Gear Knob Fitting

[oli8925]

Does anyone know the correct way to fit a gear knob that looks like this on the inside? It's like a rubbery plastic. I don't know if you're just supposed to screw into it, or tap into it, or put an insert in it.


It's a 60's one so maybe it was never meant to fit onto an HC lever. Might not use it anyway because of the wrong badge.


To tide me over though, I've repainted the original think it's come out pretty well.

From


To

[dann01]

There is a bit missing to your leather knob

The collet and plastic screw thread, or alum key collet is missting... Basically. It's broke.

Dan

[HC]

Is there any tips how you had painted the original gear knob?

[oli8925]

There is a bit missing to your leather knob

The collet and plastic screw thread, or alum key collet is missting... Basically. It's broke.

Dan

Ah damn I bought that about 6 months ago off eBay and it wasn't cheap either. Had no idea it was broken.

Is there any tips how you had painted the original gear knob?

I used a syringe needle (my mum's a nurse so we have a few - nothing dodgy) of the right size to excavate the gunk and left over paint from the channels, then used a penknife blade to make sure they were clean and smooth. Be careful though as the rubbery plastic the knob is made of is quite soft (oooh errr)

Then I was lazy and instead of getting plastic paint I just used some touch up paint from halfords. It came with a little bottle with a tiny brush and a pipette. I went around the channels using the pipette and dabbed the surface with a kitchen towel to take away any excess. Left this to dry and went over it again to make sure it got a good covering and again dabbed up the excess.

Once this was dry I used cotton buds and nail varnish remover and lightly went over the surface of the knob so that it removed the misplaced paint but didn't get to the paint in the channels. This leaves a dull finish so I rubbed it with a cloth and 'rubber and vinyl cleaner' which helped a bit but it's still a little dull. My girlfriend says the shine will return with use, but there may be something better to use. Maybe white spirit?

[vx-mike]

Fancy that! Your girlfriend knowing that yor knob gets all shiny with use!!!!

Mike

[hbpeter]

Peter

[viva les vegas]

Similar to the way I did mine, only I used a toothpick to remove the old gunk, put the paint into the grooves, and clean off the excess before wiping with a piece of kitchen paper