How to repair cracked head on this PEXTO No 24 brace

[Robert Hartmann]

Fresh off of a resto of a MF 34 brace I decided to start on this Peck, Stow and Wilcox No 24 I picked up for less than $10. As usual with a lot of the braces and hand drills all it needed to function was a little oil. It operates pretty smooth and I haven't even started cleaning it. The problem is the head is split pretty bad. I don't have the ability to make a new one, so I need to try to repair this one.

The problem I have is the construction of the brace. The quill is not supported in any way other than being attached to the head. Hopefully you can tell from the attached pics that the quill can slide down the shaft (one pic with it down the shaft and another with it at the end of the shaft). The only thing supporting it is the head itself, which is why it split I assume. The washer at the end of the shaft is peened on and rotates freely. The head screws on to the quill and rides on the peened on washer keeping it all secure. All is fine with a solid head. It all works quite well until the head splits.

So, how can I repair the head and ensure it holds up? My only thought is to simply glue it and hope it holds (I've learned from 31 yrs in the military that hope is not a plan).

It's a 6 inch brace, so it will not see any heavy use. I initially planned to add it to my kids tool box, but if I dated it correctly from George Langford's informative site it appears to be from 1884-1892. Maybe something I want to take better care of.

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[Nicholas Lawrence]

I have not seen that before,and I am unclear how that would happen. My first thought was that it was over tightened, but on all of the braces I have, the head bottoms out on the metal portion it screws into before it is in a position to tighten enough to split. Maybe some combination of low humidity and temperature extremes would cause it to do that though.

I don't see a way to repair that other than glue. Sometimes with a partial break, it can be better to break it all the way and then glue it rather than trying to get glue worked into a space like that. It is hard to tell from the picture which would be a better approach. Either way it will be hard to clamp, and you will want to put some thought into that before applying glue. If gluing it failed, I would cannibalize an old beater brace.

[Jim Koepke]

If it is just a crack, I have had pretty good luck mixing saw dust with epoxy to fill such voids. Use a wood of similar color. It may be helpful to clean the piece with some lacquer thinner or acetone first to remove any oils.

The other thing I have done with such damage is to let in another piece of wood.

You might also want to put a metal disk between the wood and the top of the brace so if someone does push down on the top it will hit metal and not wood.

jtk

[Robert Hartmann]

I have not seen that before,and I am unclear how that would happen. My first thought was that it was over tightened, but on all of the braces I have, the head bottoms out on the metal portion it screws into before it is in a position to tighten enough to split. Maybe some combination of low humidity and temperature extremes would cause it to do that though.


The design is such that the head sits on the peened washer at the top when tightened. That will hold the quill tight to the peened washer on the lower side while the head is tight on the upper side. It's all solid at that point and the quill can't slide down the shaft. When solid it would function fine since as you push down on the top you are basically putting all the force on the peened washer with solid wood (head).

My assumption is it was a combination of things. It's obviously old and probably suffered through some humidity/temp changes as you mentioned. There are two screws to hold it on and one of those had the head broke off at some point and the other was loose. The wood threads are a bit worn as well. I probably just need to try to make a new one since finding a replacement will be extremely difficult (I'm stationed in the Netherlands, maybe Kees has one lying around). I have no idea how to thread one if I do.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. I'll try a glue up and see how it goes. I can push it open from the inside and get plenty of glue in there.

Jim, I've seen mixed results with epoxy. It seems the conclusion is it's not better as far as holding power than plain glue. It's best used when filling a gap. I have no experience, just what I've read. I don't think a metal disk would help since it would still be putting pressure on the same spot in the same way. When it's all tight the head is seated firmly on the peened washer, so in theory the head, quill and washer move together with the washer being the pivot point.

[Geoff Emms]

Hello Robert, I found this thread quite interesting and thought I'd look at my PEXTO braces to see if I had one similar. I haven't done a study on them yet but seem to have accumulated 15, of which only one, a PS&W Co No 3410, has a quill the same as yours. The others have either a fully clad head or the quill doesn't use screws.
What I found when I removed the head was that the quill had a step built in near the top and a corresponding thinning of the shank where the retaining washer is peened on. A 1/4" of slop is caused by wear both to the shoulder of the shank and the step in the quill. You may be able to notice a wear patch in the bottom of the hole in the head caused by the end of the shank.
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I agree with Jim that on your brace there should probably be a thrust washer in the bottom of the hole in the head. This would distribute the pressure more evenly and negate the gouging of the peened washer on the wood.
I have previously repaired a badly split head by breaking it open, washing the the two faces with solvent then glueing and clamping.
To be honest I've not seen one like yours before apart from an Australian Tough Minor which has a Bakelite head and utilises a thrust washer but is a quite different set up with the quill being cast into the head.
I don't want to hijack your thread but with your permission could post a couple more photos of my repair job.

Cheers,
Geoff.

[Robert Hartmann]

Geoff, feel free to add to the post. I'm always looking to learn something new. There's very little info on restoring a PEXTO.

Mine doesn't have the step built in as I think you can see from the pictures. I didn't take the quill off and I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to why it didn't slide all the way down the shaft. I was focused on the head. I'm now curious why the quill doesn't slide all the way down. The washer on the end of mine was peened on very well, so I didn't want to take it off. The washer is the same size as the hole, so I don't understand how a thrust washer would help. The peened washer rotates freely on the shaft, so it and the head rotate together. Putting a washer in the bottom would not distribute the force any more than the peened washer in my mind.

I cleaned it out with acetone to include widening the crack enough to clean it out as much as possible. I glued it up over the weekend and it's ready to be worked on. I'll have to fill the cracked area probably with some sanding dust and glue. It's as good as I can do at this point. I'm in the middle of restoring a MF 980, so it might be a bit before I finish this one up.

[Geoff Emms]

Because there was plenty of spare metal I just filed the peened end clean off the top of the washer. Normally I would file around the peen to reduce the overhang and lever the washer off, thereby leaving enough metal above the washer to repeen it on reassembly.

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After giving the shank and the inside of the quill a good clean I reassembled them putting a piece of thin card between the quill and the retaining washer.This ensures the quill is not jammed down too tight after the end of the shank is peened. I measured the excess shaft and marked it where it needed to be sawn off.
Clamping the bow firmly in a soft jaw vice allows me to use a small ball pein hammer to peen (should that be pein?) the end of the shaft back over the retaining washer. All that remains is to refit the head.

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When I said thrust washer, in my previous post, what I should have said was thrust plate which would be a washer sized round piece of steel without the hole in the centre. Because the end of the shank is domed where it is peened over the washer it would concentrate the pressure to a spot smaller than the width of the washer and allow abrasion of the wood, over time, at that point. Fitting the thrust plate will spread the force over a bigger area and with a metal to metal joint would avoid the abrasion.
But my feeling is that that is not how it was designed and I find that your original photos are intriguing because they don't show any significant difference in diameter of the shank above or below the quill.
I hope this is of some interest, thank you.
Geoff.

[Robert Hartmann]

When I said thrust washer, in my previous post, what I should have said was thrust plate which would be a washer sized round piece of steel without the hole in the centre. Because the end of the shank is domed where it is peened over the washer it would concentrate the pressure to a spot smaller than the width of the washer and allow abrasion of the wood, over time, at that point. Fitting the thrust plate will spread the force over a bigger area and with a metal to metal joint would avoid the abrasion.
But my feeling is that that is not how it was designed and I find that your original photos are intriguing because they don't show any significant difference in diameter of the shank above or below the quill.
I hope this is of some interest, thank you.
Geoff.

This is very helpful. I didn't think about it having a smaller point of force on the head, but with your explanation I understand. Now that it has been compromised (head split) it's probably not going to matter. I'll make a thrust washer to put in there anyway since any little bit can help.

As for the quill, I haven't inspected it to try and figure out what is keeping it in place if anything. It might just be the bend in the shaft that keeps from sliding further. I have a feeling that's the case and trying anything with the peened washer would be a waste of time. I think I'll just add the thrust washer and see how it holds up.

Nice trick with the piece of card as a spacer.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice trick with the piece of card as a spacer.

Card stock and many other items can be used as spacers/gauges in many circumstances.

I recall back in the day of VWs being everywhere some would proudly talk of using a matchbook cover to set their point gap to 0.016", whoopie!

When I worked in public transit the ticket stock was 0.007". We had to set an encoder clearance to 0.014". The easiest way to do this was to use a couple of tickets. I cut 'U' slots in to a pair and used them:

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Before I left I created a guide for the rebuilding of some of our ticket handling equipment. Most of the other workers had a little difficulty trying to get their hands positioned like the two in the image.

