Unfreezing a Stuck R-W No. 5 Jr -- Adventures in Fix-It

[Konstantin the Red]

It took a bit of a while, but I got 'er.

My No. 5 Junior got hid from me in a box for years -- way at the very bottom of a box of unpromising miscellaneous junk. What's worse, the place the box was in was occasionally subject to wet. Now and then. Quietly.

And I'd left the 3/16 in it. Pretty bad idea.

Finally rediscovered my punch, took a look. Froze in there really tight. Managed to back the die out of the threads, but the punch was not moving at all.

Step one was get some penetrating oil in its spraycan. Step two was pawing through my tools and coming up with a mild steel rod I could fit through the lower die-jaw and use for a drift once I'd slathered the frozen bit with the penetrating oil spray.

I found a regular Vaughn Superbar prybar to be a good improvised prop to support the punch head stably. Lay it on its side, the bar just fits between the knurled screw's eyes that hinge the "intermediate," that lever thing with the T slot that holds the end of the punch and moves it -- my problem being that it couldn't move that stuck punch. The upper punch jaw that holds the punch bit itself lies neatly on the hook end of the Superbar, well supported, right next to the punch passage.

I used the drift rod from underneath the punch body, parking it upside down supported on the Superbar and putting the drift through where the die screws in. First I tried hitting it a while with a deadblow, but nothing to speak of happened, even with lots of soaking with the penetrating oil. I resorted to a 3-lb regular singlejack, and about three good taps with that got things moving. I backed the rusted punch all the way out using another thinner (1/4") rod and set about with more penetrating oil and a green scrubbie (couldn't find my brown scrubbie) to de-rust everything. Still got a ways to go to get everything TLC'd.

Still got a ways to go there. The green works; the brown should work faster and even cleaner. Bit of trouble keeping ahead of miscellaneous grit from loosened rust and scrubbie threads; lots of wiping with paper towels. Messy job, too, but you expect mess with penetrating oil.

You have to de-rust the punch passage too. I tore and I cut strips of green scrubbie and twirled them, soaked through with more penetrating oil, through the passage with a screwdriver. I thought I might need a phillips-head, but the flat head worked quite well enough, twisting the scrubbie strip around in that bore and shoving it along with no trouble. Polished away in there for a fairish while, test fitting the punch in there. It gradually could move more and more freely. Eventually, I reassembled punch and die into the punch body and yay, it worked, nice and smooth. The punch took no hurt from being drifted out with a rod of mild steel.

Brown scrubbie would doubtless have worked quicker. I think I'll chuck the punches in the electric drill and give 'em a power polish. Break out your gun cleaning kit for derusting the punch passage; it's designed for this kind of thing and you'll want that .22-cal or so bore brush in there to help you knock the crud loose. If the punch bit is still too sticky when you try it in the bore, just keep scrubbing it out until it goes better.

[schreiber]

How odd that the punch was stuck and the threads came out....
Did it screw up the tolerances at all?

[Galileo]

Soak it in Coke (for a cheap way) -- otherwise Naval Jelly from an auto parts store works quite well also.

G--

[losthelm]

I have had some luck with spot heating with a torch, it seams to let the oil in to do the work and loosens up any shop grime in the joint.
It also seams to expand things enough to let the oil in to do its job.

The ATF/acetone mix does a better job than most Penatrading or displacement oils, though at that point you need better gloves.
The Acetone will dry out your skin and has a tendancy to evaporate and leave any disolved crud behind.
its enough of a solvent where you need something besides hospital gloves.

[Konstantin the Red]

I had wondered if I would need to heat it, which would have been tough because I haven't a torch. I can just see me holding the end of the punch to a gas burner on my rangetop. Well, if I'd gotten that desperate... "Why are you toasting a tool -- on the stove -- and where are the marshmallows?" "Hehe, wife, 'always after me Lucky Charms?'"

One reason I love my wife is that kind of crack never puts a lemon-sucking expression on her face. Even in early middle age...

Yeh, the oil is no-gloves handling. Pretty spattery if you get careless about where you're pointing the can. I got spots all over me. They design that stuff for strong capillary action, and the merest micro-crevice is all it needs to get to work -- as by local heating and expansion.

No real way of knowing about tolerances, but the punch runs into the die smoothly again and the whole tool is now pretty oily even with wiping down. I'm leaving a little of the oil in the moving parts, threads and all that -- a light coat in the T-slot. I figure using a green scrubbie was least likely to do anything rude to any close-tolerance parts, which would be the fit of the punch in the passage. Everything else on the punch can afford to ride looser. With the threaded die I had the leverage of the die key and that was enough. Again, gun cleaning brushes or brass brushes are about ideal for putting these to rights.

{edited just for fun}