Escutcheon Pins, Washers and Isolators
Most of the pins were bent but easily straightened. Just tapping them on a bench vise did the job. I replaced the one wood screw with a sheet metal screw for the lost pin.
For the washers I used silicon caulking compound. Earlier this year I tried making sheets of silicon by applying caulk onto a plastic sheet protector. I placed another sheet on top and rolled it out to the desired thickness. After it cured I took a hole punch for the outside diameter of the size that I needed. The smallest punch was used for the center hole for the pin.
In the past I used catheter material for the isolators but when I went to a medical supply store to find the size that I needed I was asked for my doctor's prescription. A prescription?.....Are they afraid that I'm going to insert a piece of plastic into parts of my body just for the...….never mind. OK, so nix the catheter tubes. Since I was working with silicon I tried a different approach.
I took a length of wire that was 2 or 3 gauges smaller than the pins and inserted them into the tube of caulk. I did this twice more for a total of 3 coats to increase the thickness of the final tube. After it cured I used a razor knife to cut around the wire and pulled off each section. Since the hole from the wire was slightly smaller in diameter than the pin, when installed it expanded to the overall diameter that I needed.
The bars were done, the pins, washers and isolators were finished. I had only the felt rails to replace.
perhaps they thought you were really strange? Made me smile:)
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