then draw the temper back just right on parts made of the high carbon steel.
Casehardening low carbon steel is probably easier for most.\

A couple feet each of 1/16, 1/8 and 3/32 drillrod provides a lot of pins but you can also scrounge different dia rod from scraped out junk. Case harden the ones made from low carbon steel if you feel better about it.

Buy some 1095 or other spring steel to make springs and avoid the heavy labor input on an unkn piece of steel.
Unless you have scrap that you know will harden/temper and hold up in use,,,it's awfully frustrating to put hours of filing and fitting into a spring only to find the steel itself doesn't harden and temper by any home shop method.
Short of that, I use pieces of old broken (main)springs sometimes if I can find a piece large enough. I hate throwing anything away so there's always a junk box to go thru to see if I have something I can 'fit'.
By the time you get through, you often ask yourself why you didn't just start from scratch.
But that's just the way we are I guess.