Plate pin hole size

[Ron Nossaman]

>John R Fortiner wrote:
>> 
>> Dear List:
>>         When drilling a hole in a cast iron plate in order to install a
>> new plate pin that measures 0.157" should I use a slightly undersized bit
>> like 5/32 which is 0.1562 or should I drill a hole that is 0.157" with a
>> #22 drill bit?
>
>John,
>
>You would want to have something of an interference fit but how much
>interference I couldn't say. There are certain anomolies to consider
>such as the fact that your 5/32" drill is probably smaller than 0.1562"
>or the new hitch pin may not be round. I would experiment by drilling
>with the 5/32" bit first, then graduating to the larger number bits
>until the desired fit is achieved.
>
>Tom
>-- 
>Thomas A. Cole RPT
>Santa Cruz, CA
>

John,

What Tom said, with another observation. When you find that you don't own,
or can't get a drill bit that will produce a hole of the perfect size, you
can always swedge the pin a little to get the fit. When you have a hole
that's big enough to drive the pin into, but still seems to not be a tight
enough fit try this. Lay the pin on a vise, anvil, or whatever. Hit it
lightly at an angle with a hammer to form a SMALL indentation about 1/4"
from the bottom of the pin. The idea is to leave the bottom of the pin round
to start in the hole, while ovaling the cross section a bit 1/4" up. It
doesn't take much. The pin will get tighter as you drive it in until the
wide part is buried in the plate. Some times, our methods aren't as
high-tech as we would like to think. In an emergency (read: 'daily') we have
to resort to practicality.

  
 Ron