Can't buy a door spindle :(

[AdamW]

Bit of a rant I am afraid:

I bought some really nice door handles about 3 years ago, and fitted all but one set. Now I finally need that last set, I can find the knobs but not the spindle to connect the two and go through the mortice latch. Perhaps I used it to stir some paint, perhaps I just lost it..

"No matter" thought I, "any shed will sell such an item!". Nope. None of the sheds, even the builders' merchants didn't (although the very nice chap behind the counter nipped in the back to see if they had any spare ones lying about).

Homebase suggested cutting down a length of 7mmx7mm square iron bar. But that was still about £4 and slightly smaller than a proper spindle so I will just be buying the cheapest doorknob set I can and throwing the knobs away

Why does no-one sell spindles on their own?! Surely enough people, like me, manage to lose one?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Bah

 

[2scoops0406]

Try a reclamation yard or ebay??

 

[masona]

I have one in my workshop if you're interested

7mm x 7mm x 95mm

 

[Richardp]

I've also been looking for one, Screwfix don't do em but they sell the latches that need them, I found one in the shed but its abit too short and doesn't come with the holes, life is just getting so complecated.

 

[Richardp]

OK you can get one for £2
you buy the handles which come with the spindle and chuck the handles away, BUT the spindle has no holes so you'll have to drill your own

 

[Igorian]

I bought some really nice door handles about 3 years ago

What do they say? 'Dont put off until tomorrow...'

 

[felix]

the spindle has no holes so you'll have to drill your own

That's drill AND TAP your own. It just gets worse doesn't it! What are those threads anyway? The ones in our house are 70 years old. Whitworth perhaps?

You already mentioned your best bet. Buy a cheap doorknob set then throw the handles away but be warned. As soon as you do this you will find the missing spindle in the back of a kitchen draw!

The Universal Law of Junk: The only item you will ever need is the one you threw away last week.

 

[H&J]

I know there a bit thin on the ground these days but a hardware shop.

I've got one 10 min. walk away, always got what you want.

 

[AdamW]

Many thanks for the offer mason, I bought a cheap set in the end.

Unfortunately the only independent DIY shops round here now have to limit their stock to things like bin liners, door knockers and letterboxes i.e. the things that the sheds don't sell. I feel bad about it because I used to work in such a shop and I feel like I am a traitor by shedding for materials!

Ah, Whitworth threads: I used to build a lot of my own lab equipment at uni, and would sometimes work on a metal lathe with settings to make Whitworth threads. He was a busy engineer, didn't Whitworth create the standard flat surface too?

 

[2scoops0406]

Many thanks for the offer mason, I bought a cheap set in the end.

Unfortunately the only independent DIY shops round here now have to limit their stock to things like bin liners, door knockers and letterboxes i.e. the things that the sheds don't sell. I feel bad about it because I used to work in such a shop and I feel like I am a traitor by shedding for materials!

Ah, Whitworth threads: I used to build a lot of my own lab equipment at uni, and would sometimes work on a metal lathe with settings to make Whitworth threads. He was a busy engineer, didn't Whitworth create the standard flat surface too?

I thought you were a physist not an engineer?

 

[AdamW]

I am a scientist but I have an interest in engineering, but then I think most men do to varying degrees: no red-blooded male can drive across a suspension bridge without thinking "Ooooh, look at all the engineering that went into this!". And how many of us can resist popping the bonnet on a new car, just to have a look at the engine?

Pretty much everything I made was just support structures and brackets for other bits of equipment, for example before some weather experiments I built an adaptor plate to allow me to mount an emissive thermometer on a camera tripod.

Eddie, I'm trying to remember what field of engineering you studied down at twin-peaks uni: I seem to recall Electrical and Electronic, but I'm also thinking Mechanical.

 

[MANDATE]

Yes Whitworth introduced scraping by hand to create a flat plane surface. He realised a flat plane was necessary in order to make accurate measurments. I think you'll find there are 2 or 3 grades of accuracy relating to surface plates or tables. He came from Stockport and ran away to Manchester ( must be at least 7 miles). I didn't know him, he was a bit before my time.

 

[2scoops0406]

Chemist, but very mystified by the nuclear physics that's being bandied around on this forum.

 

[kendor]

If anyone is interested in physics and the such like or would like to receive such information for their childrens education then a visit here:
http://www.npl.co.uk
will let you fill a form in for an excellent free pack of posters and a handy guidebook.

 

[felix]

Chemist, but very mystified by the nuclear physics that's being bandied around on this forum.

Perhaps like me you had a chemistry teacher who insisted that it was impossible to turn one element into another. It was quite some achievement by the first real chemists to figure this out and put an end to all those useless attempts to turn lead into gold and I forget who it was now who put the periodic table together and predicted the properties of missing elements with considerable accuracy.

The trouble with science is that there are no irrefutable laws of the universe, only counter-examples waiting to be found (Karl Popper). Along comes some physicist and throws your whole elegant theory out of the window. Yes, you CAN turn one element into another and you can even do it in a chemistry lab - in a test tube! (But I recommend burying that test tube in a large quantity of borax in a lead container.) As if to add insult to injury, the entire periodic table now falls out of a single equation. That's science for you.