TheSamba.com :: View topic - '46-'49 Sems, end-arm screw??

Sat May 31, 2008 8:47 pm

I'm finishing up a resto on a pair of '46-'49 sems. There is a small hole at the end of the arm. It would appear that there is a screw that goes in there, into the lens. There is no "hook" like the later lenses/arms.

Can anyone verify? Pics? Specs of the screw? I'll probably use a #3 Stainless slotted head sheet metal type screw, in the absence of data showing something else was correct.

TIA for any help----..

Sat May 31, 2008 9:19 pm

I obviously don't have an answer for you John but I did want to compliment you on the nice resto job.

Joey

Sat May 31, 2008 9:32 pm

scvw wrote: I obviously don't have an answer for you John but I did want to compliment you on the nice resto job.

Joey

Thanks Joey. Coming from you, that is a compliment!

I am trying to get a "before" pic from the guy I bought them from, they were quite a mess. The arms were both badly twisted and kinked. I made some special dolly tools to straighten the grooves out and left them on the bench for weeks and weeks. I only let myself mess with them for 15-30 mins at a time, and then put them down and looked at them again a night or two later. You know how it goes; what is "done" one night won't pass inspection another night. The only way to do it is to give yourself an infinite amount of time to get things just right. Fortunately, right now anyway, they are mine, so no one is sending me e-mails asking if they are done yet......

Sat May 31, 2008 10:22 pm

I believe the holes are just for water draining.

Sat May 31, 2008 10:23 pm

I have not seen any screws there before.
They look GOOD! I'll give you 500 Clams for them.
I'm going to go start gathering clams......

Mike

johnshenry wrote: I'm finishing up a resto on a pair of '46-'49 sems. There is a small hole at the end of the arm. It would appear that there is a screw that goes in there, into the lens. There is no "hook" like the later lenses/arms.

Can anyone verify? Pics? Specs of the screw? I'll probably use a #3 Stainless slotted head sheet metal type screw, in the absence of data showing something else was correct.

TIA for any help----..

Sat May 31, 2008 11:46 pm

Picture from the 50-51? VW workshop manual. Obviously later than your model John, but shows that some SWF semas had screws in that area.

Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:34 am

I took a look at my OG semas (1948) and they have a hole, but not a screew, so, leav it as is.

GR 50 split

Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:41 am

Semaphores on my '47 have the hole, no screw.

Why would you assume there was a screw? The lens doesn't have a hole either

Sun Jun 01, 2008 8:26 am

Thanks for all the feedback... I guess I can see the need for a drain hole. There is a hole in the reproduction lenses I have, maybe to drain them also? It does not align exactly with the hole in the arm however.

That one with the longer arm and screw is a different animal. I have seen those before, they are like a combination of the early ('46-'49) and later ribbed in that they have no sliding bulb access door (thus different and impossible to find lens) but are symmetrical (no R/L).

I was just about to order some small SS steel screws too, and thought I would check this thread.....!

Mike, keep digging for clams, I paid way more than $500 for these before I even started to restore them...!!!!

Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:29 am

John,
where did you get the repop lenses? I have original lenses in mine, but some prior owner left a soldering iron on one and it left a hole melted in it.:x

Nice job!
-Merlin

Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:10 pm

merlin42 wrote: John,
where did you get the repop lenses? I have original lenses in mine, but some prior owner left a soldering iron on one and it left a hole melted in it.:x

Nice job!
-Merlin

e-mail me at zarwerks@charter.net

Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:20 pm

Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:58 pm

virtanen wrote: I believe the holes are just for water draining.

Bingo! You are correct.

Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:44 pm

My 2 cents. I have seen fixtures that use alignment pins to control bend radius and length assure proper fit. Possibly in ths case to eliminate undue stres on the plastic. Just a thought.

Bill

Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:51 am

Ed Economy wrote:

Thanks Ed!!

Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:02 am

I just need to find a pair of these for my car, :cry:

Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:28 pm

They are finished, in the classifieds. See a movie of them in action:

http://zarwerks.com/zaradmin/thesamba/46_49_sems_working.MOV