The slot in my 3-speed gearlever is badly worn. Whilst I know someone local who could build up the wear with weld, the slot will then need tidying up with something like a woodruff key cutter. A local jobbing machinist I used to use has now retired and local firms seem uninterested in small one-off tasks of this type except at an extortionate price.
Can anyone please recommend a jobbing machinist in East Anglia within reasonable reach of Colchester? Alternatively, is there someone in our cherished engineering fraternity well known (but not to me) for restoring tired gearlevers?
Any steers towards a solution would be most gratefully received.
If it were mine, I would repair that by building up with TIG weld and then use a file and a mounted point in a Dremel to clean up the ball radius and the slot. As to machining it, the gearlever would be a really difficult thing to secure to a milling table. That slot would originally have been machined with a 'Side and Face' cutter using a horizontal mill.
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I simply got it buttered it up with weld by my mate, then used a combination of angle grinder, dremell and file to reshape.
I made a new bolt for the top, Cut to length, then 'turned down' the end simply by putting the head in the chuck of the pillar drill, then using a file.
What doesn't help is the cup in the gearbox lid usually comes undone and lets it all move more than it should. I araldited the bastard where it needed to go. We shall see if this is a permanent fix.
One day I will buy another lathe. But no need at present.
Thank you all very much for your words of wisdom. Coincidentally, I know Richard Kimberley and he is the very person I have in mind for the welding.
Without properly thinking it through, I had ruled out angle grinders and Dremels immediately assuming that the slot would require a milling cutter, although even I could see problems finding a way to secure the ball to the table. Your suggestions though make obvious sense and what's more Hedd has actually done it, and so that is the way I shall proceed!
As for the bolt that engages with the slot, it is not badly worn and must have been replaced in the recent past but, if necessary I have a pillar drill ...............
The proper way to repair it is have it welded with rods for dissimilar metals, then machine a new slot with either a Woodruff cutter or a flying nail. (Single point tool) Yes you can hold it safely.
I have done a number, but not commercially.
With the bolt I use a HT set screw with the end turned down.
This makes gear changing a delight and nothing like a porridge stirrer worn one.
Robert, is it possible to explain, in absolute layman's terms, the need for welding rods for dissimilar metals? To my untutored eye, the gearlever is all the same metal.
