My husband thought of three ways to do the hinges for the cage doors when we were constructing it. We opted for type #2 below, but included the other two ideas for anyone to use.
Example #1: On the door frame, where the hinges are to be located, drill holes through the pipe that match the diameter of the bolt your using. You'll drill two holes for each door and it's important that they line up. In the piping for the door you'll drill a hole on the corresponding corners of the door. This hole is only on one side of the pipe and doesn't go through the entire door pipe. Slip your bolt through the hole in the cage frame. You'll put a nut on the far side and a washer on the side of the bolt that will come in contact with the door. Slip the bolt into the hole you made in the door so that the rest of the exposed bolt is now in the pipe for the door. The bolts act as pin holding the door in place and allowing it to pivot, the washer acts as a spacer.
Example #2: In each corner drill a vertical hole on the horizontal side of the door. These holes should fit the diameter of the inner pipe listed below. This can be kind of tricky to do on an elbow joint, alternatively, you can use a T joint for the corners of the door and cut the unused joint of the T flush with the rest of the joint. Slide a piece of 1/2" diameter pipe (we used electrical conduit, but a smaller diameter pvc pipe would work as well) through the door. This inner pipe will have to overhang each side of the door atleast an inch (we'll explain this in just a second). In the door frame drill holes where the hinge is to be located. These holes should only be drilled on the inside of these pipes and not cut all the way through the other side of the pipe. The inner pipe should overhang the doors enough that they fit into the holes you've drilled in the door frame and butt up against the other side of the door frame pipe. You will slip the hinge pipe into these holes. If the doors wiggle too much you can tape around the inner pipe and hide the tape in the corner joint of the door. This'll bulk the pipe up and at the same time hide the tape from the gliders. Alternatively a couple washers can adjust the spacing and limit wiggling of the doors. The smaller diameter tubing on the inside acts as a pin mechanism for the door.
Example 3: In the door frame, where you want the hinge located, screw two eyelets. These eyelets should be about an inch apart and in line with each other. On the corresponding side of the door, screw two more eyelets with the same spacing but offset the width of one eyelet so that they will rest on top of the eyelets in the door frame when the door is in place. Put the door in place so that all of your eyelets line up and slide a bolt through all the eyes. Secure the bolt with two nuts on the bottom that are tightened against each other. If they are tightened against the eyelets the door will not open.
Example 4 is a diagram of the latch we used. It's a simple spring-loaded gate latch. It is important that you install the latch so that it is very tight and that there is no chance of your gliders being able to push the door open from the inside.
Questions and Comments are welcome. I understand that this might not be clear to some people and am willing to reclarify anything!
We also have an idea for an integrated slide latch that would be an advanced project for anyone interested. My husband said he'd draw the plans if requested.
 |
New Message |
 |
|
. |
|
Home
Glider Gossip
Gliderpedia
Journals
Resources
