Antler / BT Engineer's Case with a broken hinge.

[Backtoreality]

My uncle, who is 86, recently gave me his old Antler / BT engineer's case so I thought I'd clean it up and use it. It had a lot of degraded black foam to get rid of but the main problem is a broken Cheney hinge. I've contacted Antler but they sent me a very nice email to say they can't help (the case must be at least 40 years old) There are Cheney hinges around but only NOS, I think, and none like the one I need. I've attached photos. Can anyone help me out with a replacement or any other suggestions as to what to do?
David

[Radio Wrangler]

looks like brass. Silver-soldering may be possible. An iffy casting.

I hsd a latch lever break on a leather briefcase and filed a new part out of a chunk of brass. Amazing what you cad do with a vice, a model-maker's saw and a set of files.

David

[fetteler]

It doesn't look cast to me - more like pressed sheet.

That's not much help in finding a replacement I know... Perhaps the best thing to do is use two matching hinges from a current product range which are as close to the original's dimensions as possible?

There's a range here that looks close:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-gb/shop...73-case-hinges

Otherwise a teardrop guitar case hinge is the same sort of thing but not as square. It has the built in stop though which would give you the functionality - something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262747060504


Fingers crossed!
Steve.

[mark_in_manc]

Given that the underside is 'hollow', I guess there might be some room for modification inside the broken, smaller half (smaller half - yes I know ). If you can bend the central snapped off bit of hinge off from around its pin (which is likely to put up some resistance) you could make a new 'tongue' from a bit of mild steel sheet long enough not to just go around the pin, but to protrude all the way across the back of the smaller half from which the old bit snapped off. Then either glue it on (methacrylate like 'Plexus MA300' is good but expensive) or drill a hole in the new bit and plug weld through it to the hinge half (but you'll lose the shiny plating). Or I suppose you could even tap a couple of holes in the new bit and screw through with small BA screws, or even pop rivet it on. It would be a little mis-aligned as the tongue will be 'under' the other half and not poking straight out the end, as one with it.

[Backtoreality]

Thanks folks, I'm going to try Marks suggestion.
David

[Backtoreality]

Tried superglue gel, loads around the joints etc but it fell apart on the first closure. Drilled a 3mm hole through the original hinge and the new metal piece, fitted a single M3 screw with a nylock nut and reassembled it. Job done. Then realised the right stay bar on the case had slackened off so I crimped the central rivet. I think that was possibly a contributing factor to the broken hinge!
Thanks for the ideas folks!
David

[Backtoreality]

Photo of "stay bar?".