Best Way to Flatten Crown Guard Pin?

[jc0515]

Hi,

I was thinking about flattening the CG pin on my 111. Read somewhere that someone did this by slightly pushing out the pin then slowly sanding it down while in the CG.

Questions:

1) Is this the best practice?

2) Is the CG pin like a regular link pin that you can simply tap out with a link remover?

3) Any tricks, or gotchas on this mod?

Thanks in advance.

[RWG Technical]

My question would be, do you want it flat, or do you want the pin flush with the CG. There is a noticeable difference, a truely flat pin can't be modified in place and needs a lathe, a flush pin is simply blended into the shape of the CG.

You can make the pin flush quite easily by using a fine sharpening stone, and then brushing it or polishing it to match the CG finish.

To make a truely flat pin, you need to remove it, place it in a lathe, turn the face flat and exactly 90 degrees to side of the pin, and then polish it.

To do either, you need to remove the CG from the case, the pin is easily pressed out with a small punch and light hammer blows.

I find that most pins are poorly made, my normal procedure is to make a completely new pin.

Not one of my better pictures, but you get the idea...

BEFORE

AFTER

[jc0515]

Zig,

...your "after" pic is obviously what I am striving for. Since my CG is brushed, I was thinking that I could push the pin out the "top", ever so slightly. With the CG off, put sand paper on a flat surface, and sand down the head of the pin in one direction. Probably hitting the CG in the process, but since it's brushed, I think I could even out the finish.

Maybe I try the back side first to see what happens.

[blue_sphere]

careful that you get a good angle on your pin and dont end up shaving a pin that looks like a dome.

[tanya]

Listen to Zig

[maxman]

My question would be, do you want it flat, or do you want the pin flush with the CG. There is a noticeable difference, a truely flat pin can't be modified in place and needs a lathe, a flush pin is simply blended into the shape of the CG.

You can make the pin flush quite easily by using a fine sharpening stone, and then brushing it or polishing it to match the CG finish.

To make a truely flat pin, you need to remove it, place it in a lathe, turn the face flat and exactly 90 degrees to side of the pin, and then polish it.

To do either, you need to remove the CG from the case, the pin is easily pressed out with a small punch and light hammer blows.

I find that most pins are poorly made, my normal procedure is to make a completely new pin.

Not one of my better pictures, but you get the idea...

BEFORE

AFTER

Beautiful work Zigmeister...thanks for sharing

Mike

[RickHiC]

Zig,

...your "after" pic is obviously what I am striving for. Since my CG is brushed, I was thinking that I could push the pin out the "top", ever so slightly. With the CG off, put sand paper on a flat surface, and sand down the head of the pin in one direction. Probably hitting the CG in the process, but since it's brushed, I think I could even out the finish.

Maybe I try the back side first to see what happens.

I would say DO NOT try to sand it by hand. You will end up with a more rounded pin than you started (and you'll nick the CG all over the place).

I don't have anything fancy like a lathe, but I get decent results doing the following: Push out pin and carefully place in the chuck of an electric drill (you'll need a decent one with no wobble). Then I run the drill very lightly against a very flat surface with sandpaper on it (a plate of glass or tile works well) being super careful to keep it at 90 degrees (if I had a drill press I would be using that). I start at 600 grit, then to 1200. By then it's should be looking pretty flat and shiny with a very square edge. You could probably stop there, but since I have them, I move to 3M abrasive films all the way down to 0.3 micron. At that point, if I've been steady and careful, it looks like a mirror, flat and spotless, even under my 20x microscope.

[jc0515]

I would say DO NOT try to sand it by hand. You will end up with a more rounded pin than you started (and you'll nick the CG all over the place).

I don't have anything fancy like a lathe, but I get decent results doing the following: Push out pin and carefully place in the chuck of an electric drill (you'll need a decent one with no wobble). Then I run the drill very lightly against a very flat surface with sandpaper on it (a plate of glass or tile works well) being super careful to keep it at 90 degrees (if I had a drill press I would be using that). I start at 600 grit, then to 1200. By then it's should be looking pretty flat and shiny with a very square edge. You could probably stop there, but since I have them, I move to 3M abrasive films all the way down to 0.3 micron. At that point, if I've been steady and careful, it looks like a mirror, flat and spotless, even under my 20x microscope.

I didn't think about using my drill press, but that sounds like best "try" for me. I'll try one end, and hopefully can't screw it up too badly.

Thank you all for the input

[justaguy88]

Bump. The Zigmeister or anyone, can you comment more on the process of creating a new crown guard pin? Any asistance would be greatly appreciated.