Pin for Half-Nut Lever....Worn or Okay?

Hello and thanks in advance. I have taken my '46 Model A 9" apart once again for maintenance and new paint.
When I removed the spring-loaded pin that allows engagement of the half-nut lever, I noticed that it had a strange
configuration on the end.

There are two angles on the end of this pin; one is about 63 degrees, the opposite is about 45 degrees. (I will attempt to attach a photo). Has anyone noticed this on their 9A lathe during disassemble? Are the angles correct? Thanks!

View attachment 275727View attachment 275727

Can't say Im familiar with a9's, but south bends use a pin like that as a lock out detent. With it, when half nuts engaged, the pin locks out the ability to crossfeed. Like wise, vice versa, if you have crossfeed engaged, that pin shoves into the lever mechanism for half nuts to keep you from engaging the half nuts.

I'd say the angles aren't all too critical, but i'd look at what it shoves into, might fit better one particular way, if nothing is holding the direction.

That pin does not allow (or disallow) the engagement of the half nuts. That pin holds the lever in place on the apron (so it doesn't fall off in your hand) and also applies some friction to the lever so it doesn't rattle or disengage inadvertently.

There is another pin that does the interlock on the half nut engagement. The interlock pin is a little longer and does not have angles on the end.

That said... The pin you pictured above is correct. The angles were not cut evenly. I don't remember which way it is supposed to be installed, but you can look down into the hole where it lives and see the groove in the half nut handle that it rides in. Should be clear by the position of the groove down in the hole.

Thank you both for the response. I agree with FTF Engineering, and I'll test both angle positions at assembly to see which works best for a particular side.

PMc

Glad to help.

Been a long time since I've peered down that hole. I looked through my pics and unfortunately I don't have any of the assembly of that pin.

So if you can't tell by just looking, you could drop the pin into the hole and then measure the depth to which it dropped. It will drop farther into the hole if the angles are on the correct sides.

You also might be able to tell by how much "in-and-out" play there is in the handle. You might find the handle has some slop if the pin is installed backwards. Don't remember.

Hoping it's easy to figure out and the rest of the project goes smooth!

Many thanks again! For those with the ILION restoration book, this pin is shown on page 39, but not much detail on the configuration of the pin itself. I always separate, bag, and label all parts as they come off the lathe (especially the really small stuff), so I'm highly organized for the rebuild. I'm in the painting phase right now, so might be another week before
reassembly begins. Not sure how far I want to get into the gearbox tho. It's still very clean, but would like to at least replace the felt while its off the machine. A good winter project for sure.
Appreciate the response!

PMc

Forgot to mention it before, so it might be too late, but if not... When you do determine the correct clocking of that pin, I would put some sharpie marks on it to make the installation easier.

First, and most obvious, is to put some mark somewhere on the pin indicating "F" so you don't have to study the angles next time.

And second, I put a line on the flat end in the same direction as the point on the other (invisible when installed) end so you can be sure you got it parallel to the front of the apron face. I found that the pin would sometimes spin a little when you dropped it into the hole. In theory, the spring that pushes on the hilt should force it into correct rotation if things aren't too far out, but I wanted to make sure it was pretty close before I put the spring in the hole and buttoned it up.