Lotus Elan Central

by **chrisP** » Thu 23.02.2006, 14:13

After a lot of cutting filing and polishing I have finally finished these, what do you think? I just thought I'd put a picture or two up as thay have taken ages to make. The next job is to make ali door opening handles

Chris

Website · by **theelanman** » Thu 23.02.2006, 14:32

chris nice bit of work!!!!
when do they go on sale and how much.....lol :-D

seriously though if they were I buy some..!!!!!
they'd match my gear knob/handbrake/column stalks
nice.....
cheers
Gareth

by **chrisP** » Thu 23.02.2006, 14:39

Thanks for the good words Gareth. It was just a bit of an experiment really, to see if I could make them, they started out as an inch thick bar of ali, and I would have thought took me 5 hours each to cut out with a jig saw and then shape with an angle grinder. So there arn't any plans to make any more that way. I might try casting them in ali if I get a chance later on in the year though . If I have any luck I'll tell you

Cheers
Chris

by **Paul.P** » Thu 23.02.2006, 17:28

Chris, they look really good !, can you gold plate ali ?

by **chrisP** » Thu 23.02.2006, 17:32

Paul Cheers. Yes you can, didn't game-on do something along those lines with his engine bay?
Chris

by **Paul.P** » Thu 23.02.2006, 17:38

chrisP wrote:Paul Cheers. Yes you can, didn't game-on do something along those lines with his engine bay?
Chris

Yea, your right, i had forgot about that ( how could i ! ), well if you do go into production, i'll consider that an option ?

by **chrisP** » Thu 23.02.2006, 17:45

Well I'm going to have a go at casting the interior door opening handle first, if that goes well I'll give the grab handles another go and see how they come out.

Chris

by **Paul.P** » Thu 23.02.2006, 17:53

Will be watching with great interest Chris, hope it all goes well !

by **chrisP** » Thu 23.02.2006, 17:56

Cheers Paul, i'll let you know

by **F1 LOTUS** » Thu 23.02.2006, 21:52

Nice work

by **nitroman** » Thu 23.02.2006, 22:33

Not to diminish the great (shocking what some people can do given time!) job done, but to take the quick route just sand the plastic handle smooth and paint it with Chrome paint which you can buy almost anywhere. There is bumper chrome paint or reflective chrome paint like they make to spray into corroded headlights, etc. In fact, there are even companies which specialize is chrome-plating plastic. They did a great-job when I had new tires installed on my Lincoln & they left a center-cap off one. They were after-market chrome-wheels so I had to buy 4-plastic-centers & had them plated. You really can't tell the difference. Paul, the platers will gold-plate plastic as well.

by **Doug** » Fri 24.02.2006, 00:42

Nice work, Chris.

Now Brian, if those were sent to you is it possible to scan them and then make them with a CNC machine ? ? ? :wink:

by **Candles** » Fri 24.02.2006, 10:21

Yes, great job. I agree with above: If they were cheap, say £40, I'd buy them.

Candles.

by **chrisP** » Fri 24.02.2006, 12:32

Thanks for that guys, most appreciated. Not a bad idea about the cnc-ing of them though that could make the process a lot quicker. I don't think the originals will take paint too well as the surface is slightly flexible.

Chris

by **Monty** » Fri 24.02.2006, 15:05

Hey Chris, they do look great and good workmanship :smt023

But i think i`ve got enough bling under the bonnet to last a life time :roll:

by **nitroman** » Fri 24.02.2006, 18:21

chrome plating plastic...

http://www.mmmetalizing.com/services.html (this is the company I used)
http://www.chromemyplastic.com/index.html
http://www.muellercorp.com/chromeplatingplastic.htm
http://www.excaliberpolishing.com/
http://www.chromeservices.com/

You choose the color!
Our chrome plate surface coating is available in a variety of colors including green chrome, yellow or gold chrome, red chrome, blue chrome, black chrome, as well as traditional chrome finishes. If you have a special color in mind just ask us and we'll see what we can do!

by **Doug** » Fri 24.02.2006, 18:41

my worry about chrome plastic plating would be that the handle is something you grab and pull, and both the oils from your hand and the force of pulling might both be things that could break down the finish or crack it -- just thinking about the finish that was on the chrome parts of all the models I built as a kid -- this technology my be light years ahead these days though ?

by **chrisP** » Fri 24.02.2006, 18:45

Also with the Aluminium handles you get the added advantage that they are freezing cold on a winter day and liable to take the skin off your hands in mid summer :shock:

by **Dovey** » Sat 25.02.2006, 02:55

freezing cold on a winter day and liable to take the skin off your hands in mid summer

Yeah but everything does that anyway. Think I got the seat pattern burnt into my ass :-D

by **johnbenk** » Wed 01.03.2006, 21:33

Hi.

Is the attached any use to you. The paint cost £450. per Ltr and is now available in the UK. It can be sprayed on to Plastic and GRP. A company will respray your Elan in the UK for £4,000. Look up "mirror chrome paint" on the net for a download video.

Lotus Elan Central

New Aluminium door handles

New Aluminium door handles

Mirror Chrome Finish paint.

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