Hi,
Unfortunately my front pilot on my es44 broke right where the “shaft” turns into the pilot. As these parts are no longer available from Lionel, I am wondering about attempting to use one of the Solder-it products to reattach. I have had very good luck with it in the past with brass, but am not confident I will have the same luck with whatever type of metal was use for the pilot. Thanks for looking and the advice! Jim
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I've used JB Weld with success on diecast in the past. Applied it to a prewar frame. After it set for 24 hrs. I broke the joint apart and re-applied another go of JB Weld. It came apart easily the first time. After the second time with the JB Weld I let it set for a couple days. It was rock solid after that. It was my thought the diecast is porous and the first application filled the voids in the surface of the metal. This leaves a weak joint the first time around. The second application held strong. I then sanded off the excess and repainted the frame. This was on a prewar Ives 258 steam engine that had the frame broken in 4 places.
I use JB Weld and a patch of brass if need be to hold broken diecast together. I’ll drill holes in the brass patch and the diecast the give the epoxy a place to adhere. You can get a very stron joint epoxying a piece of sheet stock over the break.
Thank you Forest and Matt! Good suggestions. I have not used JB Weld for something like this and was thinking it would not be enough, however with both of you recommending, I will give it a shot. Thanks again!
JB Weld would be the first thing I thought of as well.
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