Vintage Tuner Repair

[onewent]

Greetings, these tuners are from the late 30s and have metal buttons.  I noticed that one of them has a defective button, as you can see in the pic.

Has anyone had success repairing these?  Seems like the metal inside the button gave way allowing the button to spin on the shaft.  

It's a vintage guitar and I'd like to keep the button if possible.

Thanks for any ideas on a repair.

Tom

[Roger Häggström]

Since it's metal I would clean and solder it in place. You can also flatten the shaft somewhat and press the knob on with a vice and use thin superglue.

[onewent]

Thanks, Roger, I'm leaning toward some type of solder solution.  Tom

[George Roberts]

Tom,  I suspect that the metal tuning knobs are probably pot metal.  If so, regular solder will not work.  You could try testing the knobs with a magnet. There are products for soldering pot metal available on-line.  George

[onewent]

Thanks George, good point and they appear to be pot metal.  I actually got it fixed.  I just flattened the shaft tab with a hammer, and pressed the button back on and it's holding well.

Tom

[Dave Hanna]

Epoxy made for metal will work.  Clean everything thoroughly first with naptha.   Might need to file the shaft a little more square first.