Banjo wheel center cover

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Tim,
What material would the mold need to be made of. We used to have a press like that at the NADEP and our molds were Kirksite. Doubt I could swing that without building a foundry! What bed dimensions do you need? Any specs on the machine?

Hank

[astjp2]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

We use aluminum for the die and do .050 sheet O material, the pad are about 4'x6' and 16" deep. I figure we would just turn them out on the lathe for a male mold, cut one a mill if female mold, put 2 pin holes to keep the sheet in place, valla! A part then trim with a die grinder.

[astjp2]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Kirksite melts in hot water.....could use fiberglass for a mold to get the kirksite in shape.

[barnstmr]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Hank,
For scaling... note on the closeup photos, the piece is sitting on graph paper .25" X .25" squares.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Wow, the stuff we used was closer to 380-390*C, that is about 720* F! The only thing we had that melted at a REALLY low temp was Cerrolow 117 and 136 and Woods metal (I think) that melted down around 150*F but weren't strong enough to use for a press.
I used to do some lead casting WAY BACK in school. We built a centrifugal drop caster to get fine detail in lead soldiers. Got REAL DANGEROUS when a mold blew open and sprayed liquid lead all over the room!
Sometimes student engineers do some DUMB THINGS! You wouldn't believe what some collectors would pay for cast Napoleonic lead soldiers and horses! We blew the mold trying to do a horse up on it's hind legs. Before the mold exploded we got a couple where you could see the individual hairs in the horses main and tail. The whole thing was only a few inches long. We used Gericault's Officer of the Imperial Horse Guards Charging painting as our model. Sure wish we had kept one of the good ones!

Hank

Kirksite melts in hot water.....could use fiberglass for a mold to get the kirksite in shape.

[barnstmr]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Today I happened upon a new revelation in the age old banjo center cover dilemma. I happened to walk past this package while shopping in an upholstery supply store. [SEE PHOTO] These things are identical to the Taylorcraft Center cover, but they were a smaller size. The store had several sizes but not the same size as Taylorcraft. So I asked the shop manager about it and I learned something new.



THE GOOD NEWS IS: The mystery is solved. The center cover is a standard item known as a #95 Brass Upholstery button shell. Below is a link that illustrates the sizing and concept of the upholstery buttons.

http://www.ccmetal.com/catalogs/dyna-line.pdf

THE BAD NEWS IS: So far, I cannot find any supplier who makes the size 95. Also, I think brass is no longer available. All I have seen are either cad or zinc plated steel or aluminum.

So I've done a little searching online and came up short. But my hope is that maybe by getting the word out to all of you resourceful Taylorcraft restorers, maybe someone may stumble across a source for these.

[3Dreaming]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

I made a bunch of upholstery button at my dad's shop 30-40 years ago when I was a kid. I knew the shape was the same, but never saw any that big or made of brass. I'll ask dad when I talk to him tomorrow.

[barnstmr]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover Just did my first ever leather cover with baseball stitch.

[Marv]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

You done a great job. You should be proud.

[Jim Hartley]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Classy! Nice job.

[Bravo 6]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Looks great Terry!!

[TimHicks]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Where did you get the supplies to do this, Terry?
Did you sew it on while wet? Or dry?

[barnstmr]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Tim. Leather came from a local upholstry supply... they were scrap cutoffs. Waxed lacing cord came from tandy leather online. Also bought from tandy a nice little tool to punch four 1/16th inch holes evenly spaced. My wife has a great roller razor knife that she uses for sewing. It works great against a straight edge for cutting leather. I did all the work in the dry condition. Baseball stitch does a great job of sinching it all to the correct taughtness.. the leather aroma is quite relaxing and helps prevent frustrations as I normally get when doing tedious work. Once yoy practice a little and learn the correct width to cut your leather, you're ready. And once you start, you become so obsessed to see how cool it's going to turn out, you don't want to stop.

[3Dreaming]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

I finally talked to dad about the upholstery buttons. In his opinion while similar they are not repurposed upholstery buttons. The hub centers have straight sides and the buttons have tapered sides. He thinks that the hub centers were made specifically for the wheel.

[barnstmr]

Re: Banjo wheel center cover

Here's a photo of the work in progress.