Help repairing patio door locking handle

[marriedto51]

I recently moved and am trying to repair the handle/lock on a sliding uPVC patio door.

The previous owners (or someone before them) have removed the levers that operate the mechanism that secures the door once closed (two bolts that slide and catch in a "keep" in the door frame, and a vertical bolt that slides upwards into the top of the door frame). They have also lost the key to the euro cylinder lock.

I hope that I can: pay a locksmith to remove the cylinder, then replace the cylinder myself, and buy replacement levers or if necessary replacement handles.

But: almost all the handles or lever sets I've seen for sale have a square cross-section spindle joining them, and my gearing mechanism has a strange shaped hole, shaped something like a capital 'H'. If I put a flat-bladed screwdriver into that 'H', I can work the mechanism and move the bolts, but I see no hope of getting a spindle through it.

Maybe I need what I've seen called a "flat bar" lever?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pinenot]

You could spend a lot of time searching for the right fitments only to find they don't actually fit properly.

Most of the cost of any locksmith is in the call out/service charge (if you take the lock in perhaps this will be dropped) and they will know every lock configuration, you might not gain as much as you think financially by trying to do some of it yourself, if that's your plan.
There are occasions when somethings are best left to the professionals. That having been said don't let me put you off if your determined...pinenot

 

[marriedto51]

Thanks for the reply. Sadly I couldn't take the lock to a locksmith: the cam on the euro cylinder is in the locked position, so I can't slide it out of the door.

I fear you're right too about parts not fitting. It's probably a balance between how much money I'm prepared perhaps to waste on bits that don't fit before I throw in the towel and have to spend major money on a new gearing mechanism or getting the whole thing replaced.