Miller Falls Plated Lever Cap Woes...

[Derek Arita]

Just got a nice Miller Falls 709 Buck Rogers, however the lever cap needs help. For reasons I have yet to figure out, the lever cap adjusting screw was too short, so the previous owner decided to grind around the screw head, so that the lever could be closed. Now, to return the lever cap to original form, the ground area needs to be filled in, then the LC must be re-nickel plated.
Do you think this will be possible and will it be costly? Help!

[george wilson]

Take it to a machine shop and see how badly they soak you. The shops around here do not seem to want to be bothered with small one off jobs. They quote high prices to drive you off. The lever cap will have to be accurately ground,stripped,and re plated too. I don't even know if I'd trust the average machine shop to have the aesthetic judgement to do such a job.

The job will be a fair amount of trouble to do well.

[Jim Koepke]

On many things like this my philosophy is if it works go with what you have. If an incorrect or damaged part bugged me, ebay and the internet are my friends. They can also be your friends in helping you find a proper screw and new lever cap. My knowledge of Millers Falls planes isn't enough to know if the cap may be incorrect for the plane.

Can you post some pictures?

Maybe someone has some helpful advise they can lend.

Many years ago my work was in a plating shop. On occasion my thoughts wonder to the idea of setting up a small plating operation. Imagine shiny new highly polished lever caps and other parts on my old planes.

Then the feeling passes and it is back to rubbing the old grey lever caps with an oil and wax impregnated rag.

jtk

[Kees Heiden]

Plating is expensive. The parts need to be stripped, and carefully polished to a high luster. Then they have all kinds of toxic materials, so they have high environmental costs. And the result can be very disappointing. All in all, not really worth it for a plane.

[Jim Matthews]

These were brightly chromed, like auto parts.

I would look for a classic auto restorer and see if this
could be included in another batch.

http://andersonsilverplating.com/

[Karl Andersson]

It is just possible that they replaced the LC with a chromed one from a Millers Falls "Permaloid" plane and there was a difference in thickness - although I don't know if there is a difference. The visual difference between them is that the Permaloid plane has "Millers Falls" as rasied letters in a recessed field (like a "normal" MF plane) while the Buck Rogers has the lettering incised directly into the surface of the LC. If that's not the reason for the grinding, then someone probably lost the original screw and replaced it with one from a regular plane, grinding the LC until the screw fit - those chromed LCs are pretty thick.

There is an email chain in the Old Tools Archive from someone who had a Permaloid plane rechromed for sentimental reasons (those planes were almost entirely plated); it covers some of the technical details and also lets you see what the process might involve (specialty shop, costly work, etc.): http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=70685&submit_thread=1

good luck,
Karl

[george wilson]

I can do small electroplating,though I haven't used my chemicals since 2009. They may need replacing. I could do copper,gold,and nickel. A quart of gold has gotten quite expensive. About $120.00 last time I did it. I made a retirement gift for the president of the museum,and got the museum to buy the gold bath!!:) The baths are replenished by the electrode of gold,copper,or nickel. But,the acid content can deplete by evaporation,degrading.

However,chrome is different. You always use a depleting bath and a special electrode. Titanium,I think. Can't recall. The bath is quite toxic,especially to dump anywhere when it is depleted. I have never done chrome. I'd have to call a special disposal unit to come pick up the depleted bath. That would no doubt cost considerable. They used to call these disposal units at the museum. I wonder where and how they get rid of toxic stuff? Chrome is getting harder to do because of government regulations. Fewer places are doing it as time goes on.

Probably some motorcycle dealer knows where to get chrome plating done. They are big into chrome. Cars are now big into plastic!!:) Oh,they DO chrome plate those big,tough looking truck grilles,which are just plastic.

When I was in college,I heard about some guys at a local Navy base who got in trouble. They were caught chrome plating a WHOLE V8 engine!!! The Navy used to build up worn shafts with chrome. They also would build up things like worn tailstock quills on metal lathes with chrome,and precision regrind them back to size. They did a great job rebuilding their old machinery.

[Derek Arita]

From what I understand, these MF Buck Rogers lever caps were nickel plated, so is that an easier process and maybe less expensive?

[Jim Koepke]

Plating is expensive. The parts need to be stripped, and carefully polished to a high luster. Then they have all kinds of toxic materials, so they have high environmental costs. And the result can be very disappointing. All in all, not really worth it for a plane.

The toxicity and the prep work is what usually brings me back to earth to appreciate what is already in hand. The disappointing results have never entered my day dream...

jtk

[steven c newman]

A BuckRodgers Lever cap is also unique to that plane because of the shape it has. You MAY be able to find ONE on the FeeBay site.....but it would cost a bit. nhplaneparts.com, or one of the other parts guys might have one.

Even the iron and chipbreaker are unique to the Buck Rodgers style planes, good luck finding them as well...

[Eric Brown]

Here are some pictures of Millers Falls lever caps with blades and screws. The first picture shows from left to right (bottom): MF #22 (Stanley #7 size), MF #714 (#5 size), "Buck Rogers" model, MF #209 (#4 size) Permaloid model, MF #8 (#3 size). Top row: Stanley #8, MF #14 (#5 size), Stanley #7 (Early Bedrock). In the next pictures are the lever caps of the MF #714 and #14. Please note that the "Buck Rogers" one is very different. It is also thicker. The thickness of the lever caps (measured from top to pressure pads) are (from thin to thick) MF #8 is .36", MF #22 is .38", MF # 209 is .40 and the MF # 714 is .42". The lever cap screws are mostly 7/8" long with 24 threads per inch. The Stanley #8 is 1" long and the MF 714 is 1 1/16". The Stanley #8 screw will work on the MF #714 with the original blade/chipbreaker. It might not be enough if the blade is replaced with a thicker one. Because of the slot position a thicker blade would probably be a custom one.

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