In article , F. George
McDuffee wrote:

On Fri, 27 Dec 2013 00:32:06 GMT, Doug White
wrote:

snip
The pins are about 5/16" in diameter, and each end has a shallow drilled
out section. It looks like they pressed ball bearings into the ends to
spread them. The linkage the pin goes through is countersunk on both
sides, so the swaged bits hold everything together.
snip

[snip]

I do like the suggestion of two stub drills in a lathe to
weaken the swedge, perhaps drilling and then pressing.

Sounds like a good compact method to retain pins. Is this
strictly a Russian technique, European, or?

No, I recall reading a 1970s or 1980s ad from a US maker of relays
crowing that they used this method to assemble their relays. Don't
know if they invented the method or not. As I recall, they left the
ball in the pin, so drilling would be difficult.

Joe Gwinn