Business cards, the fake credit cards that come in the mail and so many other items are not only great for applying glue, but when a shim or two is needed, they can be handy.

jtk

[Geoff Emms]

Jim, I worked for a man when I first left school who used his thumb nail as a points gauge.
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On this PS&W No 1022 the end of the shaft has burst through the head so decided to have a closer look at it yesterday. It is supposed to have a ball race at the bottom of the quill but there is that much movement the balls have escaped. The head is not held to the quill by screws but was too tight for me to unscrew. Luckily the end of the shank stuck up that high through the head I was able to file the edge of the peen off above the locating washer with the head still on.
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Thinking that the head may be glued to the quill I immersed them in hot water for a few minutes which softened it enough to unscrew and separate the two. (it smelt of tobacco, should that tell me something?)
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Here's the quill back on the shank showing the amount of wear.
Now here is where it gets mysterious. It would appear that the original balls in the bearing were 1/8" I put a dozen in the cup and dropped the quill back on
but there is still a huge gap between the top of the quill and the upper shoulder of the shank, as in the second photo above.
Many braces have a hardened thrust washer between the bearing and the quill but there wasn't one in this case. I believe the head is original but that is not to say that a previous owner has not attempted to do a repair but if so why would they remove the thrust washer then repeen the shank and glue the damaged head back onto the quill? The bearing cup can't slide down the bow any further as it locates against a shoulder, and the quill doesn't appear to have that degree of wear on the bottom of it.
I removed the balls and reassembled the brace and put it away while we wait for someone with the answers to step up.
Cheers,
Geoff.

[Robert Hartmann]

I believe the head is original but that is not to say that a previous owner has not attempted to do a repair but if so why would they remove the thrust washer then repeen the shank and glue the damaged head back onto the quill?

Before I got into woodworking I was into restoring cars. I can remember numerous times having an extra part or two on reassembly. Usually I would correct the problem:) Maybe the previous owner reassembled the brace and then realized he missed a step (the washer). At that point he set it aside to work another day, which never came. Seriously though, most other braces with an open race have a washer between it and the quill.

[Jim Koepke]

Before I got into woodworking I was into restoring cars. I can remember numerous times having an extra part or two on reassembly.

Spare parts can be a lot of fun. Many years ago I was a field service technician on engineering copiers. Often while working on a copier an engineer would come along with a drawing they wanted copied. Usually they would ask how long until the machine would be running again. Since most of the time I was doing preventative maintenance the machine could still be used. While running them a copy on a machine that was without its covers I would point to my bag of small parts like screws, nuts and washers and calmly say, "it is amazing how many parts they put in these things that aren't really needed." The look on some of their faces was priceless.

We also had a copier that could make enlargements and reductions of engineering drawings. One of the sales people took a $500 bill image from an advertisement and blew it up to about an 8X20" image. I carried one of them in my kit to use as a test. When I was done with a job, I would run off one of those and hand it to the person signing for my work and say, "we copier repair folks get to make the big bucks." after awhile when I was working on copiers people would ask me to leave a few of those "big bucks" for them when I was done.

jtk

[Geoff Emms]

Ha ha I like your sense of humour Jim.
Robert, I spent years sporadically restoring a 1938 Australian Chev' but as my brace and brace tool collecting took over my life I gradually lost interest in the car and eventually sold it. With the collection of brace tools such as tenon cutters, spoke pointers, I like to understand how they work and learn to use them correctly.
In the case of the above PS&W No 1022, I bought that as an example of the two patents, the chuck (O. Peck. US Pat 246904. Sept 13 1881) and the ratchet (R C Ellrich. US Pat 293957. Jan 29 1884) The damaged head means it's less than perfect, perhaps one day a better one may come my way, or someone will post a picture of what it's really supposed to look like.
Cheers,
Geoff.

[Robert Hartmann]

I finally finished this. I went with some yellow glue mixed with sanding dust from the head. The color is good and it should be solid since there was a lot of glue surface. The rest of the drill was also a mess with rust and locked up ratchet. After a lot of sanding and polishing it now works really smooth. Thanks for all the tips. I attached some pics of the finished brace.
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[Jim Koepke]

Wow Robert, maybe you should include an arrow to point to the damaged area. Can't see it with my eyes.

jtk