replacement pearl ink disk arm??
I just broke the ink disk arm off my Golding Pearl #3. Upon inspection, the piece has been rewelded many a time, as there are layers upon layers of flaking solder. Finding a foundry (in New York City) to recast the arm has proved frustrating and pricey. I’m hesitant to even consider J-B Weld. Might anyone have any helpful suggestions?
If it’s truly solder that’s flaking off, that’s why it broke — solder isn’t very strong and won’t hold cast iron anyway — silver solder might, but it’s doubtful. The best bet would be to have it brazed together by someone who can heat the whole piece in a forge first to reduce the heat stress of brazing. They’ll have to clean off all the residue of whatever process was used before. A properly brazed repair should be at least as strong as the original cast iron. But if it isn’t preheated the stress will cause it to break somewhere else near the repair.
Holly,
If you need a good machine shop to fix it for you I’d suggest Amorphous Studios in Greenpoint. They can weld just about anything and their shop is amazing to see.
http://www.amorphousstudios.com/
Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY