Badge Removal

Now I can’t strip and paint Ms. Rusty with her badge still on, so it will have to come off.  Also, the poor badge is not in great shape so it will need some TLC also. 

See all that lovely corrosion? 

The badge is attached to the arm by two pins 

Before you can take off the badge, the pins need to be removed.  One way is to drill them out, but a less invasive way is to straighten the pins and pull them out.  I’m wasn’t sure the second option was viable due to the corrosion, but I gave it a try anyway.

I took a flashlight to look inside the pillar of the arm and see the pins.  

See those 2 little green things sticking out? Those are the end of the brass pins. 

At first I tried to use a screwdriver, and then a pair of pliers, to bend the pins so they would be straight enough to pull out.  After several failed attempts I eventually gave up and severed the pins.  To do that, I placed the screwdriver against the pin inside the arm and gave the screwdriver a sharp tap with a hammer.

View after the pins were severed -

Theoretically, at this point the badge should have been easy to pull off the arm.  However, my first guess was correct and the corrosion was too extensive for that to work.  So, I pulled out my drill and carefully drilled out the pins.  Finally the badge came off!

Pins drilled out from badge: 

Back of badge:  Front of badge: 

 

Obviously the badge will need some cleaning and polishing, which I’ll cover in a future post.  Believe it or not, Ms. Rusty is nearly completely disassembled – just a few more parts to go.  We’ll cover that next time