It was easier and more fun than I thought but with a lot of check and cut patience in between the innings.
Dremels, especially with an aggressive cutting chuck can be rather quick to disintegrate metals. On that note, one should see how much of aluminum shavings ended up on the shop floor while grinding away with the Dremel to shape shift these latch teeth into place. Makes a barber shop floor in the hood look spotless. LOL.
This one of one pup already feels under half the weight of the original cast piece.
When I get a chance, I'll scale it along with the factory pieces and see where it all floats.

lee, what model dremmel are you using ? the reason i ask is i have found, over the years, some models develop in/out play in the chuck shaft that can cause slips [goof ups] to occur. i'm not sure what model[s] those were, but i had to come up with some method to remove the clearances. it usually meant shimming the bearings as didn't want to take a chance with doing anything with the shaft, least creating any wobble. i wished i could remember the model number ! it may just have been a bad batch or two ? anyone else run into this problem ?

Dremel 4000 model.
35,000 Maximum RPM variable speed control.
It has very precision shaft bearings and super smooth operation. That combined with fresh unclogged carving/cutting chucks slice throughout the hard aluminum rather easy.

Here's a sneak peak at my ambitions for next Winter blues season.
It's a bit difficult in concept with this original part, but after thinking it through for a long time, I have come up with a few ideas using some Rod Shop billet accessories as a base.
What got my cogs turning is that these stock window/vent window crank and door latch handles all add up to a few pounds at least.

Back end.

Here's a treat of the main wheel assembly when it was top coated and waiting for it's sibling horn ring. The horn ring once mounted, creates an optic trickery to the eye that screams stock out loud, yet more than half the weight reduction.

Underneath showing the grips and cross bridge.

The HITS keep comin man.............

Met Jeff today of Lingenfelter lightweight brackets here at the Nats. Cool guy and very much committed to keeping stock of lightweight bracketry for a number of models.
Shared some fabrication stories and showed him one of my finished door strikers.

"What's behind door number one?"

Here's an example of the completed door striker with a coat or two of different color and sheen finishes to give the aluminum the illusion of titanium or dirty nickel.

I bumped into some new and old friends at the Nationals this weekend and even got fed as a starving artist. LOL.
I asked them to collaborate in performing a human scale test using both their hands to hold the two pieces below. They were awed to say the least.
I had to explain that the piece was not a machined or casted piece, but a hand sculpted piece with a Dremel tool as the driving force.

All asked the same question: How many days to make?
Answer: Too long in thinking and planning and too anxious in fabrication. LOL.

I get the most satisfaction from people as they cerebrally discover the essence of art.

very nice "art" for sure lee ! what was the final out come weight wise ?

Not much in weight savings to be honest, but enough to satisfy the cause.

I won't really know the numbers till I get back to my small 3Lb/ounce limit scale back home, but I think IIRC it saves around a pound total between both sides. This includes the backing plates that hold the striker in place which I already and easily cut and tapped out of flat stock aluminum.

I chose the tempered 7075 to see how it fares to the doors tooth wheel and tension shoe pad when closing and opening.
I was seriously asked to make a few extras by some cats at the Nats, but I had to explain that a hand formed piece just takes too much time to justify the limited production run.
Taking the art side out of it, say if I made a jig and produced a bunch along with R&D time, how many people are going through these great lengths to take off a few ounces or even a pound alone, probably just a hand full of madmen. LOL.
The same was with the 70'-72' stock looking Duster front bumper brackets that I made years ago for a friend. Very few that want a stock look where as many would just want a well built lightweight piece that serves the purpose.

You need a 3D printer for stuff like this...

Have thought of a 3D printer in this 2D world. I probably would still make 'em in the old dark art way. In my past life, I must of been a metalsmith in the United Kingdom or middle age Germany. LOL.

Today stopped by my man "Kulasa the Dipper" here in Detroit to chat and pick up Slic-Ric's 68' Coronet front bumper brackets and fender splash shields. Not only were these pups super light, but they also retained their original part number and Pentastar stampings.

STOCK BABY!

While at it, took a stroll through what is to be a Drag fest at the upper Woodward Ave proving grounds. Just right over the train track crossing and unfortunately on tar top. For those attending these gladiator trials, I suggest VHT on the tires the night before and during the day. At the very least, Coca-Cola will do the trick as well.

Though I would primarily concentrate shavings from the B-pillar forward on any stock door car, the logic below coming straight from the legendary Dick Landy program starts to make a little sense if the problem of traction begins to rear its ugly head. This logic automatically makes sense in a tube chassis car of course, but maybe the door factory chassis can benefit from it as well.

Dzuster and friends at Woodward Roadkill event baring witness to the door striker weights between a stock cast steel and a tempered aluminum unit. They were wrapped in shop towels.

Lee, did you just Dremel those bad boys dry or did you use a lubricant on the tool? I used to use Blaster when I was porting aluminum heads to keep the bit from clogging, but no doubt that cast aluminum was a lot softer than 7075.

Dry with time stops in between as to not introduce too much heat to the piece.
Didn't want to obscure the crucial line of sight with cutting fluid and shaving built up as the teeth had to be perfectly cut to reflect the originals. I did use fluid when I was cutting the original raw block shape though. 7075 is indeed hard.

Heard from an old Chrysler corporation operative at the Roadkill event in Detroit that back when and then, a few engineers had cast magnesium door handles for their cars, particularly the early B-bodies.

I've thought of casting aluminum examples, but no luck and magnesium would up the ante by a lot.
mag handles would look super cool and be feather light.