Ruffler & Walker allwin payout knob

[splitpin]

WOW! That's amazing, especially without the original part to take a mould from. It may be that the only way I can get the parts I need for the gun carriage and front casting etc. for my Pussy Shooter will be to have a go at casting myself. Have been studying various techniques of aluminium castings on You Tube but will definitely subscribe to the magazine to learn how you've done it. Brilliant, I look forward to the article.

[13rebel]

Absolutely brilliant, I'm sure many of us wish we had that skill and knowledge. Look forward to the magazine article.

[JC]

Marky, that's a brilliant job. Those of us who have been around a few years and have a few restorations under our belts will know this wasn't a five-minute job.............and given that five-minute jobs generally take several hours, you've obviously put some considerable time into this (exactly how many days were you off '''''sick''''?
Anyway, well done. I hope this will be the first of many more, and I very much look forward to your article for the magazine. But please don't restrict it to the payout knob (which I'm sure would make an interesting article in itself) - why not make it a 'two parter' - part one, general restoration and part two, the process of producing the knob.
We'll all look forward to it.

Jerry

P.S. You have plenty of time - the next issue isn't till September.

[13rebel]

Two parter - good idea, as it would allow room for more in depth detail for the less experienced.

[badpenny]

Just to confirm I have absolutely no intention of succumbing to any temptation and asking markymark to make me a better knob from just a photo.
It would be childish, crass and anyway I haven't one of those zoom lenses.

[treefrog]

Mark, just read your article in MMM. Well it is a small world.

I know of Prince August and have been to their factory in Ireland, in fact I went there just after they opened in the mid '70s as my family had a farmhouse about 2 miles from the factory.
Ireland back then was very basic and this place was staggering/hi-tech as it is 10 miles from the nearest Town, Macroon in county Cork. Anyway, I have used their kits as a kid making lead soldiers with the same metals and moulds they still produce today.

The weird thing is that 18 months ago I almost went to use them again as I wanted a number of coin-op parts difficult to get hold of, eg British coin denominators and was going to make some using their process. They will actually make the moulds for you, although this seems to have been removed from their website. You send them your part and you will get back your hard rubber mould pre-cast ready to go for between £60 to £80 and they can be reused 100's of times, they even allow for shrinkage. I was going to knock a few hundred for other collectors, but since then have managed to buy a few as seen on another thread.

The only thing as you have pointed out, the metals they use are typically soft, lead and tin or a non toxic version as well. You can harden the mix by adding an increased amount of Tin, which they will sell you, but the moulds are only designed to operate for these types of metals. The only thing I was thinking, would have been whether you could have put a metal/steel collar at the base/neck where you were pinning through to the rod, as I guess this is where most of the stress will be. Masterful job with the wood mould, obviously very skilled on this front, I assume you allowed for shrinkage as well.

[JC]

Thanks again Mark for an excellent article for the magazine.
You should all have received the Dec. magazine by now. Mark supplied loads of pictures to compliment the article, but I couldn't use most of them - partly due to space, and partly due to the fact that they were quite dark, and although they look OK in colour, they looked pretty awful in B&W. I shall, however, post all the pictures in the MMM forum shortly (probably after Christmas).

Jerry

[markymark]

Thanks Jerry,
Glad you liked the article. As Jerry mentioned the photos will do the article justice, so hopefully these will be on line after Christmas.
I have further articles that may be of interest following recent trips to Vegas, and the teaching of my computer students of how things were achieved mechanically before computers!!!