Little update:
The shop I thought was going to do this for me said it was going to be 3 months, $400 per set (just the male end) and minimum 30 sets to make these. $12k! Yikes!
So I took it yesterday to another machinist that says he can do it for a fraction of that and can make just a single set at a time. What that means, I don’t yet know but I’m hopeful it’s <$200 per set. I figure 10 is the most that we can realistically make and break even on. He said it will take him about a month to finish it, since he’s just going to work on it between other jobs here and there. He wants to make them out of aluminum, I’m going to let him go that route at least initially and see how it turns out. For now we will just make one set, and then I’ll post photos and pricing and see if it’s something the rest of you want. One thing both shops agreed on is that spring locking mechanism that keeps it down when not in use (ie not rattling around) is going to be next to impossible to do. I think I can live without it, but something for the rest of the interested parties to be aware of.
@Tancruiser are you ok with me having them for another month? Hope you aren’t hauling the family in the back seat regularly or anything! Keep me posted on sending over the female side of the assembly, would be nice to have him working on them together.