Metal Button Cap

[jggunn]

Somehow I lost the metal cap on a button of my Lachenal English concertina. Is it possible to replace it without replacing the whole button -- and where can I find one?

 

[ben]

Try contacting Wim Wakker from the Concertina Connection: www.concertinaconnection.com (Washington State) or John Adey at www.concertina-spares.com (Wales)

 

There are other people who may offer to help you on this forum

[Geoff Wooff]

Those button caps on a Lachenal are (usually) Real Silver. I think they are a "light press fit" into the hollow Nickel silver shaft of the button. Though it is probably easier (and cheaper) to buy a button from " Concertina Spares" it is also possible to make a replacement cap.

[jggunn]

Thanks, but what was under the cap is what appears to be a hard rubber tube on which the cap fitted. Actually it plays OK and I did not notice the absence of the cap for at least a couple of days. I will try Wim. The Button Box also thought the cap fitted on a piece of metal.

[jggunn]

Sorry folks, I am dumb as an ox. The shaft of the button, as Geoff says, is metal and hollow and all that is missing is the cap. I mistook the tarnished shaft for rubber. So all I need is something to fit on the shaft.

[alex_holden]

I've repaired them in a couple of different ways: the first ones I turned a stainless steel plug and glued it into the hole with cyanoacrylate.

 

Later when some more fell off, I roughly cut out oversized disks of nickel-silver with a jeweller's saw, soft soldered them on, cleaned up the rough edges with a file, then spun them up in the lathe and finished them off with fine sandpaper and metal polish. A drill press would work if you don't have a lathe.

 

The replacement nickel-silver caps blend in perfectly with the originals while the stainless ones look slightly too bright, but you would only notice if you were looking very closely.

[jggunn]

Thanks everyone. I now fully understand the situation. I wish I lived close to Alex but maybe I can find a jeweler in the area to solder on a cap.