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Mk3 Camplate Neutral Button

Submitted by andrew_mackenzie on Mon, 14/12/2020
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Commando

I have bought a new camplate neutral button, as mine has quite a deep groove in it. As it is basically like a solid rivet, I carefully drilled into the deformed end of the stem and drifted it out easily enough.  However, the new one is not a close fit in the hole so will need a good whack with a suitably shaped punch to deform enough to grip, while supporting the button and avoiding damaging it.  The original seems pretty soft material, I guess to enable it to deform, which would explain the groove, so it needs to be properly supported.  I currently do not have anything to act as a dolly to support the button - has anyone else been in this position and what was the solution?  Andy

Submitted by peter_shand on Mon, 14/12/2020

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Make a tool that somewhat resembles a rivet snap, Drill a suitable shallow hole just under the full diameter of the button in a scrap piece of steel, then grind the drill just used into a round ended drill bit and drill the hole again to make a 'rivet snap' This will support the button when riveting it in the cam plate. 

Submitted by andrew_mackenzie on Tue, 15/12/2020

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Thanks for the advice Peter.  However, grinding drill bits is not something I have attempted before and could be messy!  I wondered whether I could use a ball grinding stone to create the required button support, but have not so far been able to confirm the diameter required - I am estimating around 16 mm.  The original button width is 10.6 mm, whereas the A-N item is 12.5 mm.  Most grinding ball suppliers are in China; the very few UK suppliers I have found are pretty expensive, and often have delivery times suggesting they are also sourcing from China. So buying a selection is not realistic.  How typical that a procedure that is actually so simple and quick with the right tools is preventing gearbox assembly.  Might be simpler to buy a new camplate if available without the expensive spindle.

Submitted by george_farenden on Tue, 15/12/2020

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Asked RGM or Norvil what they would charge to do this for you? Or other Norton specialists? Maybe  our own Peter Shand could do it for you?

Might be quicker/simpler and know it has been done right?

Just thinking...

George. 

Submitted by andrew_mackenzie on Tue, 15/12/2020

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Thanks for the suggestion, George, but I am loathe to send away and pay someone to fit something so simple for the sake of a suitable button support.  I will just have to use my imagination and find a way round this latest in a long line of hurdles - familiar territory for many, I guess. 

It does not help that the good decent engineering supplies shops seem to be a thing of the past and online shopping is often so limited.

Submitted by john_holmes on Tue, 15/12/2020

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I may have a 1/2 inch ball ended milling cutter, need to check my collection tomorrow. If so I can create a depression for the button in a piece of scrap steel. You can mount that in a vice and apply force on the other side of the campsite to spread the other end of the button.

 

Found the cutter, 1/2 round ended so PM me.

Submitted by andrew_mackenzie on Wed, 16/12/2020

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John, thank you for the offer to make up a button ‘receptacle’.  I don’t know if you found a burr, but the new button, being 12,5mm wide with a shallow radius - button depth is only 3,15 mm - means a 1/2” ball would likely create too tight a radius.  It might make a good starting point to open out a little though, as long as it is no more than 3,15 mm deep. Depends whether you found a burr.  There seem to be lots for sale; just in much smaller sizes.

Andy

Submitted by john_holmes on Wed, 16/12/2020

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It's a carbide cutter, 1/4 steel shaft with 2 carbide circular shaped teeth. I have a 3/4 burr which would give a larger hole at 3.15 depth, plus if I mount the steel plate in my rotating table with burr offset from the centre it would be closer still.

Alternatively just drill a 10mm hole in scrap plate, you will end up with a 10mm witness mark but it should still work.

Submitted by peter_shand on Thu, 17/12/2020

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Be careful when 'riveting' button in the cam that you don't disturb the camplate on its spindle.

I had to sort out a clients gearbox that wouldn't engage any gears and after taking almost all the internals out i found the problem. He had screwed a new neutral switch in far too far and had then trod on the gear lever forcing it into a gear. This pushed the camplate out of kilter with its spindle, hence then no gears.   

Submitted by alan_hesslewood on Sat, 19/12/2020

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You could be over thinking this. When I fitted a new button recently, I just drilled into a piece of scrap steel to create a support. Although it was obviously not spherical, it supported the button just fine while I riveted the other end over with the ball end of a hammer.

Best wishes, Al.

 



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