armrest complete

[BaronYoungman]

Not stock but very nice on long drives

[Garry]

Baron,

Nice to have for the long drives for sure.

Did you make that up and if so do you have the dimensions/drawings for it?

Garry

[Flyair]

Garry,

here is a slightly different version of the same. When I bought my car, it came with the armrest. I put it aside and bought the original piece to have it, together with other woods brought back to their original shine. I kept the armrest however and may use it as option on longer trips such as going in August to the European event  

You can see from the pictures, that my armrest is slightly shorter that Baron's. His starts immediately after the ashtray, while mine has a small space between the ashtray and actual armrest. Question of choice I guess.
In the case of my armrest the top slides, while it would make more sense if it could have a hint and open up, which is I believe easier to do and does not require greasing the sliding path, which I have to do quite often .

Concerning measures, I think that you do not need that from us as they are very intuitive. Basically, for horizontal measures, the modification it track the dimensions of the original box. In the case of my item, it was actually build over the original box then the new veneer was applied all over the stuff. As for the hight must be decided by your comfort position. In my case, the hight is 26 cm including the pad, with the pad itself being 3 cm thick.

hope it helps.

BTW, if you need a new OEM ashtray, I have a local guys that makes them and supplies to resellers. Not cheap. but he can insert the leather of your choice that tracks your desired color of the interior:-)

 

[Garry]

Thanks Stan,

I was thinking that it was sitting inside the existing centre unit, not a total new item, but maybe that is the way to go.

Garry

[Flyair]

you have here three parts:
- the original box
- new upper wood part that is glued to the box and the entire set has an uniform veneer
- soft pad

So it is not actually totally new, but modified.
 

[pagoden]

Stan,
Beeswax is a time-proven method for easing the travel of drawers in wooden furniture.  Rubbing the block hard on the troublesome areas shapes it to them as you go. Can also be carved or shaped with a warm blade to reach into grooves and crannies.   Could be good for this application --  less messy and more effective than grease -- but the overall area of the interlocking grooves presents considerable potential for friction.  Mine uses the upholstered top from a production sedan's console, with a sprung piano hinge along the passenger side to flip open for driver access, arguably the better way to go if starting from scratch.  I hope the beeswax works well enough to make it all moot, and you can keep that attractive setup you have. 

[pagoden]

Garry,
Mine drops into the existing tray and is finished to match.  It's a few inches short of the front partition, so as to accommodate a drink holder (either a gimbaled design or the tidy flip-out style) mounted on its front surface.  The outside surfaces match those of the tray, with the corners rounded to match.  The fit down inside the tray is fairly critical but no huge challenge for a woodworker -- just a matter of closely matching the inner surfaces of the new 'box' structure with those above which it is to sit.  Essentially it's a shortened copy of the M-B tray, open at top and bottom.  [But see 'fit fiddling' below.]  The sleeve-type fit down into the tray can be done using thin-but-stiff 4 - 6mm Baltic birch plywood 'plated' onto each inner side wall of your console box and extending down nearly to the bottom of the stock tray.  I'd suggest some time spent fiddling with the fit to get it tight enough to stay put while allowing space for your best idea to minimize scratching of the finish.  So far I like stick-on felt sheeting cut to fit, extending beyond and folded around the (tapered) bottom edge; this material occupies a small amount of space in the area of the 'slip fit', so some materials may require a little 'easing' of the fit, probably with shimming material in the glue joint.  Thin enough felt may compress enough to not open up that glue joint upon fitting the console box for the first few times; too thick will try to do just that.  Too loose a fit results in a less stable console.  A woodworker could allow a millimeter or so of additional material on each side when constructing the console so as to allow for your protective material.  Probably the best strategy would be to allow plenty during construction, then shim under the felt as necessary to tighten the fit; the result would be that your walls would be a few millimeters thicker than those of the tray, with the slight excess on the inside.  YMMV.  When it's optimum you'll then have little occasion to remove it but great satisfaction in knowing that you can, and have made no irreversible mods to the existing fitments.  Mount a simple stop on the back wall of the upper box structure extending any distance down into the factory tray so as to to limit movement to the rear and thus prevent a stress on the side 'sleeve panels' for which they're not designed.

All,
I live with and like this approach to mounting a console augmentation to our 'tween-seats tray but will be pleased to see an improvement.  My thinking is by now so stuck on this design that I'll welcome better ideas with pleasure.  Thanksferyersupport.       

[Garry]

Thanks Stan and Dennis,

When I finally get some time I will look at making one that will sit in the existing tray.

Garry

[Flyair]

It looks like the armrest is a perfect item to express personalized innovative ideas . Thanks for the Beeswax reference, but actually when I said greasing, in fact I had in mind passing candle wax that I have happily used on sleds and skis.

Since the part is quite easy to replace, I have both the modified one and a new OEM box in case I have to make the car look "more original"