[TheForge] What (square) taper is an outdoor faucet stem?

[CGRAF]

WHY in the world do people do things like that? The assumption that 
something will never need to be serviced shows an astounding lack of 
imagination.

For myself that would drive me further over the edge.

I have been known to remove and relocate things like that, just because 
it exists.

Then again the family already knows that I am a bit strange that way.



On 6/16/2022 7:08 PM, Bruce wrote:
> Ah, yes.
>
> It's one of those frost-proof outdoor taps -- goes through the wall and
> connects indoors.
>
> I've previously had to try to look for the connection inside because I
> suspected a leak (but fortunately there was none).  This involved lifting a
> celiing tile that was NAILED in place, looking over a cabinet -- with a
> homemade periscope -- and determining that the  spigot is between two rooms
> IN the wall.  I could replace it by removing a chunk of ceiling, a cabinet
> and part of a wall, or by going in from the other side over the water
> heater (and around its flue pipe).
>
> So ... not my first choice.
>
> Bruce
> NJ
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 5:38 PM LAWRENCE BROWN via TheForge <
> theforge at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>
>> See if you can find a cheap replacement valve and use just the handle
>> Larry Brown
>>
>>> On Jun 16, 2022, at 7:03 AM, Bruce <freemab222 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm hoping to tap this font of knowledge:
>>>
>>> The pot-metal handle for an outdoor faucet suffered the zinc pest after
>> 25
>>> years or more and fell apart.  The stem is a square taper, but there's an
>>> annular rim around it (I don't know why and have contemplated cutting it
>>> off) that requires a longer-than-typical square-holed shank on the
>> handle.
>>> I cannot find a replacement.
>>>
>>> One old-neighborhood hardware store did sell me a tool for four stem
>> sizes,
>>> but the fit isn't great so I consider this only an interim fix.
>>>
>>> So the best fix would be to find a source of such handles, but I won't
>> hold
>>> my breath about that.
>>>
>>> Another possibility would be to cast a replacement from aluminum or
>>> bronze.  I can cast aluminum if need be, but it would require
>> considerable
>>> effort for this one little part.  I've never cast yellow metal.  I
>> expect I
>>> could, but don't consider it high on my list.
>>>
>>> Yet another possibility would be to forge / fabricate a replacement from
>>> aluminum or preferably copper / bronze.  The concept would be to take a
>>> small yellow metal disk or thick-walled pipe and drive a tapered square
>>> drift into it.  On achieving a fit, I'd fabricate and/or braze that shank
>>> onto a handle.
>>>
>>> The catch is that I don't know the taper of the square faucet stem.  If I
>>> can learn that, I can easily make a drift, and the rest is
>> (comparatively)
>>> easy.
>>>
>>> Anyone have a clue?  Or know where to find out?
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>> NJ
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