Need attachments for old Victor

[Nils]

I am a jeweler with 25+ years experience but very little hand engraving knowledge. I just purchased an old USA made Victor block but all of the small holding pins and attachments that came with the block are too large to fit. I bought some slightly tapered metal dowels at the hardware store that I can make do with but I would love to find what would have actually been supplied with this block when it was new. I've read that the Pepe parts will not fit.
Any suggestions here?

 

[Brian Marshall]

Hi Nils,

Yup, yer a metalsmith - make them!

Any one of the machine tool companies, McMaster/Carr, MSC, J&L, Rutland, etc., carries blank drill rod. Usually less than a buck for a 3 foot piece.

If you don't have a Leveridge guage or calipers to measure the hole diameter, find a piece of round whatever you can find around your shop - that's soft - plastic will do. Gotta be a bit too big to fit the holes.

Chuck it up your #30 handpiece and rotate it against a file - constantly checking it for fit in the hole. Then you can measure the outside diameter with a standard MM guage and still get close enough.

The rod comes annealed and soft enough to chop up with 3/0 blades. You don't need to worry about hardening it. Leave it as it comes. (I usually buy the water hardening drill rod, and use it to make other tools as well.)

Once you have your pins, you can custom make your holding fixtures by drilling & soldering brass rounds, triangles, and square heads to fit whatever it is you need.

You can chuck some plain pins back up in the #30, and while it's rotating, file grooves or notches to suit yourself.

I've never been able to use the factory made sets they sell without altering them anyway...

Or you can search until you find what your looking for. I think that there are still a couple of suppliers who still have the Victor block & accessories. I know I saw some while in Seattle a few months back...

Brian P. Marshall
Stockton Jewelry Arts School
Stockton, CA USA
209-477-0550
instructor@jewelryartschool.com