Cartridge rescue project

[Fred]

Hi there
I dont normally buy cartridges that have been flared to make flower pots but at just 2 at a car boot sale I couldnt resist. The sight of these things must sadden the heart of all cartridge collectors. Its a 90mm mecar type of cartridge by the way. I thought I would try and remove the flare and have shared my experiences below. The method used was metal spinning in a lathe. This is an old fashioned method of metal forming which involves exerting a blunt former against a rotating object and any experienced lathe user should be able to do it. It should never be attempted on cartidges that have any cracks.

First the top was annealed by heating with a propane lamp and quenching in water. A tight fitting wooden plug was then made with a concenrtic centre hole. This was pressed into the open cartridge with a length of plastic pipe as a packer to keep it near the open end. The cartridge was gripped by its base in the lathe chuck and the open end supported with a revolving centre using the wooden block (turning between centres). The cartridge was then turned at high speed and a non-cutting tool was applied to force the flare down. This tool was just a length of steel rod that was rounded and polished so that it would just rub against the surace of the brass. A lot of force was required, levering it against the tool post and soft wax was used as a lubricant.

I think the result turned out quite well. There is a small scratch visible which was probably caused by grit contaminating my lubricating wax. The cartridge will be getting a good polish in the near future.

I hope this is helpful to somebody.
Fred
Before
After

 

[Weasel]

Hi Fred,
Thank you for taking the time to write that up and explain the process, you have done a really good job on that case. Has the re-working stretched the neck to give a longer case length I wonder, not a problem if it has as it would be easy to trim it back to size.
This is a problem that a lot of us collectors see and it is normally the rare cases that have been messed around with, really pleased to see that with some time and the right equipment they can be rescued.
Best regards Weasel.

 

[Fred]

Hi Weasel
I checked the length after restoring and it was still correct. Its dificult to tell with the mecar cartridges because they have a deep crimp which probably stretches during firing.It is likely that working and reworking a cartridge would increase its length slightly though.

Fred

 

[2pounder]

nice write up, I think I'd have a practice on a common one even if I flared it myself first, before tackling anything a bit rare.

 

[beihan62]

Hi Fred,Thanks for the write up,I am sure that there will be many such "flares" now being judged as worth having a go at rather than being discounted due to the flaring,
Regards,
Don,

 

[SG500]

Great job thanks for the excellent write up.
I only wish you could do the same to cases that people insist on cutting down. I have 3 very rare cases that have been cut down.
Dave.

 

[thekees]

Thanks, have to try this on my lathe.

 

[Falcon]

Good job there. I have considered doing something like this but have never yet found a case that I thought was worth the effort of saving.