Custom brass washers using a dremel

8 Attachment(s)

Still very new to this hobby of SR restoration and one of the things I noticed was the #0 stainless washers from my local Hardware store were too tight to fit over a 1/16 brass pin. Drilling them out isn't an option because I don't own a drill press and a hand drill is too cumbersome. A dremel is better but still difficult. So I was left to attach a piece of the rod to the dremel and sand it down to get it to fit. This was time consuming and inconsistent.
Came up with this solution :
Attachment 174250
cut blanks from std bass sheet...
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Drill out the hole using dremel..
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make them in pairs so they're consistent, trim the corners,
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Mount them to the dremel cutting tool post...
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grind them round on a file.
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Results. Take them to the anvil, flatten them out,
re-attach to the dremel and grind them some more.
Sand and polish.
I probably can't make them too small because of the diameter of the dremel cutting tool but was able to get them cut down to a workable size without having to grind down the brass pin. Going to try it on some stainless sheet if I can locate some.

That works - I've had to resort to that technique before as well.
A hand held microreamer to enlarge the washer hole is easier (ream a bit from each side of the washer). And you can hold the washer with vice grips while you ream it.
Dremel makes a small reamer bit, but every time I've tried it on something small, it ripped the washer apart.

A cheap round diamond file works like a charm for cleaning up the holes... it's so exasperating to try to work washers over the pins sometimes. This technique looks like a great starting point for doming, though, I'll play with it sometime.