by Hoot » Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:39 am
LocTite is not the end of the world. It's just a complication.
Step 1) loosen set screws and see if it's indeed LocTited.
If not, take the screws all the way out and visually align it to the witness divots. Put one of the screws back in and snug it up while watching the witness marks through the other holes. Repeat. Put the final screw back in and then tighten them them all up skipping from one to another as you lay on the torque.
If it is, get a torch as a backup to a heat gun and I don't mean your wife's blow dryer. You should have one or both. If you don't, you're spending too much money on guns and not enough on tools. Borrow one from a friend.
Step 2 Heat the block gently until it gets hot. It may take a while as first the block will wick away heat from the surface until it is saturated, then the barrel will join in the fun. Eventually it'll be hot throughout. With a gloved hand, try rotating it. If it doesn't budge apply more heat. Repeat. The idea here is to use just enough heat to get the job done. We're not silver soldering here. If over time, you feel that the heat gun doesn't have enough starch in it's shorts to do the job, switch to the torch. Brush the flame around, all over the block to try to get the heat evenly distributed. At some point, you may not be able to grab it with a gloved hand without damaging the glove. If it's that one you left laying around wet and it already smells skanky,, no big deal. If you see any visual clue that the surface treatment is changing, you're using too much heat and the issue goes beyond LocTite or you just need more rotational torque to break it free. Now it get tricky as you need a grasping device that though firm, will not mar the block's surface. I sometime use a couple of shards of leftover hardwood from some project, sandwiched between a squeeze clamp or battery pliers. Figure it out.
If and when it releases it's hold, don't just go off and rotate it repeatedly around the barrel. The holes may have burrs and can scratch or gouge the finish beneath it. tap it forward, off the raised area with a drift hammer and if you don't have one, then a piece of hardwood and hammer. While everything's hot, try wiping off any excess LocTite. IMHO, using LocTite is a bandaid to poor fit, loose tolerance, wrong part, or worst of all lack of patience and knowledge of specs and proper procedure. Whatever... Once it has cooled enough to handle, go back to Step 1
Also IMHO, the absolutely worse thing to do is send it back to an already constipated factory to have them do what you can do yourself and skip the month's wait and shipping costs.
Ask questions. We have all benefited from each others experiences.
Hoot
In Theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In Practice, there is.