Lotus Elan

Three Eared Spinner Tool

PostPost by: Breezehill » Fri Dec 23, 2022 9:57 am

Been chasing around the various threads for a three eared spinner removal tool with little success!

So does anyone know a solid source where I can purchase one?

Just on the chance does anyone have one of these they want to sell?
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PostPost by: elans3 » Fri Dec 23, 2022 12:46 pm

Bought mine from Lionel Roberts on Ebay a couple of years ago, top piece of kit, see this thread :-
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=47091

It's a few replies down,
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PostPost by: Breezehill » Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:01 pm

Hi

Been in touch with Lionel, however he’s retired and moved to sunny climes.
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PostPost by: pharriso » Fri Dec 23, 2022 2:48 pm

Sarto doesn't appear to be making his tool for Elans any longer either? https://knockoffspinnertool.com/

What gives?
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PostPost by: baileyman » Fri Dec 23, 2022 3:36 pm

I'll bet the guys who make these do a great job, probably better than my own attempt. But then I found a foot long wooden drift against the ears makes it easy to bang them tight without the risk of the hammer going awry.

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PostPost by: Baggy2 » Fri Dec 23, 2022 9:14 pm

Not sure where you are in the world but here is a UK supplier.

https://kelvedonlotus.co.uk/product/whe ... d-3-eared/

I've got one. Works well enough . You need quite a long handle to be sure you're torquing up the the necessary figure plus you need a fully operating handbrake (or some kind of chock) otherwise you just end up moving the car around.

HTH
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PostPost by: Breezehill » Fri Dec 23, 2022 9:31 pm

Baggy2

Many thanks for responding, have been in touch with Kelvedon but they’ve been out of stock for a few months waiting on supplier.

:(
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PostPost by: TonyA » Fri Dec 23, 2022 11:35 pm

I bought a Plus 2 a year ago. When I researched the forum to find which are the must have Elan specific tools , there are really only two: the spinner tool and the rear hub extractor. I bought one of Lionel's last spinner tools early this year..Just as well I did since these things look to be rare now..I also bought Kelvedon's rear hub extractor. My advice to any Elan owner is buy these 'must have' tools specific to our cars while you still can - and before you actually need it. I think Kelvedon still has their hub exctractor in stock; SJ Sportscsrs have a cheaper but less robust version in stock. Merry Xmas to all...Tony
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PostPost by: StressCraxx » Sat Dec 24, 2022 1:07 am

pharriso wrote:Sarto doesn't appear to be making his tool for Elans any longer either? https://knockoffspinnertool.com/

What gives?


Sarto lives near me. I drove out to see him last summer to pick up a steering wheel he restored for me. I've bought several items from him over the years.

The Elan K/O tool is no longer available. Sadly, the tooling to build them perished in the Santa Rosa/Sonoma County fire in 2019. The owner of the shop that built them for Sarto decided not to rebuild but to retire. The cost of fabricating new tooling to produce them again far exceeded the expected return.
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PostPost by: Ianashdown » Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:02 am

Does this rise to the level of a group buy? If we can get the tool modeled in CAD we can put it out for quote.

Does anyone have one I could reverse engineer? If not I’ll measure the spinner, model it and then create the CAD for the tool.

How many orders could we get if we can find someone to make some?

I’ll start the ball rolling and commit to 2.

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PostPost by: StressCraxx » Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:14 am

Ianashdown wrote:Does this rise to the level of a group buy? If we can get the tool modeled in CAD we can put it out for quote.

Does anyone have one I could reverse engineer? If not I’ll measure the spinner, model it and then create the CAD for the tool.

How many orders could we get if we can find someone to make some?

I’ll start the ball rolling and commit to 2.

Ian


I can ask Sarto if he is willing to sell or license his design.
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PostPost by: Ianashdown » Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:17 am

StressCraxx wrote:
I can ask Sarto if he is willing to sell or license his design.


Ask if he has CAD too. If his design worked best, why re-invent the wheel.

I have manufacturing contacts in the US, Mexico and China, we should be able to get a competitive bid.

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PostPost by: mbell » Sat Dec 24, 2022 1:37 pm

I had a chat with a friend last night about this.

He has a large cnc mill and lathe. He was going to 3d scan a few spinners and see about drawing up a tool.

Having potential interest to buy a few of them might help justify him spending the time on it.
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PostPost by: pharriso » Sat Dec 24, 2022 1:41 pm

I worked with Sarto on this a few years ago & documented his design in CATIA, happy to repost the design/drawings if Sarto agrees.

I’m currently on vacation, but will be back home for New Year
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PostPost by: mbell » Sat Dec 24, 2022 1:48 pm

Thanks Phil, my memory was Sarto's design was folded metal with leather. So not really machinable on a cnc mill. I might be wrong on that front thou.

So I think the tools would be different design to be milled from Ali round stock. Likely look more like the ones kelvedon list.
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