Hi All,
Today I was doing some maintenance on the vent windows in my ute. I was able to locate two second-hand buttons that weren’t sheared off. Once I had replaced them I started thinking can the old worn ones be repaired in anyway. I know Rares now have brand new handles and buttons but I thought I would give this a go to see if it’s at all possible particularly if the handles are in good knick.
Firstly I removed the handles and buttons from the vent glass frame and took measurements.
I then placed masking tape around the top of the button to protect it but also to act as a guide to the top of the side lugs.
From there I took to the button with a Dremel with a mini grinding disc. I ground the lugs off so they were almost gone. I left the lug ever so slightly proud so I could see the outline of where it attaches to the button. I wanted this for the next step.
I then used the Dremel again and cut out the section where the lug once was.
From here I made a replacement lug out of aluminium that I had lying around. The hardest part for me was manually filing the thickness of the aluminium. This was the most time consuming part of the whole process. The dimensions of this being 10.9mm x 6.6mm x 2.2mm. I ground a slight section out so the spring had a place to recess into in the button.
I put it all together thinking I may have to take a bit off the spring as it doesn’t recess all the way into the button. There was no need to. I put the button on the frame and tested. Bingo! Works a treat. I have now dismantled again and epoxied the new lug into the button even though it wasn’t needed.
So if any of you have got perfect handles but the buttons are sheared at the bottom this may be for you. The whole process took less than an hour. If I had a quicker way of getting the thickness of the aluminium it would have taken much less. Apologies if anyone else has described this previously.
Cheers
Rod
