The customer wanted a cigarette lighter and cooling fan switch.
I thought the BMW OEM one looked pretty cool, but—
It uses a “Hella socket” standard, which is one size smaller.
After days of searching and deliberating, and then days waiting for it to arrive—
I figured there might be a next time, so I tried not to take the easy way out. Or maybe I did anyway?
It’s better to avoid modifying the original as much as possible.
I figured it would be nice if I could turn it on and off with just my left hand.
I wanted to weld a boss to the clutch holder, but I decided against it and went with a removable design instead.
I bent SUS304 stainless steel, 1 mm thick, into an “L shape.”
I tack-welded a nut with a rounded head and fastened it together with the holder.
The switch mount, finished with a machined look, is 5052 aluminum, 5 mm thick, and I made the back side rough so it sits flush.
When the fan spins from the left switch, I set it to “LED indicator mode” to let you know.
After a lot of deliberation, I decided to mount it next to the key cylinder.
I happened to have an aluminum pipe about 1 mm thick lying around,
So I attached that 5052, 5 mm thick piece to it.
It almost melted, but we made it through okay.
