In my next life, I will be a machinist. Always finding that there are needful odd hardware bits is frustrating... So, the beloved Ironrite Health Chair had one of the four seat bolts snap in half. After almost seventy years, things wear out. Didn't occur to me that it would be so very difficult to find a suitable replacement.
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ave tried local hardware stores, Winks, and combing through Lee Valley Hardware catalog... none of them have the right sort of (carriage) bolt I need to replace. Either the bolt head is too narrow, or the shaft diameter is too wide. This bolt holds a wooden seat to steel chair legs, so the tolerances are not highly flexible. Can't contact manufacturer because the chair is, like, 70 years old. This is the broken bolt, and the dimensions; it seems to me that the most important dimensions are the diameter of the bolt shaft, which needs to fit through the steel leg assembly, and the width/height of the bolt head, which forms a kind of integral washer. The 1/4" carriage bolts I have found so far have heads that are 1/2" or less in diameter, not 1/4". Adding a washer for greater width is my default solution, but not ideal.
Decided that the hive mind aka FB might have information I do not, such as other possible places to query. I did get a few more specialty hardware options to check out, but the Truly Useful bit was that my friend Stuart very cleverly figured out that what I was looking for was actually called a "step bolt", and not a carriage bolt: "Step Bolts - Has a square neck similar to a Carriage Bolt but has wider round head, and lower profile." A vital part of being able to find things is knowing the EXACT name they are called by!
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Part of my initial trip to the local hardware store was to get a hose clamp to better attach the homemade reflector shield to the LED sewing machine light. After figuring out that a piece of wire could be used to measure the size needed, it seemed that simply a twist of wire could clamp it in place, without needing any other more elaborate structure. Goodness knows that there is plenty of scraps of wire in the workroom! Sometimes the obvious just takes a while to become visible.
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September SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | charter # 10 | bathrobe hang-loop | bag to Goodwill |
| 2 | fig sauce | many pokey wires | butterfly chair |
| 3 | seraph | dye yarn orange | first leaf raking |
| 4 | charter # 11 | sewing machine light | - |
| 5 | hat for Thora | broken warp thread | - |
| 6 | applesauce | x | - |
| 7 | plum sauce | x | x |
| 8 | Awesome Sauce | x | x |
| 9 | jacquard denim pinafore | x | x |
| 10 | x | x | x |
| 11 | x | x | x |
| 12 | x | x | x |
| 13 | x | x | x |
| 14 | x | x | x |
| 15 | x | x | x |
Hmm, that's a conundrum, when you know exactly how to fix something and what you need to do it, but you just can't find the part. Step bolts are pretty common in industrial use (I think) but I don't know if it's something you can pick up just one of at the local warehouse store.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about your sewing machine light and reflector arrangement. Is it for the bulb on the machine, or another light that you use? I can't seem to get the right positioning with my various lights - either they are too bright and reflecting in my eyes, or they are not pointing enough light on the actual work area for me to see it. How do you have your light(s) set up?
I should know better than to try writing a reply on my phone, it just ate the entire thing... Let me see if I can try again
DeleteKatrina - rather than adding my reply here, since I cannot attach images, I am sending it to you as an email
DeleteJust got your email - thank you!
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