06 November 2017

Low-Profile Door Handles

Yesterday I started the install on the low profile door handles that I ordered from aerosport products. A couple of weeks ago I started work on the vans hardware that is integrated into the low profile handle. Everything was pretty straight forward, but I did run into a problem when I tried fitting the gears to the main cylinders. The major issue was that they did not fit. I chucked up the main gear as well as the cylinder and hit them with emory cloth, but that was not good enough as when I put them on the arbor press I had a feeling I was never going to get them off. Additionally, the cylinder has a roll pin that needs to go through it as well as the gear. If these things are too tight, well, good luck...

Unfortunately I do not have a lathe (not yet!). I do however have a mill, and a boring head setup. I put some spare 3/4" aluminum into the vice and bored a hole (half way through the plate) slightly larger than the cylinder. This allowed me to put a wrap of electrical tape around the cylinder so I did not destroy it.



From there, I locked the bed into place to save the center point and then dialed the boring head to just scratch the interior dimension of the handle cylinder. I was able to take off a couple of thousands at a time until I got a nice snug fit between the door cylinder and the gear.


Done!


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