I am talking about the same thing is you. The latch setup is a bit
different, I noticed, and I did not disassemble it.

Yes you can cast lead in plaster. You will need a two piece mold to do this
right since the front is formed as a cone-shaped indention as well as the
back, whose circle pattern has a flat across one end giving is a slight D
shape. It's a little more complex than just a washer.

Jim

On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 10:41 AM Marc Perdue <mcperdue@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hahaha, you all are great! Okay, now we're getting somewhere. To Ken,
> Jim, and Eric, Karl described the part well enough, but the one I'm
> talking about is not on the latch, it's at the bottom of the vent
> wing, where it attaches to the lower pivot. There's a big torx-head
> screw (T-25) that goes goes through the lead piece and into the pivot.
> I finally got tired of trying to figure out how to describe it, so
> here are pics:
>
> Here is a general pic of the whole vent wing:
> http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mcp6n/images/VentWing1.JPG
> This is the big screw head at the bottom of the vent wing:
> http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mcp6n/images/VentWing2.JPG
> In this picture, the pivot is on the left, the lead seal, still in the
> glass window, is on the right. You can see where water has been
> leaking into my van at the base of the vent wing, so something is
> clearly not right here.
> http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mcp6n/images/VentWing3.JPG
> This picture shows the other side of the window with the lead seal
> still in the glass.
> http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mcp6n/images/VentWing4.JPG
>
> I didn't know if you could cast lead in plaster; I can certainly do
> that. Thanks, Ed!
>
> Marc
>
> On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 9:28 AM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I had in mind taking apart the vent window piece and putting the cavity
> for
> > the seal in my big old vise with a hunk of lead and "forging" an exact
> > piece. Remove it, drill it, done.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 8:19 AM Edward Maglott <emaglott3@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> if it's really conical and you have a good one to use as a model...  my
> >> amateur lost wax metal casting technique might work.
> >>
> >> mush the good one into play-doh so that it leaves a void the exact shape
> >> you need.
> >>
> >> fill the void with melted wax and let it harden.
> >>
> >> take the wax piece and make sure it is the shape you need.
> >>
> >> put the wax piece, big end down on waxpaper.
> >>
> >> coat it with plaster, several thin coats, drying in-between coats.
> >>
> >> turn it over, remove the wax paper and excess plaster but leave some
> around
> >> the wax plug.
> >>
> >> put plaster object with wax in it in the oven, open end down so the wax
> >> melts out.  use low, slow heat.
> >>
> >> now you have a plaster mold you can pour the melted lead in.
> >>
> >> Edward
> >>
> >> On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 6:39 AM, William Monk <billmonk@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Does anyone have a picture of this piece? Lead is a very soft
> material to
> >> > work with. Deal with it at work sometimes and use it making sinkers
> every
> >> > couple years.
> >> >
> >> > Bill M
> >> >
> >> > Sent from my iPhone
> >> >
> >> > > On Apr 26, 2016, at 10:55 PM, Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@Q.COM> wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > Ken, the latch that keeps the vent closed is held by a screw that
> >> > fastens through a lead piece. It is perhaps a half inch wide and is
> >> > conical. I believe it is lead to absorb impacts and keep the vent from
> >> > shattering.
> >> > >
> >> > > Karl Wolz
> >> > > Sent from my electronic umbilicus
> >> > >
> >> > >> On Apr 26, 2016, at 4:10 PM, kenneth wilford (Van-Again) <
> >> > kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
> >> > >>
> >> > >> scratching
> >> >
> >>
>