Here are some photos of the side plate repair - it is a simple thing but it was my first attempt and it felt good that it worked! I didn't get a pic of the crack before I started - I didn't think of getting the camera until I had already made my cut. The crack was all the way through the casting. I made the initial cut with a hack saw, then cleaned it up a little with a file.
I then took a small sprue from another casting out of the same brass and peened it flat, then filed three sides square. After careful fitting I coated the cut and the repair piece with some Swif solder, placed the part and soldered it in.
I then filed the repair piece almost flush.
Finally I peened a bit on the exposed part with a smooth punch, then finished filing flush and burnished the area.
I hope this gives someone else ideas of what can be done for repairs on brass parts. Thanks for looking!
Curtis
