Who needs FST door handles and how much would you pay? (1 Viewer)

[antFJ]

Who needs FST door handles and how much would you pay?

I have a guy who will be making me a set... he asked if anyone else would be getting handles through me. If this pans out where he makes multiple sets the only extra cost will be me shipping them to your door. I will be meeting him at his shop tomorrow to discuss price and details. Today he looked at the handles and said that the hard part will be getting the slight curve in the handles (where you grab) to match the factory curve. I told him as long as it was close I didn't think anyone would care.

Factory door handles (inner and outer) for the hard doors run around $200 for a full set. I think these will be close to that if I had to guess.

I will get back tomorrow with a quote from the fabricator...

 

[antFJ]

So the expensive part is getting the handles drawn up in solidworks. If he does the CAD himself and makes one pair of handles he said it would take him all day to make one set (with drawing them up) and he charges around 75 an hour... you do the math... he also said if other people need them that would bring the cost down considerably. Apparenly his brother in law is a 40 series guy and owns a bunch of them. Anyone on the forum know John from Van Dyke Fabrication?

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

Anthony, it sounds like he's not very good with CAD software it it would take him all do to model a door handle. I'll bet there's a library with several handles in it and he could pick one close and modify it.

 

[antFJ]

Yeah he admitted that it would cost more from him - hes sending me to someone else to get the file made which should reduce costs. I mean hell i haven't used solidworks in 6 years but I'm pretty sure i could do it... getting access to that program is another story

 

[gr8ful]

Can you give them to a scanning company & have the files created via 3d scan? Usually way cheaper than CAD creation.
Best
Abe

 

[69LC]

What material do you want them made from? Polished or "brushed" stainless would be nice.

 

[mdsims]

Can you give them to a scanning company & have the files created via 3d scan? Usually way cheaper than CAD creation.
Best
Abe

Agreed!

 

[antFJ]

plain old steel is what i planned on - they were originally painted body color. Even if no one else on here is interested I will be pressing forward. I can't find a used set and need some handles! I'll keep everyone posted.

If you need door handles please post up.

 

[antFJ]

Can you give them to a scanning company & have the files created via 3d scan? Usually way cheaper than CAD creation.
Best
Abe

don't know of any companies around here that do that... and since they aren't my handles I don't feel comfortable mailing them out

plus after shipping costs to a company like that I could probably have just paid someone to model it in solidworks... we'll see. Let me find out how much this other guy charges first

 

[Bluegrass40]

Post a picture of the handle. Curious how complex it is.

 

[antFJ]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/oem-soft-door-handles.520143/page-2

 

[Bluegrass40]

Looks pretty straight forward. Someone would definitely need the handles in hand to model them. Where are they located? There may be someone in town willing to model it at a mud discounted rate.
If you are close to Louisville ky, I'd be willing to have a go.
Good luck.

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

It's two pieces (inner and outer handle) and a sleeve if I'm not mistaken.

 

[antFJ]

no sleeve - the rod itself is the bushing if that makes sense. I imagine after 40 years they can get pretty worn. Early hard door handles can be machined to work but they are too long and the square end is at the wrong angle to work with the FST door inner handle.

I have the handles here with me in California.

 

[peteinjp]

If you're going to go to the trouble remake them I'd try to find a better solution than the square hole/shaft. Splined might be a better solution.

And while you're at it A weld in sleeve would make the door holes getting wallowed out the problem of the past.

Aren't these also used on the rear soft amby doors as well?

Pete

 

[antFJ]

yes they are used in the rear doors as well.

there is a plasma cutting guy in Grass Valley... i'm going to see if he can cut out a bunch of these and how much it would cost... all they need is to be bent up at that point which shouldn't cost too much more. Lastly machining the piece that connects the two isn't that complicated. You can't spline them or sleve them without modifying the doors themselves I think... I want these to be plug and play. I'm not sure why you need a 3D CAD model to build these.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/5040718387.html

 

[skully3]

Can you give them to a scanning company & have the files created via 3d scan? Usually way cheaper than CAD creation.
Best
Abe

Scanning isn't all that simple..you take a scan and then draw a part within the scan. the scan is just for referencing the scale on oddball radius's, so in reality a cad model will still have to be made. If you decide to have them cut out make sure that you allow enough material for the bends etc. the bending part will be tricky. also look into water jet...no heat to compromise your bending operations. solidworks has a program just for sheet metal, it does all the math for you in the areas that need to be stamped or bent. You draw the model as it appears in 3D then it lays it out flat for you. IMO spend the $ and have it done to spec right from the beginning. HTH

 

[Living in the Past]

Biggest issue I've seen with the handles is the end of the shaft the small bolt breaks off that holds the inner handle. If the handle becomes loose the end of the shaft that squared off and handle squared off start to round out. Seems instead of figuring a way to adding a washer to tighten it was common to just over tighten the bolt which was just soft metal and rusted and broke pretty easy. Making the shaft a little longer and increasing the squared of section the same amount. Then have a deeper threaded hole. Use a thicker washer keeping the inner handle tight along with a stronger bolt it should last a lot longer.

 

[antFJ]

The only part that needs to be exact length is the part that contacts the b-pillar bow and it has no bends. All the lengths with bends I added a small amount to account for the bends. Overall it will be damn close.

I was thinking in order to add simplicity to the reproduction I was just going to drill and tap the square to eliminate the threaded shaft entirely. You then can use a high strength bolt in its place.

Can you explain how making the squared end deeper will help? The inner handle is only so thick. EDIT: nevermind i understand... You're talking about the threads themselves down into the shaft.

So far the plasma cutter is thinking about 2 hours of 30 dollars an hour to draw the part in dxf format.

 

[peteinjp]

I think you're onto something with tapping the shaft. I would make the shaft slightly larger than original because it'll be easier to tap, you could then make the square larger and since the door gets a little wallowed out over years of use it would make a better replacement for those of us with well used doors.

Pete