This is a key bracket that I made for an old Rotary Trumpet.  The original snapped in two at one of the screw holes and was too far gone to repair so I just made a new one from scratch.  The first picture shows the stock bracket, in all its broken glory, next to the raw brass stock I used to make the replacement.  Then we have some close-ups of the broken part.

            Next we have some shots of the new bracket at various stages in the forming process.  From left to right:  Stage one, the stock has been annealed and beaten to flatten it out and make a roughly peaked top; Stage two, after another annealing, it has been bent ninety degrees and then formed to the right curve; Stage three, after cutting off the excess, the piece is ground and filed to shape and sanded (shown from the top, front and side).

            After shaping, the location of the screws was transferred from the old part to the new and it was cut to length.  The instrument was made around the turn of the 20th century, hence, the screws were not any standard size, so I just made new screws for it too.  I wanted to make them look like the originals, rather than just heading to the hardware store and getting just any old screws.  First I roughed in the threads on the lathe and then chased them with a die to ensure they would be the right shape and size.

            I salvaged one part of the old key, the part that is riveted on perpendicular to the broken part in the top middle picture.  It solders on to the first valve slide tubing and I didn't see any point in throwing it out since it was in decent shape.  I drilled out the old rivet and enlarged the hole in the portion I was using to ensure that it was straight.  Then I measured the hole I made and turned a new rivet to match (left).  Then I put it in and headed the ends over until the parts were tight together (middle), then filed the top side flush so the keys would sit flat when installed.  In the detail on the right, you can make out the circle of the rivet right next to the little notch at the end.  That notch, on Horns anyway, is there to show which is the proper way to install the keys (like the witness marks on the bearing plates of a valve).  There was, however, no corresponding mark on the keys, but it was there on the original, so I put it in.

            Last I polished the whole thing up and soldered it on.  From left to right:  A picture of all the parts before riveting; Just before soldering on; The part in place and polished up; The instrument reassembled and the beautiful new bracket concealed totally underneath all that other stuff.