How To Disassemble A Frog?

[Derek Arita]

I'm trying to refurb a plane and have stripped the plane bed. I'm now going to strip the frog, but I'm wondering how to disassemble it? Masking the wishbone part and the lever is difficult at best, so is it common to just try to mask it off as best as one can or is it standard practice to disassemble it?

[Daniel Rode]

Try this: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_16/BL_16.html

[Daniel Rode]

On a serious note http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373-Fettling-A-Plane-from-Junker-to-Jointer

There's a section down the page a bit that should help. Comment #8.

Me, I'd mask the wishbone. I wouldn't disassemble it unless it needed some type of repair.

[Jim Koepke]

Here is the exact post, "I'm In Love With A Big Blue Frog:"

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373-Fettling-A-Plane-from-Junker-to-Jointer&p=1156007#post1156007

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

There's no reason to disassemble the wishbone,
even if you're flattening the casting.

Somethings are easy to do in a factory,
nearly impossible at home.

Riveting cast iron is one of them.

[Kent A Bathurst]

One leg at a ti...............

Oooops. Wrong thread. I thought this was the French Cooking forum.

My mistake.

As you were......

[Andrew Nemeth]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I prefer to completely strip the frog of everything before repainting. I'm also probably the least expirienced person to reply, so YMMV.

I've fully restored 3 bedrock planes, and I have three others completly disassembled as I write this. I have always just used a properly sized punch and small hammer to gently tap the pin out that holds the wishbone. If there is one hole that appears to be ever so slightly smaller than the other, tap from that side towards the other. From what I've gathered, many small taps are prefered to a few strong blows. I always back up the hole with a well formed scrap of wood, with a hole drill just larger than the pin, to minimize the likelihood of breaking the casting. I do the same with the lateral adjuster. I push the rivet and lateral adjuster out from the underside of casting using a slightly undersized punch. The undersized punch allows the expanded part of the rivet to collapse backwards as the center part is driven through the hole. For this process I support the frog with two blocks of wood laying parrell to each other, one on each side of the lateral adjuster. Of the 7 adjusters I have removed, only 1 postwar baily adjuster needed to have the mushroomed part of the rivet filed away before taping it out. The steel rivet on that plane was much harder than the prewar bedrocks.

[Jim Koepke]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I prefer to completely strip the frog of everything before repainting.

That is my opinion also. Except a bit of tape over the adjuster bolt is good enough.

To echo Johnny Kleso's response to my using a punch, a nail also works. Before having a set of punches, filing the point off of a nail is how my punches were made.

jtk

[Derek Arita]

turns out punching the wishbone pin was pretty simple. the adjuster looked a little more set, so i taped around it. it doesn't look like the frog surface needs lapping, so i don't think its crucial. thanks for all the help.