Originally Posted by
jlhmnj
I had to peen the groove on the underside so they would not constantly fall off the spring when opening. Jon
Yikes! Those grooves are in Cast Iron and you are VERY lucky that they did not break when peened.
A trick I learned from Cathy (Mizkaki) was to give each plate a slight bend along the shortest axis. i.e. imagine the plate on the table in front of you with the long way going towards/away from you. Place a pencil or metal bar under the plate in the middle going from right to left, (perpendicular to the long axis, makes it like a teeter-totter) then press both of the long ends down slightly at the same time. The resulting arc will tighten up most any slide.
If this was not clear, let me know and I will do a couple photos.