I messed up the tumbler

[ottawa]

bought my first lock kit a Siler flint lock from 1988 all going well drilled the tumbler and went on to tapping it.
I broke the tip of the tap while tapping the plate so I ground it back a little to finish up. well the grind  wasn't right as the tap acted more like a ream then a tap . the question is would brazing the hole and re drill and tap with a new tap be strong enough ? this is for the cock screw. or should I buy a new tumbler ?
thanks Ben  

[kaintuck]

that screw just holds the hammer on from falling off~the square is where all the pressure's at.........filler up and re-drill, re-tap, I have had to re-tap before....still running fine.........
marc n tomtom

[Mark Elliott]

When I mess up screw holes on locks,  I usually pien a screw in the hole and re-drill.   If I do a good job,  I can't even find the repair again.   You can't pien a screw in the tumbler hole, but you could braze/silver solder a screw in.   That is what I would do, then re drill and tap.   If I had the TIG welder I would like to have,  I would fill all these holes with matching steel.    Maybe one of these days.   I have my eye on a Miller MaxStar 150.    The whole outfit is $1500 at my local welding supply company.   I know that is not a lot of money for a lot of you, but it is for me. 

[smylee grouch]

I dont know, therefore I ask, will using a welder to fill in the hole adversley affect the steels quality so that it would not be hardenable (sp) ?

[ottawa]

welding shouldn't affect the part as far as being able to harden it the problem would come from the filler metal .
I'm just going to finish up the fitting then when I put it my forge to heat treat it then I will braze the hole . drill and tap it again hopefully right this time  . when welding high carbon steels you need to preheat it first or the weld might crack I have only done it to bigger pieces then a tumbler plows and such that's why I figured to braze .   

[Mark Elliott]

You could use a low temp silver solder to solder in a screw.  That would not ruin the temper of the tumbler and should be an adequate repair as long as the screw to fill the hole is tight.  You might see if you could tap the hole for a slightly larger screw that would then be drilled out and tapped.

[jerrywh]

 Clean the hole out. Then when you heat it to temper it put some liquid hard solder flux in the hole and then put a piece of hard solder in the form of a rod down in the hole. Keep it vertical so the solder won't fall out before it melts. I wouldn't use brazing rod because the zinc  in the brass could  contaminate when you case harden. That is the only way that I know of that you can get the solder to go down in the hole. Trying to melt it in the hole has never worked for me.   

[flehto]

Ottawa....I take it that the tumbler has yet to be hardened? Welding would be the way to go then or buy another tumbler. ....Fred

[Pete G.]

Word to the wise: Siler parts are abundant and cheap.

[jerrywh]

PeteG is correct.  Call Chambers. 

[PIKELAKE]

About 30 some years ago I bought a Siler lock kit from Mr. Siler. Everything was going along just fine until I tried to drill that hole in the tumbler. I screwed up three tumblers, which I have kept for old time sake. The third tumbler I ordered from Mrs. Siler came drilled and tapped. I think she got tired of talking to me. Mr. and Mrs. Siler were real good about helping me.    JZ

[Mark Elliott]

Yea,  Pete is right.  A new tumbler will probably cost you about $10 with shipping.   Your time is probably worth more than that.   However,  I can understand not wanting to call.   I am usually pretty embarrassed when I have to call Jim or Barbie and order such a part due to my own mistake.   Fortunately, Jim has always been nice about it and didn't ask why I needed it.   I think I once had to order two tumblers for a lock pretty close together because I broke out the half cock notch forgetting to put the lock at full cock before trying to fire it.   Talk about embarrassing.  

[ottawa]

well I picked up a new tumbler yesterday from the log cabin in Lodi but still going to try to fix the first one just to see if I can do it try something new .