RE: [SilverStreak] RE: [Silver Streak] HINGES

["Ralph Cooke" <rcooke@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bryan, & Tami Crockett.
Thanks for the info. on your replacement hinge efforts. 
I purchased my hinges off of eBay also.  I have been in contact with a
number of foundries and have also been told that the only way to cast
the hinges is by using an injection mold.
Unless there were a proven market for several thousand hinges, the
cost would be prohibitive.

It looks as though our efforts to have new hinges cast is doomed
unless someone can come up with the original injection mold that
Silver Streak hinges were made from.  The chances of that are probably
"0" as the original foundry that cast the hinges is probably long
gone.

I have one LAST option, In August I will be traveling to N. Calif. And
will stop by a small machine shop, who's owner is very good at small
specialized machine runs.  I will see what the costs would be to
machine new hinges, using my new ones as a pattern.  I don't know what
starting metal would be used, Stainless Steel would be best, but would
be quite expensive to machine.  I will not worry about the "Look", or
"exact duplication", but will have the machinist concentrate on
functionality.  I will post the results on the forum, and via email as
soon as I receive an answer from the machinist.

Best regards,

Ralph Cooke

rcooke@bak.rr.com