Any bush mechanics out there? I need to expand the end of a pin.

[slowmotion]

The front mech parted company with my bike frame last September or thereabouts in the darkness between Oxford and London. @Fab Foodie did the surgery, handed me the part, and I have been on ten gears ever since, usually 34 on the front, but I can flip it to 50 if I don't mind a greasy finger.

The coiled spring pin, which acted as the hinge pivot for the FD frame clamp, had sheared. I pushed the remains of the broken pin out of the aluminium housings and found that a 2.5mm diameter drill was a snug replacement for the sheared pin. See piccie.

£1.49 (postage included) buys a 50mm length of 2.5mm diameter 316 marine grade stainless steel rod which should act as a reasonable replacement for the broken pivot.
Do you have any suggestions for neatly expanding each end of the new pin to stop it going walkabout?

Almost any violence (file gouges, plier scars, punch dings etc) would work, but what's an elegant way?

Thank you.

 

[I like Skol]

Personally I would centre punch each end of the new pin in-situ. The hardest part will be getting it to balance on a hard solid surface while you do the punching. It may require an extra pair of hands and the corner of a vice jaw or something similar?

 

[Milkfloat]

Personally I would just spend the £20 on a replacement FD. I would be worried that whatever I bodged would not last. Either that or go to a 1 x 10 setup. I am amazed that you have lasted like this for 7 months.

 

[screenman]

I just found one one fleabay for less than a tenner.

 

[Pale Rider]

1. Machine a slot in the pin and use a C clip.

2. Drill a hole through the pin and use a split pin or R clip.

3. An internal star washer might grip.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Locking-Washers-Internal-Stainless-Delivery/dp/B00AFW54ZY

 

[Venod]

How long does it need to be ? You can buy the spring pins in various lengths and have a few spare.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPRING-RO...hash=item2a13d78687:m:m1vohBrxOVtvHqTj_Daju3g

 

[gbb]

Just thoughts on the previous suggestions....
Marine grade SS, I suspect you will find it quite difficult to dot / pin punch the ends to bell it out...stainless is very very hard.
Spring pins...do the two parts the pin is going through pivot or move individually from each other (does that make sense)..a spring pin is an interference fot that would lock the two parts together. I suspect it wouldnt work.

 

[Tim Hall]

Just thoughts on the previous suggestions....
Marine grade SS, I suspect you will find it quite difficult to dot / pin punch the ends to bell it out...stainless is very very hard.
Spring pins...do the two parts the pin is going through pivot or move individually from each other (does that make sense)..a spring pin is an interference fot that would lock the two parts together. I suspect it wouldnt work.

Looking at the photo in the OP, I think it the parts spend all of their life stationary with respect to each other, moving only when the mech is first fitted or taken off, so a roll pin should be fine.

 

[I like Skol]

Personally I would just spend the £20 on a replacement FD.

That was my initial thought but I couldn't make out the logo so thought it might be some Campag exotica made by Elves from Unobtanium, hence ludicrously expensive to replace 'like for like'!

 

[Venod]

For a real bodge you could put a 2.5mm cap screw through with a nut, then peen the ends of the thread, but a lock nut would be better.

https://www.accu.co.uk/en/cap-head-...opping=1&c=3&gclid=COuSqs-2gcwCFesV0wodKHkNrQ

I am not saying buy 250, the link is just to show the type of screw I was reffring to,you could also use a machine screw.

https://www.boltdepot.com/Product-Details.aspx?product=6827

 

[winjim]

That was my initial thought but I couldn't make out the logo so thought it might be some Campag exotica made by Elves from Unobtanium, hence ludicrously expensive to replace 'like for like'!

Looks like Veloce to me. <£20 to replace but a shame if it couldn't just be fixed.

 

[Crackle]

An almost Fnaar like title which made me think it was loosely related to the thread about women riding bikes. No such luck.

 

[Profpointy]

aluminium pop rivet maybe ?

Echo the advice against using stainless - ordinary soft (relatively) steel rod is more suitable for a a rivet, which is what an expanded end pin is..

You can bash the end with a ball pein hammer. the other end obviously has to be supported by something solid

 

[Pale Rider]

For a real bodge you could put a 2.5mm cap screw through with a nut, then peen the ends of the thread, but a lock nut would be better.

https://www.accu.co.uk/en/cap-head-...opping=1&c=3&gclid=COuSqs-2gcwCFesV0wodKHkNrQ

I am not saying buy 250, the link is just to show the type of screw I was reffring to,you could also use a machine screw.

https://www.boltdepot.com/Product-Details.aspx?product=6827

A set or machine screw should do it.

Inevitably, you will have to buy more than one, but B&Q had packs of about six when I was last in.

 

[gbb]

Aha, I see now. I have a Xenon FD on an old bike, I can see now exactly what the pin is doing, it is just a pivot, so as Tim Hall says, a spring pin should be absolutely fine...or a bolt, etc etc