Awl--
No doubt you are familiar w/ detent pins.
I'm making sorta the opposite: a grooved pin that slips into drilled round bar,the bar having a sprung ball on either side of the inserted pin. (Those
90 degree holes I mentioned in the fixture orientation thread: 1/4" for the pin, 1/8" for the balls)The Q's are:
The best way to make the detents, AND the best way to ASSEMBLE the detents.
I know of two ways to make the detent. A way I fooled around with was to use a drill slightly smaller than the ball, and drill thru. Then, w/ a clearnce drill for the ball, drill down just to the edge, so as to keep a "lip" on the hole, to retain the ball. Kind of dicey, if you're not pretty precise--either the ball falls out, or it don't stick out enough.
The other way is simply to ping the edge of the hole. I'm leaning toward this way, but the fact that the hole is on curved surfaces seems make this a little dicey also--the ball don't wanna stick out as far as I think is should, approx. 1/2 its diameter.
Also note that the hole to be pinged is an *inside* hole, 90 degrees to where the pin is inserted.
Any insights into this overall process? Special/dedicated tools, methods?? I have a few idears, but one thing is for sure, this detent stuff is a bit of an assembly bear--not the quickest operation, dat's f'sure. TIA.
---------------------------- Mr. P.V.'d formerly Droll Troll