Tighten box joint plier slop

[btrnuthatch]

I have a Plomb needle nose pliers that need box(?) joint tightening. Before I go caveman and start whacking it, I thought it better to pose the question here. I haven't been able to find anything here or the vast interweb.

Any experienced recommendations? Thanks.

 

[zkling]

Is just the joint loose or is the entire side bent? The second photo looks pretty bad. Looks like someone tried to use needle nose pliers as a screw driver or the like. If it is just the joint, I think they are pressed/peened, could probably be reformed back into place.

Nevertheless they look like nice pliers.

Hopefully one of the plomb guys will chime in.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

Traditional make-do for pliers that had been over torqued at the joint would be to pein the end of the hinge pin. Normally this would have been a series of center punches around the edge...but since these are nice Plombs, maybe you could try to expand it more evenly with something like a slightly rounded punch with close to the pin diameter. If the whole side is twisted...big vise and reverse the violence.

 

[btrnuthatch]

Thanks Bruce. It will align nicely but it has that slop. I'll try the pin diameter method and let you know.

 

[Craptain]

^^^^^They got you fixed.

But that is not a box joint. Box joint one leg of the pliers goes through the other one. They are expensive but good. Back in the day all my electronics pliers and cutters were box joint.

 

[Outlawmws]

I'd use a flat drift punch just under the size of the center pin on those. (and have someone holding them so they don't go flying...)

 

[btrnuthatch]

OK, fixed. I didn't have, and I didn't bother to make, a punch with the exact diameter. I do have an anvil (nice small Hay Budden) that I used as a base upon which to gently tap the pin on the label side; I didn't do anything to the back side. Slowly it got tighter and tighter. Now, no slop!

Thanks guys for the advice. It worked out nicely.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Sometimes the BFH approach works best.