How to repair a Wonders trigger housing

[alan57]

Can anyone give me some advice on how to repair my wonders trigger housing.
Or maybe someone has a decent spare one they may want to sell

[badpenny]

Firstly .... If it was mine I'd do nothing, it's part of the life of a 60+ year old machine. Then again my school reports used to say Too Easily Satisfied
Perhaps somebody has a genuine replacement?

As for repairing the original I can't imagine you could insert anything that would survive the trauma of the hammer action without failing.
Also you'd have the visual contrast against the chrome.
I did wonder about solder, and then rubbing back to blend the edges in, but it would always show and your eye would constantly go to it.
I used to look in the mirror and ask the same question

I'm sure you could get an any old trigger housing that could be made to fit, but would it have the the infamous Wonder's trademark?

If you go the final route always hang onto the original and keep it with the machine to hand on the next owner.


BP

[gameswat]

Appears to be a brass stamping so will solder easily. If you use a high content silver solder the repair will be strong and almost impossible to see if done carefully. Silver solder is great as only needs low temp. Panel beat it flat again and then possibly place a thin sheet of brass behind the hole and fill with solder. I'd replace the whole front edge with a scrap piece of plated brass from the spares box. But you could always have it plated again if you only have unplated brass.

[alan57]

Thanks for your comments, I've taken them on board. I may keep it looking as it is, as any repair could be short lived because of the hammer action.
I'm still interested if anyone has one for sale.

[gameswat]

I may keep it looking as it is, as any repair could be short lived because of the hammer action.

There should not be any stress placed on that area of the cover if everything else is right. I guess you have more issues to deal with than the broken brass? Because if the hammer is fitted right it doesn't touch the hole in any way, only the hammer arm should be stopped below the hole where there should be a rubber bumper. The hammer tip should just reach the hole and not stick past it with the right length rubber. Because these parts do the most hard work in the machine they usually need some repair. I usually have to rebuild some or all of the hammer parts due to wear and tear. Sometimes as far as re-bushing the front and back bearings because of far too much slop, fitting new taper pins, braising new metal onto the hammer tips, lathing the hammer tips to remove mushroomed metal, always replacing the rubber bumper, adjusting the hammer to fit dead in the middle of the hole etc, etc. By doing this work you will also stop the wear that seems to then occur to the plastic backflashes just in front of the hammer on most Allwins. If the hammer is overly loose or especially the tip is worn/wonky it fires the ball sideways into the glass or backflash and will bounce around a little before truing itself on the track.

And forgot to say the hammer tip should hit the dead centre of the ball, not below or above or either side. Sometimes the track is worn and needs soldering to fill wear holes, or slight bending to get it back into shape.

[alan57]

I guess the whole hammer section requires attention then. The hammer head looks to be original looking at the wear of it.

[pennymachines]

Gameswat has just about covered it. I think you'll get away with trimming the hammer back into shape and squaring off the end with a file (or grinder, if you have one). Just make sure when you replace the rubber stop it allows the tip to rest inside the hammer box aperture. The ball's curved surface protrudes into the aperture when the trigger is pulled back, allowing the hammer to make good contact on release.

I've just tackled a hammer box in a similar state to yours. I tried brazing a new face onto it but could find nothing to accurately hold the pieces in place that wouldn't be destroyed by the heat. I opted instead to cut and fold a new box out of sheet brass, which wasn't difficult using a saw, vice and wooden mallet. I now need to seal the single open edge, drill the aperture and pin holes, polish and plate. Fortunately it's not Wonders, so no logo to replicate!

I've always brazed these because, although they shouldn't endure direct impact, the constant hammering does send shocks through the whole machine. In the past I used Taymar self fluxing braze rods but these are no longer available and the ones I've tried lately (GoSystem and others) have a slightly higher melting point. On anything but the thinnest brass, my propane/butane/MAPP gas torches aren't quite hot enough. So if Gameswat says silver solder is fine - that's good enough for me.

[badpenny]

I always suspected my school reports were correct