Changer Fingers, brand new laser cut

[jivebiker]

Whilst servicing my Bennett SD10, I had issues with many of the changer fingers being seized at the riveted pivot, so bad that I ended up having to drill the rivets out and clean up the black grime in the joint. Some had totally seized, but even the few with good movement, were sticky and tight.

While they were apart I noticed that they were not in great shape, some having twisted due to the stiffness of the pivot joint, and despite days of cleaning and polishing, the fingers looked tired.

I decided to make a cad drawing of the finger plates whilst they were apart, and got some costings from various manufacturers. It turned out that getting 20 made didn't cost much more than getting 10. So I got 2 sets made up.

I will be swapping my old ones out at the next strip down, when I will be strengthening the cabinet (that's a whole other issue) but in the meantime, if anyone is interested in a new set of changer fingers, then I will let a set go for £50. They are unriveted, so will need joining.

They are copies of those on my Bennett SD10 , with compression spring low return style mech (see pic). They are laser cut from 1.2mm 304-2B Stainless Steel. This is thinner than the original mild steel fingers (3/16"), but the 1.2mm stainless is much stiffer.

They are for a ½ inch bridge rod, ⅛ inch pull rods, ⅛ inch push rod (sprung) return hole. They need a 5mm rivet to join the pieces. I use a starlock washer on a stainless steel "Chicago Screw" (as shown in the pics) which seems to be working well as a fastening method on the old fingers, and allows separation quite easily for future maintenance. They have 4 raise and 4 lower rod positions..

They combine with an alloy changer puller (in my Bennett) with a captive roller at the push point (see example pic of a Jackson Puller with bearing), but could easily work with a plain puller. I may be getting some brass ones made up with a plain bearing surface.

Please note this is for the fingers only, the centre of the three images.

Pm me if you are interested..