MMM crowd, our house has the California old school steel casement windows that crank in and out. They are horribly inefficient, barely open and close because of the built up paint, I hate replacing the glass because glazing requires much more patience than I have, BUT, they are easily painted whatever color you want and have crisp modern lines from the thin mullions. Thus, we keep them.
My question, is whether anyone has gotten so fed up with the cranks that they take the cranks out, and instead install some sort of handle or pull that lets you push the windows out once unlocked, and pull them back in to close them. The only reason for the cranks, as I can tell, is to allow the bug screens to remain in place, which we stored away a long time ago for aesthetic reasons. Thus the cranks, which strip easily and don't generate enough torque to get the window closed the last half inch where the paint is sticky and problematic, aren't too helpful and I find myself often enough having to go outside and nudge the window in the last bit for me to lock it in.
So, the two thoughts I've had are to weld a ring on, or to weld a machine screw to a ring, and drill and tap the window mullion. The steel mullion however is only 1/8" thick, and so I worry about drilling into the glass from behind, or having the glass break from the welding heat. OR.... perhaps someone has had this same obscure issue and had luck with epoxy?