UKH

I have read through some of the previous posts on the subject & haven't come across any suggestions to weld the shaft to the head?

It does seem a bit of a drastic solution & I am not sure if locking the joint totally in place is such a good idea. Perhaps a bit of tolerance is required?

On the other hand it could work and would at least be a permanent fix. 

Any thoughts before I go to the point of no return?

Thanks

Welding could knacker the shaft and who knows how strong it will be? Have a look for Will’s post from a year or two ago with a link to photos of how he repaired his with a bolt and expoxy. You could add a second bolt. Will has mentioned that the repair is holding out but the bolt head is a pain but there are alternatives available. I need to sort out mine one day (got a replacement one in the first instance). 

welding it i doubt it will solve it, i don't think the shaft and the head are the same alloy. plus theres not enough surface area. the easiest way to fix it is to drill a second bolt, as in the DMM. it sorted mine and did it myself.

Same, I've been putting it off for ages. Think I will epoxy the shit out of them and then reserve solely for ice!

My Nomic heads became loose in one season just from ice climbing.

Ah but had you epoxied them?

Don't weld your axes. If you can weld through the anodising you'll still wreck the heat treatment.

Return them or put up with it or drill, glue and re-rivet them periodically. Binding the shaft end in fiberglass (to keep the carbon off the alloy) then tangentially wrapped unidirectional carbon might stop the fix deteriorating if the issue is the tubular shaft belling out as the head is twisted.

Jk

Thanks all. The welding idea came from a plumber friend of mine (non climber) who has the tools to do it. At the time I thought it was a bad idea but afterwards I felt it might be worth looking into.

I will however go for the re-rivet, bolt, epoxy option.

I'm much too tight for that.

Maybe Petzl could insert these plastic collars, as a Warranty/upgrade, that would fix the wobbly heads issues! If this is all it takes after researching, feedback from latest generation of Nomics......

Stuart

Does anyone know if this issue is still present with the new nomics?

Unlike your axes.....

Petzl have claimed the have, but since most people bashing them on Scottish winter climbing have given up on them I'm not sure how soon (if ever) we'll get a report back. Having said that the 2 bolt system has worked so far in mine, though I mainly use e-climbs for scottish climbing now

Yes, the Petzl R&D department have apparently solved the problem that the Petzl warranty department have been in denial over for many years.

I don't think the new versions were available last season so too early to say. Realistically it will be a couple of years before we know.

Not so far. Been climbing on the new ergonomics and all good 

This has been posted before

https://www.flickr.com/photos/57572248@N08/sets/72157688157824141

I've not had to do this myself despite years of Nomic use on ice and mixed, but friends of mine from eastern Europe have done it with good results. I hope you enjoy the coming winter......Jeff

Tig brazing? Never tried it myself but would the lower temperatures be low enough? 

With heat treated cromoly steel you can braze carefully without annealing it. I guess once you have the knack tig can work as well as gas but I've never tried. I assume the axes are forged steel heads in anodised alloy shafts, a mechanical fix and or glue seems safest.

Jk

For anyone following, I finally got round to sorting out my axe. As many seem to have done, I drilled out the existing rivet (4mm drill bit) and widened the hole for the new bolt. I used an M6 joint connector nut (12mm) and joint connector bolt (25mm). Use a hacksaw to trim the bolt to the correct length, which takes no time at all. Far better than filling it!  

5mm drill bit for the bolt hole. 5.5mm would be better but with a bit of play the 5mm works fine. 9mm for the nut. 

I didn't use the epoxy as just adding the new bolt resolved the issue, for now at least. It feels solid anyway. I can always add the paste after if the wobble comes back. My wobble wasn't very pronounced & the head really snugly fit into the shaft. So much so that I couldn't remove it without a hammer and a lot of force. I decided not to in the end and just drilled the new bolt.

I used a vice to hold the axe while drilling. I'd recommend this and it might have been the reason I did not need to the epoxy.

Thanks for all the reply's

David

Adding a second rivet only stopped the wobble for a couple routes for me which is why I epoxied it. Be interesting to see if the same happens with yours.

I reckon you should get the epoxy in there as soon as possible, you're just delaying the inevitable. 

I think you and Dave Kerr make sense. Might as well do the epoxy now and finish the job.

I just used the metal bonding Araldite.

whilst randomly surfing the net I came across these:

https://www.fastenright.com/general-fixings/general-fixings/low-profile-soc...

https://www.fastenright.com/general-fixings/low-profile-socket-sex-bolts/sb...

No zinc on these

Randomly surfing and the search came up with sex bolts...

Probably better and easier than the rivets I used.