Repairing tin ornament on trophy

jrolands · Dec 2, 2012

So a customer comes to me with a broken off ornament that sits on top of a trophy, and he asks if I can drill a < .5mm hole in both pieces so that he can glue it together with a stud.
Both pieces are gonna be a nightmare to hold on to while drilling, and the cross section is ridiculously small and is gonna be a bitch to drill.
I'm not sure that this is the right approach and I'm wondering if maybe it's best to glue it without a stud. And if so, what glue to use with tin?

Any inputs?

S_W_Bausch · Dec 2, 2012

No jewelers in Norway?

Seems like a candidate for a small torch and steady hands, and (perhaps) silver solder.

atomarc · Dec 2, 2012

I think most trophy ornaments in this country are zinc or diecast junk of some sort. This is a difficult material to 'weld' back together. You and saying 'tin'...are you sure. I would think a over-sized hole in each part with a smaller pin that would allow final, perfect alignment. The oversize hole will allow you to bed the pin and align the two parts exactly. Be liberal with the epoxy so the some smooshes out for extra strength but not enough to spoil the repair seam. A clear epoxy would be pretty invisible if you took your time.

Think of it as a dental implant with a pin and some glue! Maybe even charge accordingly.

Stuart

EDIT. I missed the small size of the proposed pin...pretty dinky.

Philabuster · Dec 2, 2012

Hand him a tube of superglue and call it good.

L Vanice · Dec 2, 2012

I have done similar work. I find the best tool for drilling tiny holes in odd-shaped parts is a flexible shaft with a keyed chuck handpiece. The Foredom brand is common in the USA. Second best is a Dremel tool (Proxxon may be more familiar in Europe). Use HSS drill bits, which are less likely to snap off in the hole. It is hard to make the two holes line up straight, so use a wire that will bend, like soft steel. Start with a hole that is a close fit on the wire. If the parts do not line up, enlarge one hole, trying to favor the direction needed for alignment. You said the customer will do the glue job, so you just need to do the drilling and provide the wire.

Larry

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Repairing tin ornament on trophy

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