The sand dome base casting, with penetrating-oil stains. The two shiny nuts positioned near the tip of the cone are resting on the broken-off draw-bolts that hold the assembly together. To get them out, we attempted to use vise-grips to twist them out, after dousing them with penetrating-oil, but to no avail. The solution was to weld nuts to the tops of the broken screws, and then carefully wiggle them loose (using lots of oil), a little bit at a time, with a lot of to'ing and fro'ing. Luck was with us, as one nut on each screw did the trick this time: sometimes this technique does not work! The threads on the removed screws match todays standard 1/2-13 thread, not the antique 1/2-12 thread.

Photo by Rick Brigger