The first move is to put some washers behind it and move the contact point. When this fails and the grooves just wear wider, then another solution is needed.
I then took and cleaned up the teeth of the latch plate, and even roughed them up. This way the epoxy will stick better. I coated the teeth with two-part epoxy and then fitted a thin stainless steel sheetmetal piece over top of the original potmetal. This should prevent wear since the potmetal is protected and the stainless is a bit more resilient. We'll see how it works.
Hi, good post. I have been woondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll definitely be coming back to your site.
ReplyDeleteI should look at your site more often. The latch fix is a great one. NO! slick! If I recall, there was also excess play in the starwheel latch mechanism in the door which adds to the additional door over-travel needed during closure that one gets when "slamming" the door shut.
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The star wheel does develop play in it. Putting a few center punch marks in the shaft end will cure the wobble in the star wheel. However, there is little cure except disassembly if the shaft itself gets loose.
ReplyDeleteThe latch plate is just soft metal and luckily wears out first.
The latch repair failed this past weekend. I'll have to improve my technique. The front edge of the stainless strip came detached and caused the whole strip to jam into the star wheel. I'll have to cut a notch in the latch to hold the front edge, and also upgrade to the next thicker gauge metal.
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