37 Buick window regulators

[1937McBuick]

Hello folks.

I finally got into doing the window regulators.  I had to round up the necessary stuff first.   

 

I took a slightly different approach.  Instead of welding the stubs that the leather washers are on back onto the regulator arms,  I had the stubs drilled and tapped to 5mm(.8 thread) and are using fairing bolts with a relatively low and wide head to secure the stubs onto the arms.  The bolt's heads needed to be low clearance in case there would be an issue when the arms cross each other.   The machine shop did a good job of keeping the tapped holes centered in the stubs so I could maintain the part of the stub that is inserted into the arm as a centering pilot.  They should be very secure.

 

I found a local leather shop with a couple of scraps of leather.   They are tanned/processed(not tooling leather) so the washers I punched are good and firm.   The two pieces were different thicknesses,  the washers that run in the channels are thicker than the ones that ride between the channels and arms.

 

I got a neat hole punch set to help make the washers concentric.

 

[Larry Schramm]

[Kenneth Carr]

I like the punch set. There is a lot you can do with these. I use mine for custom washers and such. They work on all sorts of material.

[1937McBuick]

47 minutes ago, Roadmaster71 said:

I like the punch set. There is a lot you can do with these. I use mine for custom washers and such. They work on all sorts of material.

This may seem like "hair splitting" but a leather washers made with the 7/8 was a little too loose in the regulator channel for my liking and the 1 inch was too tight.  So we ordered a 24 mm and that was kind of midway between the other two.

 

I installed the regulators in the doors without glass.   They roll up really quite easy and there's some resistance going down but the coil spring is winding tighter while the window is being lowered.  There is no lower vertical guide channel(below the vent window divider) installed yet, or the lower rear guide or vent window divider either.  All that stuff will be new and shouldn't provide much resistance if everything lines up and the front guide is set properly.

[pont35cpe]

I had a problem with my drivers door regulator(`36 Buick), would roll up easy, real tough to roll down, i thought it was binding in the track somewhere.. Problem was a little coil spring(called a clutch spring), was broke. It`s located inside the crank housing. That little spring is pretty much impossible to find, i robbed one from a sacrificial Chevy regulator, and they are L and R  too.

[Larry Schramm]

What brand is the punch set?

[1937McBuick]

1 hour ago, Larry Schramm said:

What brand is the punch set?

It's a Mayhew(66000).    They come in various sizes(quantity of punches).  There's a larger set that has a bigger mandrel that you attach to a handle for bigger punches.  There are smaller sets too.   I punched a hole in the bottom right hand corner of the inside tray so I could store the 24mm in the case too.   I bought it through Acklands Grainger.

 

Like RoadMaster71 said,  you can use them on various materials.  Even metal up to a certain thickness,  unless it's that very VERY thin metal I don't intend on punching metal with it.   To protect the integrity(sharpness) of the punches I will only use them with a piece of hardwood backing,   2x6 spruce seemed too soft when using two sizes at the same time.

[Larry Schramm]

https://www.amazon.com/Mayhew-66000-16-Inch-Imperial-16-Piece/dp/B002GKJ20Q?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)