Further Adventures of D.I.Y. and F.I.O.A.Y.G. (figure it out as you
go) Bathroom Chapter, shower hardware section…
Not thinking thoroughly, I had purchesed new shower handles that
didn’t have the right innards to engage the thingys sticking out of
the wall with valves, the valve-thingys. So there I was, feeling
appropriately dumb and temporarily discombobulated, imagining weird
scenarios involving dissecting the old and new handles and creating
hybrids that would look nice (new parts) and do the job (old parts).
After a while those ideas flamed out and the thought of fabricating
new ones and setting the old ones inside them took hold.
A lot of work for 3 shower handles, but damn they look good, and=
are off to get chrome plated. I ended up making 2" cubes out of 20g
nickel silver sheet, 5-sided cubes, with one open end. The old
plastic handles will get cemented inside the cubes, so their
functioning areas will still function as normal.The fronts had to
have a recess for the screw so I drilled a 1" hole in 3/8" plastic
and bumped up (or down) a recess and drilled the screw hole on those
front pieces before assembly. I had not fabricated anything like that
for years but it was a basic job. I made sure to make the solder
fillets fat so I could round off all the external edges and corners.
Polishing them was fun, and I used to hate polishing. I was used to
sterling, so the ns was difficult by comparison. Now we will have
squarish hadles to go with the blocky, curved sink faucet. I will
spare you all the horrors of tiling the cieling and walls, braving
the nightmarish attic to install and wire-in the exhaust fan. Someday
the bathroom will be done. Someday…
Dar