Making Spring Pins for Visored Helms
There was a call for a tutorial, and I couldn't find a complete on in a search, so I wrote one following the process I worked out with the help and advice of the much more knowledgeable people here in the forum. If there is a more complete tutorial, please do add the link!
And for posterity, this is the sequence that I worked out to get all the holes and pins in the correct placements. Read the "Fitting For Use" section first, and ALL of the instructions before you start building.
Materials used for this build:
6mm - 1/4" bar for Locking Pins
10mm - 7/16" bar for Buttons
Hacksaw blade (teeth removed optional)
5mm rivets
Tools - Centrepunch, Angle grinder (but all work could be done with hacksaw and files), Bench vice, ball pein hammer, drill and bits, oil for lube and drilling, ruler, dividers, marking pen/pencil.
1. Site and mark placement on helm for Spring Pin Assembly, marking a straight line, and the three Holes. Locking pin, Button, and Anchor rivet.
2. Mark and drill hole for the Button, just larger than the Button (11mm hole, 10mm button)
3. Cut Spring (hacksaw blade in this case) to be overly long for the assembly taking into account all three holes.
4. Mark, punch and drill the anchor hole for the Button in the middle of the Spring, make the button*** (overly long) and assemble button to the spring. Fit the Button to the button hole making sure of easy movement in the hole, deburr hole and Button.
5. Mark and drill the Locking Pin hole in the helm, making sure you have a vice grips on the visor to hold it closed and in place. Drill the hole just larger than the pin will be. (7mm hole, 6mm pin)
6. Fit the Button in the Button hole, and align the Spring to the Locking hole. Hold the button and spring *tightly* to the inside of the helm surface, and mark the spring *through* the Locking hole. Make sure the hole marked on the spring is *centred* on the Spring and remark if needed.
7. Punch & drill the Locking pin hole in the spring, make, fit and peen the Locking pin in place. *** Make sure the Locking pin is overly long. Smooth the pin and make sure it is at right angles and centred on the Spring. Fit the Locking Pin, Button and Spring assembly to the helm. File the holes in the helm *lightly* to make a good working fit.
8. Drill the Anchor rivet hole(s) in the helm. Make sure the hole is a *tight* fit for the rivet(s) used.
9. Fit the Locking Pin Assembly tightly to the inside of the helm and clamp. Make sure the two existing pins are centred in their holes, and mark the Spring *through* the Anchor hole(s) in the helm.
10. Remove the Assembly from the helm and inspect. The marked hole on the spring might not be centred on the Spring. **Do Not Correct or Move This Mark** Punch & Drill the hole as is, where is, to the best of your ability. Don't Stuff this up! Use a nut and bolt the same diameter as your rivet with a washer on the inside of the helm to install the Assembly to the helm.
11. A this point trim the excess length from the Spring. Trim the Spring closely at the Locking Pin end, and be generous at the Anchor rivet end.
Fitting for Use.
1. You will have to file the holes for the Button and the Locking Pin to a slightly oval shape to get them to move properly. The Locking Pin Assembly pivots on the Anchor Rivet so the pins in the middle and the far end of the Spring strip will describe a slight arc as they move. Do this carefully and a little at a time.
2. Once the pins move smoothly, work out how long the pins need to be a little at a time. A small push on the Button will make for a longer travel in the Locking Pin. The longer you make the hole for the Button, the deeper you will be able to push it, and the deeper your Locking pin will move. That last sentence will make more sense when you see it in action.
3. Once you have a good smooth movement for the Locking pin and the Button, a little bit at a time shorten the Locking Pin until it engages and disengages the plates of the Skull and Visor in the helm.
4. Depending on how you want it to work, make sure the top of your Locking Pin is smooth all the time you are fitting it. This is a slow and careful process. If you get it too short, you will waste all your previous efforts.
5. Once the movement and functions are satisfactory, round, smooth and polish the working components. Make your Button shorter, so that when you push it the is just enough showing to give the Locking pin the needed travel. If it is too long you will put too much stress on your Spring. You also might push the Locking pin too far into the skull of the helm and force it out of its hole.
6. The holes for the Locking Pin might end up as different sizes. The Skull hole might be bigger than the Visor hole. This did not matter to me as it made the whole Assembly work better, and the Skull hole is covered by the visor when the visor is closed.
*** Locking and Button pins are made by taking about an inch of bar stock and grinding or filing about 1/4" of a smaller diameter "shoulder" or smaller diameter pin on one end that you fit through a hole drilled to match in the spring. For the Locking pin at 6mm, I used a 5mm shoulder and hole. For the Button I filed the same 5mm shoulder into the bottom of it so I could use the same drill bits to drill the hacksaw blade. The Shoulder is used as a rivet shank to secure the Pins to the spring. Hold the pin in a vice and file the shoulder round with right angles and a flat surface so the Spring will sit flush to the bottom of the Spring. Fit the Spring to the pin making sure the pin is centred on the spring and securely peen the Pin to the Spring with the ball pein hammer. The Pin should sit flat to the Spring at right angles to it. Flatten any curve made in the Spring after attaching the Pins.
See this thread:
posting.php?mode=reply&f=1&t=157960 for the pictures of the process I went through.
Makes me weep. Also makes me want to kick the collective mentality of my generation.
