New Stanley Cap Iron won't fit

[54Strat]

Hi,

I've just bought a new Stanley iron and cap iron for my old no.7 which had seen some abuse in the past. On fitting I found I couldn't withdraw the iron and on closer inspection I found that compared to the old cap iron, the new one was about 6mm longer when measured from the yoke slot to the tip. This seems like a huge difference. It wouldn't also fit either my no.6 or no.4 1/2.

Is this a common occurence or have I got a dodgy one? Maybe they're designed to fit the new Stanley's rather than the historic collection I have?

It's not too big a deal as the blade is really what I needed to replace and they'll be some work to get the old cap iron to sit straight and true, but I thought for an extra couple of quid a new cap iron would save me the bother so I bought the 'double'. If I was to fix it, I would be worried that I'd have to take so much off the tip I'd lose enough of the radius to warrant bending it. Has anyone tried this before?

Any help and advice most welcome.

Paul

 

[D_W]

It's not uncommon across all makes to have issues like that. Should the actual location of the adjuster slot be so far from the current one that you can drill and file out a second hole that would work?

That is, is there enough room to make a second hole far enough apart that the amount of material between the two isn't just a tiny sliver?

 

[54Strat]

Thanks D_W. I'm afraid a new adjuster slot position is too close to the original position, the slots are 5.5mm deep and would need to be moved 6mm. Good idea though. I think the only recourse is to take off 6mm from the tip, and hope that there's enough left to maintain enough spring left in it to work well without having to bend it. And I thought buying a new one would save me time from fettling the original cap iron into shape, which I'm now thinking is the better option.

Thanks for your advice

Paul

 

[Bod]

Thanks D_W. I'm afraid a new adjuster slot position is too close to the original position, the slots are 5.5mm deep and would need to be moved 6mm. Good idea though. I think the only recourse is to take off 6mm from the tip, and hope that there's enough left to maintain enough spring left in it to work well without having to bend it. And I thought buying a new one would save me time from fettling the original cap iron into shape, which I'm now thinking is the better option.

Thanks for your advice

Paul

Send it back. Not fit for purpose.

Bod

 

[D_W]

Thanks D_W. I'm afraid a new adjuster slot position is too close to the original position, the slots are 5.5mm deep and would need to be moved 6mm. Good idea though. I think the only recourse is to take off 6mm from the tip, and hope that there's enough left to maintain enough spring left in it to work well without having to bend it. And I thought buying a new one would save me time from fettling the original cap iron into shape, which I'm now thinking is the better option.

Thanks for your advice

Paul

Send it back. Not fit for purpose.

Bod

Ditto that. If you can return the thing, then just do that. There's all kinds of little fixes you can do with metal without being a metalwork expert (you could file a bevel on both sides of the current hole, and pein mild steel into it and then file it, which I probably would still do (but I do a lot of this kind of stuff) because it might take less effort than finding a cap iron that fits. That's not a reasonable effort level if you don't do "metalwork for woodworkers" on a regular basis.

 

[54Strat]

Yes, you're both right in that it's not fit for purpose. I bought this as a 'double iron', i.e. a Stanley iron and a cap iron and the cost was £15 as opposed to £11 for just the iron. For £4 it's not worth the postage, however I will drop an email to the vendor where I bought to explain the issue, they've been really good at dealing with issues in the past.

D-W, I'm a complete metalwork bodger but happy to get stuck in. I think there's enough radius in the cap iron to warrant cutting 5mm off, but getting it true would be the challenge, I guess I could use a honing quide set steeply to square it up. By suggesting peining metal into the slot, is that basically a rivet? I can see how that would work.

 

[Racers]

I have had this problem with the cap iron, how bad is the original one?
Using it would solve your problem.

Pete

 

[ED65]

I wouldn't remove anything from edge Paul, lots of potential for something to go awry and to end up with a cap iron that you might find impossible to fettle into working shape. Since it's possible to make a cap iron of this style completely from scratch it would still be fixable, but you might not have the right setup to do it.

And there's a much simpler fix for this type of situation anyway, one that I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet and that is to lengthen the existing slot in whichever direction it needs to go, then close it back up to the required size using a metal-filled epoxy. The standard JB Weld in the two tubes is nearly always mentioned in this context and while a paste epoxy will do it I think that it's better done with one of a putty consistency that you blend by kneading with the fingers. Both JB Weld and Evo-Stik make an epoxy of this type and there are probably others.

You need to move the slot 6mm closer to the edge yes? So just file (or drill and file) the existing slot until its bottom edge is where you need it to be, then back fill the remainder. The edges of the slot are under very little stress in use so I expect if done right this sort of fix will be a once-in-a-lifetime thing in most cases.

 

[54Strat]

Pete, the original one is salvageable. I was hoping the new one work save me the effort. Hmm.

ED65, good suggestion. I'd not thought about epoxies and I can see your method working. To be honest, removing 5 to 6mm from the tip would be really daunting for me and I know I'd botch it. Rebuilding the slot with either metal, as in D_W's first suggestion or with epoxy seems the most viable way of getting this to work. Thanks.

So in the meantime, I've started a dialogue with the customer service reps from the place I bought it from and sent a detailed description with supporting photos. Their response has been great, and they'll be taking it up with Stanley. They think either it's a defect or that Stanley may have changed designs. They'll said they'll also inquire about new 'old' stock if the latter is the case. So hopefully this feedback will make a positive, albeit very small contribution to Stanley's business and their customers.

I'll let you know how I get on, thanks for all your responses

Paul

 

[54Strat]

Hi,

After the sales rep making enquiries, it seems the new 2 3/8" Stanley cap irons will only fit Stanley's new planes. Mine are all pre 1970's. This is no surprise really, but without a new Stanley to compare against I've no idea where the design changes are,(i.e in the frogs, the bed or the adjuster positioning location). They'll probably update their web page to advise future buyers, which is not a bad outcome I guess.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Paul