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2003 McLouis 363


Mickt

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I have a problem with the rooflight in as much the handle has broken. It seems a simple job to relace

but I am unable to confirm the make and model.It has a handle either side which when sqeezed enables you to push the canopy up, also it has a button on the handle which when pushed in enables you to slide the light open. Anybody have knowledge of this type if so what is it. Hope somebody can help

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I think I have bad news for you. Its a Birkholz window. They were I belive taken over by Seitz and they are no longer availble or the spares. Only place would be a caravan breakers. They were excellent windows in my view and quite solidly build.

How extensive is the damage as might be possible to have the broken plastic parts rejoined professionally?

 

There should be a small label on the roof light window itself with the Birkoltz written on it and model etc.

 

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Using glue you would need to mechanically reinforce it. This is why I suggested a professional repair.

They can belt it back together and reinforce with ribs where they canot be seen and retexture the surfaces you can see.

Have you picture of the break. You need to make your picture smaller than 100K to post it.

You could upload the picture instead to a hosting site like tinypic.com and then post a link to it so we can all jump to tinypic to view it.

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Hi, Mickt, If you cannot find a replacement all is not lost.

The problem is the L shaped extensions on the inner handle crack off.

It is possible to repair if you are reasonably handy with D.I.Y.

Repaired the one on my 264 recently with metal strip and self tapping screws

I will be in the van tomorrow and will try to get a picture of the repair and post it

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Mine has cracked where the handle joins to the canopy fixing . There is still a large area where the two go together and I believe with the correct glue it could be fixed.If only I could work out the make.

Looking on Leisure Spares web site the handles look like Heki1 but I would like this confirmed as the quote £140.00 a pair

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Guest JudgeMental
Brambles - 2014-05-12 8:37 PM

 

Mickt, your links to pics are not working.

If it looks like the pics posted by judge then it is a Birkholz like I said earlier.

 

Mick sent me the pics and I loaded them for him.....Try and keep up :D

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You should know me by now Judge, I am always a few hours behind. The only thing I do not like about this roof light is they stuck the labels on the inside of the bonded panes unit. Well they have on mine anyway, then they curl up and distort in the heat of the sun and look terrible. Ahhh! wait there is another dislike. The little vent holes for teh unit to breath is sheilded by the handles meaning you do not know they are there....they are anout 4mm dia and little flies get in. If I had known in early days I would have stuck tape over them sooner and made pinholes. However it does seem to be quite a robust unit and I like the sliding operation. Obviously not robust enough if the handle can break.
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I am slowly finding out a bit more. It is possible Brikholz just made the dome and not teh whole window, supplying the domes to some one else. Sietz was taken over by Electrolux in 2000 and some time after that, and I do not know when, aquired Birkholz who are speciality plastcs company.

So the search should continue to see if someone else actually made the complete window.

I thought I might try a search of italian companies.

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Guest JudgeMental
Mickt - 2014-05-12 6:12 PM

 

Mine has cracked where the handle joins to the canopy fixing . There is still a large area where the two go together and I believe with the correct glue it could be fixed.If only I could work out the make.

Looking on Leisure Spares web site the handles look like Heki1 but I would like this confirmed as the quote £140.00 a pair

 

someone else suggested repairing, using a plate and screw to help support a suitable adhesive..this the best bet, at least worth a go..I would not trust adhesive alone.

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Mickt - 2014-05-12 6:12 PM

 

Mine has cracked where the handle joins to the canopy fixing . There is still a large area where the two go together and I believe with the correct glue it could be fixed.If only I could work out the make.

Looking on Leisure Spares web site the handles look like Heki1 but I would like this confirmed as the quote £140.00 a pair

 

For what it's worth, even if the handles fitted to the HEKI-1 were obtainable, their design is quite different from those fitted to your rooflight (see photo attached).

 

There's a small amount of earlier forum discussion about Birkholz windows and it can be reliably said that spare parts are no longer available for them.

 

It seems that Hymer may have fitted Birkholz rooflights in the past, so you might try Hambilton Engineering to see if they can help

 

http://www.friendlyhippo.co.uk/hymerdirect/

 

As has already been advised, it seems unlikely that adhesive alone would be adequate to repair the breakage and some form of a additional 'mechanical' fixing would probably be needed. The fact that the handle has broken is indicative of the loads it's required to deal with. Adhesive-wise, I'd try a good quality cyanoacrylate adhesive like Loctite's "Super Glue"

 

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/super-glue.shtml

 

(If super-glue won't hold the broken parts together, nothing will!)

 

HEKI1.jpg.a6dd35c6cedb341f3d37f078f45bac26.jpg

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Though not revalent to the repair on the breakage that Mickt has I will post the promised photos of the repair to my roof light ,

The handles are made of quite a tough plastic so I would think a repair with the suggested glue and a few self tappers could be feasible.

457754448_photo(1).JPG.166a1bb21cd397b956cac10001b7e7a7.JPG

940572687_photo(1).JPG.4f579a7b0a960f1a7e9a36bb623ae18e.JPG

photo.JPG.7fd1e93940b8c843a959c136f5974c06.JPG

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Just had a good look at mine and tried to visualise where it might break on the part which mounts to the window. It might be very easy to repair it by filling the hollow sections with a structural resin using plasticine to form a mould to keep resin from pouring out where its not wanted. Have not received any pics so do not know what is feasible but there is another idea for you Mick.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update the roof light was in a Birkholtz. These have not been made for some approx. 10 years.

 

When taking the light apart it seemed that no matter how you repaired the handles it would not last,

 

every time you use it you would be pulling on the repair. Answere I have fitted a new Heki Midi

 

which was of similar size , the roof opening had to be made slightly bigger.All ok just the expense.

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