My pivot pin in my regulator broke last weekend. I couldn't locate a replacement on the catalog on-line here so I called Pelican and was surprised that Weltmeister is the only source and they coast $31.95 ea. Now I usually don't cut corners but $32 for a little piece of metal that doesn't need to be within very good tolerances? I decided to make my own.
First, here is the Weltmeister one:
The one I needed was 26mm long with a parallel slot, there are also 23mm ones and either may have perpendicular slots. So your solution may differ.
My first idea was to model it on emachineshop.com and just see what they would charge for a small run.
Well that was fun, and I could get the price down to about $20 ea, but it wouldn't be cut as nice... so off to try another option.
So here we have a 1/2" allen bolt, a regular 1/2 bolt and something labeled as 1/2"x3/4" 3/8"-16 Thread Socket Shoulder Screw. This last part was the closest fit and cost just $3.15 at my local Ace Hardware.
Now you can see the measurements. The head of the new bolt is 3/4" (19mm) and the shaft is 1/2" (12.7mm). So the head of the new bolt was about 2mm to big in diameter and 2mm too short. But really the way it is used the larger diameter makes no difference. The shortness of the head may be an issue and I suppose you could weld a 2mm thick washer on there to extend it but I didn't.
I used an angle grinder with a cutting wheel. Chopped off the threaded part, cut a slot in the top, and then cut the two relief cuts in the end leaving an 8mm strip.
Here is the result:
I installed it and peened the 8mm end onto the regulator. I have no idea what kept the old one in place so I'm guessing it was pressed.
If I were to make another one, I'd make that slot around 8.5 for a tighter fit and I'd make the other slot about 2.5mm for the same reason.
But the results were great. I put it back in the door and ran the window up and down a dozen or so times with no problems. In fact it never felt so good (probably because it was cleaned and lubed)
So, I haven't done long term tests yet, but initial ones look promising.
Pat