Yeah, I didn't think that pot metal would be a term used on the other side of the pond.

I believe it's commonly referred to as "White Metal". It's very porous.

I'm kind of scared to put a torch on it as it will probably ruin whatever finish is on it. I was thinkin of drilling into the side of it and putting a flush mount self tapping screw into it. Then I could color the end of the screw with a black marker. They break in the metal is invisible if you push the two peices together hard enough so maybe a screw would hold the two pieces together. If it fits flush, it won't interfere with my dasbhoard.

That's what we tried here. But the thread tap broke off in the hole..

I wasn't going to tap it out, I was just going to make the hole large enough and use a self tapping screw. A very tiny one

Well, after calls to 11 machinists, the 12th said he would be happy to "take a look at it and try and help me out". Hopefully he'll be able to help me out

All of the other guys either won't touch white metal or don't do work for residential folks.

My other idea, which I may someday try on the broken handle I have here, is to slot the ends of the two pieces, and rivet a small spline into them, bridging the break. This will work, and will be very solid. Just takes a bit of effort.

Cheers

I was thinking of taking a cutoff wheel on a dremel tool and putting three small grooves/slots into the back of the handle where it's broken, then back filling it and smoothing it over with some type of super-expoxy (like JB Weld). That might work too but I'm going to try the machinist first...

I repaired SWMBO's broken handle.

The repair was crude, and the final results were not especially pretty, but it worked.

I used a small drill bit (probably a 5/64" or thereabouts) and drilled about a half-inch deep hole into each jagged broken end of the handle. Then I broke a 1" piece off the fluted end of the drill bit and inserted it with a generous dollop of JB Weld into each of the holes I had drilled, applied more JB Weld to the outside of the handle around the break, and held the handle tight together while the epoxy set.

This repair has lasted for more than a year with no problems.

tanstaafl.

I'll be forced to make replacement handles sooner or later. My empeg is sticking in its sled, so every time I remove it, the handle is at risk of breaking. It's only a matter of time before necessity drives me to making these.

Think I could get a bargain on extrusion and machining because of the down economy?

Have you checked the screws of your docking connector? I've had to take my dash apart to pop my empeg out when one screw came loose.

Sticking in the sled is a bad thing and should be fixed right away.

As was said, make sure your docking connector screws are tight.

If it's the little "bumps" on the sides of the sled making rough gouges in the sides of the player, I was able to solve that problem by pulling out the player, and from the inside of the sled outward, whapping the bumps with a hammer to bend them out a bit and make them push on the player less.

They look like cast aluminum to me. Of course the threads would most likely still need to be tapped in some fashion.

Stu

It's the bumps on the sled. They can't flex outward because the car's dash pocket has walls which cover them. My dash is currently apart (and has been for months) as I intend to cut holes for the tabs to bend into.

However, one of my empegs fits in the sled easily while another doesn't. I've never figured that out, but oh well.

Mine too, but banging on them real hard with a hammer (while the whole sled was fully mounted) solved the problem anyway.

The dash pocket is probably relatively soft plastic. The clue's in the word "soft". Just hit it until it complies.

As the Car Talk guys say, what CAN'T be solved with a hammer?

Those problems which can only be solved with a chainsaw.