Fitting new door handles; holes overlap in Aluminium

Hi all we have an aluminium back door with mortice lock. Some years ago I replaced the failing door handles with a couple of (cheap) new ones. The screw holes of the new handles had slightly different spacing to the originals, so I had to drill a set of holes for the self-tapping screws for the newer handles.

Fast forward several years, and one of these handles has also failed ;-(.

I've bought a replacement pair of handles. The hole spacing of these is (of course_ different agian... but sufficiently similar that I fear that the new screw holes will overlap one of the previous set of holes.

Any suggestions as the best way to approach this? I have some JB Weld to hand but using this feels like a bit too much of a bodge, even if it works. I was wondering about maybe fitting a sheet of Alu under the handle, to act as a new 'substrate'. This could also be a faff...

Cheers J^n

Reply to
jkn
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In article , jkn writes

Sorry for the late reply.

Whilst the plate would be a faff, I think it really is the only proper way to do it. I'm assuming there's enough room to fit one on the inside? If you need help to hold the plate(s) when putting on the handles you could drill and tap a countersunk hole in a hidden position under the handle to fix it in place. If you use say 2mm steel strip you could dril and tap the holes for a better job than self tappers.

Reply to
fred

Stick a few matches in the old holes, after drilling.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Hi fred Thank for the reply. I took a better look at the back of the handle and determined that I'd actually need either two plates per handle, or one plate with a hole which went quite close to the edge; this due to the space taken by the lever backplate etc.

So I have ended up with a mild bodge; I filled the holes with JB Weld (no idea if it is better than Araldite etc, but I bought some a little while ago); then I clamped the handle against the frame and punched/drilled the four holes for the self-tappers

I haven't yet removed the handle to see how close the new screw holes are to the old ones, but I'll do that shortly. I didn't feel any 'pull' on the hand drill as I was drilling, so there was sufficient distance, and/or the JB Weld helped in this regard.

Not the greatest fix of my career, but never mind on this occasion...

Cheers Jon

Reply to
jkn

Don't disagree, but another possibility might be Rivnuts (eBay) which, if you chose the right type, can give you an almost flush tapped fitting in the door frame. You would need to check that there is enough clearance room for internal mechanisms. If you do go down this route, be aware that cheap setting tools are a bit of a faff.

These are good, though

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Reply to
newshound

Sounds perfectly good

NT

Reply to
meow2222

What's the downside if it fails?

1) Free entry for burglars? 2) Trapped in the house? 3) Locked out? 4) You just have to do it again?
Reply to
GB

In this case, the downside is that if it fails, repairing *that* becomes even more of a bodge. Like many on this group I guess, I do not like that to be the direction of quality...

J^n

Reply to
jkn

There's too much lock in the way? You can't just bolt through from one handle to the other?

Reply to
GB

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