Future of bolt on handles

[Josh G]

Was just wondering if Weber has replaced the top handle with the bolt on style are they going to eventually switch the ones on the bowls as well?

[SixZeroFour]

Funny enough I just found some pics yesterday of kettles that appear to have bolt on bowl handles. I will find it and post them up when I get home in a bit.

[toolhead]

Yup...seen the bolt on bowl handles as well.

[SixZeroFour]

This is interesting - there were a few different pics showing a bolt on handle on ebay.de just yesterday and now they have all been removed. I wonder if they jumped the gun on posting the pic and got their hand slapped by Weber? In the pics it appeared that most if not all of the bowl handle was black... there was both a blue and a lemongrass and it was labeled as a "One-Touch Premium+"

[MrHoss]

Bolt on bowl handles???.......cheap and crappy looking. Attach the handle too tight and you have porcelain chips. I say boycott the things.....with the possible exception of a Blue Wave that is.

[Troy]

Bolt on bowl handles???.......cheap and crappy looking. Attach the handle too tight and you have porcelain chips. I say boycott the things.....with the possible exception of a Blue Wave that is.

it's my understanding that Weber actually ships with a special plastic wrench that will fail before the porcelain.

[SixZeroFour]

This little guy...

[MrHoss]

Bolt on bowl handles???.......cheap and crappy looking. Attach the handle too tight and you have porcelain chips. I say boycott the things.....with the possible exception of a Blue Wave that is.

it's my understanding that Weber actually ships with a special plastic wrench that will fail before the porcelain.

@LightningBoldtz had a Black MT that kept on having the porcelain chip around the lid handle and I am pretty sure he was using the supplied plastic wrench. I have a Crimson OTG that has the bolt on handle...it went on fine but I still hate the look of it. I should sell it but have an aversion to letting Webers go.

[Troy]

it will boil down to logistics.
weber customer service and warranty will replace anything that gets damaged.

if the number of 'oh shit I overtightened and chipped the porcelain' is less than the 'the box got bounced around and lid/bowl got damaged', then the bolt on handles are a big win.
(assuming that the bolt on handles will also last as long or longer than the welded)

[Hogsy]

The Compact has always had bolt on bowl handles.....and yes they are ugly
They need to come with a washer to be placed between the handle and the bowl to stop that metal on metal contact. Same as the SJ's, they seem to chip where the legs bolt onto the bowl

[pbe gummi bear]

Interesting topic. From a manufacturing perspective I think the bowl handle is used to hang the Weber Kettles on the overhead conveyor of their (robotic?) paint lines. It also does not necessitate smaller packaging as the handles fit in the corners of the box so I would think that the leg sockets would be a better target for cost reduction. To Hogsy's point above, I think the compact has bolt on legs as well.

[Idahawk]

Interesting topic. From a manufacturing perspective I think the bowl handle is used to hang the Weber Kettles on the overhead conveyor of their (robotic?) paint lines. It also does not necessitate smaller packaging as the handles fit in the corners of the box so I would think that the leg sockets would be a better target for cost reduction. To Hogsy's point above, I think the compact has bolt on legs as well.

Well , I had assumed that they were in fact going with the bolt on handles to save a little cardboard and reduce package size, shipping and all that . I didn't consider the corner solution.


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[Jacmac422]

In my opinion this could be great, yes ugly but if we can then purchase a bracket to allow us to mount to carts then I see this as a good thing. 

[Josh G]

Interesting topic. From a manufacturing perspective I think the bowl handle is used to hang the Weber Kettles on the overhead conveyor of their (robotic?) paint lines. It also does not necessitate smaller packaging as the handles fit in the corners of the box so I would think that the leg sockets would be a better target for cost reduction. To Hogsy's point above, I think the compact has bolt on legs as well.

That is a good point, the handles are used to hang the bowls through the painting process.  So how are the new style lids done?

[pbe gummi bear]

Interesting topic. From a manufacturing perspective I think the bowl handle is used to hang the Weber Kettles on the overhead conveyor of their (robotic?) paint lines. It also does not necessitate smaller packaging as the handles fit in the corners of the box so I would think that the leg sockets would be a better target for cost reduction. To Hogsy's point above, I think the compact has bolt on legs as well.

That is a good point, the handles are used to hang the bowls through the painting process.  So how are the new style lids done?

Top vent rivet hole maybe?