Looking for ideas on a door latching. Ive attached pictures of the inside and outside. They are fibreglass doors that I have made, they are quite strong but due to the huge size of the door and that the frame is exposed to the airflow I want to latch at the top too.
Design requirements: ~ Must secure the door at the top curve to hold it against the seal. ~ Must be able to be opened from the outside as well as the inside. ~ Only need to be latched from the inside but if it can be latched from the outside then thats even better.
I have ideas, but Ill withhold them just now so I don't hamper the creativity! Im not always the best at thinking outside the square hence asking for some other ideas.
sid e question for you. have you weighed the fibrglass doos and compared them to a steel door? how much weight did you save?
morrisman1,
Jul 20, 5:54pm
28kg per door
Those drag racing latches look interesting, Be good to see the inside of the door with it fitted, Just looking for a photo now.
morrisman1,
Jul 20, 6:58pm
thoughts on this? will put insert-nuts into the frame of the door, and that bar will have to have a slot cut in the door to stick out to the exterior. Needs a spring mechanism to hold it locked.
I don't want to go cutting a hole in the window/door if someone can see a flaw in the plan!
Edit, thought Id add in that I think I would re-make the mount where it goes onto the door frame, have it out of 1.6 steel and have it bend around so it was on two planes of the door frame, looking at the photo I think it might not have good support for hte pulling force which would turn into a twisting force where it was mounted to the door. Easy change though.
morrisman1,
Jan 18, 1:37pm
in the absence of any negative feedback I decided to give it a nudge. works well, just need to spring load it now. Initial thoughts are to put a pull spring between the outer portion of the lever and the bit of offcut I left underneath. The fibreglass with 6mm insert nuts is more than sturdy, theres no flex at all. I shortened up the length between the plate and the pivot to reduce flex loads and get the angles better.
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