Adjustable black steel handles

[EmilBB]

I've been wanting an all black gripper for a while, also been looking for custom steel handles for a while. So when I found someone able to make knurled steel handles, I thought why not make them black to create my dream gripper. I ended up getting 18mm handles made, since they fit my hands the best.
To make the handles black I tried something called rust bluing, it's a bit tedious but I think it was worth it. I do wonder how well it'll keep the color after use though, I guess time will tell.

The handles are on a Cobalt spring in the picture, but they also fit a 3.5 spring. So with just two springs I should be able to get quite a few ratings with the adjustable handles, I just need to make some notches in the springs so I can replicate the handle depth for ratings.

(Black screws are on the way😁)

[C8Myotome]

This looks great, there's definitely a huge open market for 18 mm grippers with coc/ghp spring spread, I would buy a whole set

[matek]

6 hours ago, EmilBB said:

I've been wanting an all black gripper for a while, also been looking for custom steel handles for a while. So when I found someone able to make knurled steel handles, I thought why not make them black to create my dream gripper. I ended up getting 18mm handles made, since they fit my hands the best.
To make the handles black I tried something called rust bluing, it's a bit tedious but I think it was worth it. I do wonder how well it'll keep the color after use though, I guess time will tell.

The handles are on a Cobalt spring in the picture, but they also fit a 3.5 spring. So with just two springs I should be able to get quite a few ratings with the adjustable handles, I just need to make some notches in the springs so I can replicate the handle depth for ratings.

(Black screws are on the way😁)

Ended up being super cool!

How is the knurling?

[d_blocmann]

Awesome gripper you made there!

[EmilBB]

3 hours ago, matek said:

Ended up being super cool!

How is the knurling?

The handles were made by a hobbyist, so I was a bit concerned about the knurling. However it ended up being really good, not as good as Standard knurling but close.

[EmilBB]

8 hours ago, C8Myotome said:

This looks great, there's definitely a huge open market for 18 mm grippers with coc/ghp spring spread, I would buy a whole set

Totally agree, we need more 18mm handle grippers with wide springs.

[EmilBB]

I got the black screws to make it completely black, which I think looks awesome.
I also tried to put the handles on a 2.5 spring, I thought it might be too loose of a fit since the handles are drilled for a 3.5 spring. But they fit well enough on a 2.5 too, so I can use one pair of handles for a lot of different size springs too which I'm happy about. I'll still get another two pairs of handles though, just so I don't have to swap around the handles all the time in the middle of session.

Edited August 8 by EmilBB