Help with Denix LeMatt

[RedTwoX]

Thanks to posts by a few members who have already been down this road, I got the hammer/trigger asssembly taken apart with out playing Hide & Seek with the two springs. Now I need to get the cylinder/barrel disassembled. Is this just a pressure fit? I started to jam a flat head screw driver in there and start prying... but I thought better of it.

How are these parts fitted together? Should I grab the flat head and apply some muscle, or am I missing something.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

{Edit in}

Okay, upon further inspection, it looks like there is a rivet in the tube under the barrel. Is that the only thing holding this assembly together? It's pretty deep. How did you guys get to it? The tube is almost 4.5 inches deep, and there ain't no way my Dremel tool is going to get to it.

Am I on the right track?

 

[dr_slurpee]

I thought the same thing, about the rivet looking thing in there, but it's just press fit. You can stick a wooden dowel in there and whack it with a hammer...but be careful, there is a spring and a bering in the cylinder assembly that will go flying if you are not careful. It happend to me.

 

[RedTwoX]

Ah HA. Thanks Dr_Slurpee :thumbsup I wrapped a hand towel around the gun and that kept the loose bits from flying around the room.

{Edit in}

Here's a pic that I hope will be helpful to anyone else tackling this project. The spring and bearing, along with their location, are marked on the image:

 

[Serafino]

A bit OT, but do any of you start w/ the black version or is everyone using the grey one? I'm curious about how the finish looks on the black one--not that I've seen any for sale lately.

 

[RedTwoX]

Hmmm... the silver one is the only version I've seen. The finish on the Denix LeMatt is very much like the finish on the Denix Mauser: Craptastic. I sanded my Mauser down to bare metal and re-finished it for Han Solo ESB, and I am planning to do the same for the LeMatt. I've been reading about a product called "Aluminum Black" which I intend to try as an alternative to paint. If it doesn't look good I can just paint over it.

 

[b26354]

<div class='quotetop'>(RedTwoX @ Jul 24 2006, 03:55 PM) [snapback]1286424[/snapback]</div>

Hmmm... the silver one is the only version I've seen. The finish on the Denix LeMatt is very much like the finish on the Denix Mauser: Craptastic. I sanded my Mauser down to bare metal and re-finished it for Han Solo ESB, and I am planning to do the same for the LeMatt. I've been reading about a product called "Aluminum Black" which I intend to try as an alternative to paint. If it doesn't look good I can just paint over it.
[/b]

"Aluminium black" is a chemical process that will probably only work on aluminium. I tried a brass antiquing fluid on a demix and it turned the zinc a dirty grey colour which when lightly buffed with steel wool ended up a light gunmetal colour i.e not quite dark enough for the Le-mat. I'm sure there are chemicals specifically for darkening/oxidising zinc.

 

[RedTwoX]

I wasn't really sure what metal was used in the Denix. Thanks for the info. I'll do some searching and see what I can find for treating Zinc.

 

[Andy Kernow]

I started with the black version, but it's pretty academic. By the time you've finished with hacksaws & bench grinders, there's very little original finish left.
Andy

 

[Treadwell]

Denix pot metal is a zinc/aluminum alloy. Aluminum Black would probably work.

 

[Serafino]

Kernow–yeah but I’d like to know how the black looks.

 

[Andy Kernow]

<div class='quotetop'>(Serafino @ Jul 24 2006, 06:07 PM) [snapback]1286703[/snapback]</div>

Kernow–yeah but I’d like to know how the black looks.
[/b]

This was my version before I started work on it.
Was a pretty thing straight from the box but hardly recognisable now.
Andy

[attachmentid=9225]

 

[Serafino]

Thanks for the pic. Was the finish at all durable? Was it paint? Baked-on enamel?

 

[Andy Kernow]

My guess is just paint - it didn't take too much persuasion to part company with the metal, 800 wet & dry soon shifted it
Andy.