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Thread: IV door latches

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  1. #1
    jonstark's Avatar
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    Nov 2013
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    Default IV door latches

    The original door latches at the middle of the forward door post seem secure but leave a bit to be desired. The factory would have to manufacture then powder coat a set of the new style with about a month lead time.

    Have any of you imagineered your own door latches?

    Jon
    Kitfox IV 1050, C180. Now I have two backcountry planes! WooHoo!

  2. #2
    jonstark's Avatar
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    Default Re: IV door latches

    Murle Williams Aviation has just the ticket!
    Kitfox IV 1050, C180. Now I have two backcountry planes! WooHoo!

  3. #3
    Senior Member rv9ralph's Avatar
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    Default Re: IV door latches

    I fabricated door latch for my Model 3 using 2 inch aluminum angle stock. Trimmed to a kind of teardrop shape with one on inside and the other on the outside. Works great. Sorry no pics, plane is 2 states away for the next several months.

    Ralph

  4. #4
    Guy Buchanan's Avatar
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    Default Re: IV door latches

    Here's one in the fine tradition of homebuilding; ridiculously expensive, overly complex, but works well and looks good. It starts with a door pillow block from Murle, then replaces all the rest of Murle's latch with a bent aluminum bracket bonded to a turned aluminum flange. Onto that is screwed a stock ball. The bracket is loosely screwed to the pillow block with wave washers to give it some resistance to turning, and the bolt is a hex head accessible from the outside, so you can "lock" it. On the aircraft side is a polished delrin block designed to ramp the door closed and provide a recess into which the aluminum bracket drops with a soft "click".
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    Guy Buchanan
    San Diego, CA
    Deceased K-IV 1200 / 912uls / 70" Warp 3cs

    gebuchanan@cox.net

  5. #5
    Senior Member Delta Whisky's Avatar
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    Default Re: IV door latches

    This may be something of a hi-jacking experience - but, since you mentioned door latches . . . . .


    I can't tell what the Murle Williams Aviation door latches look like and because I'm not convinced the single, center latch is the best way for me to go, I've played around a bit with a concept that worked well on a glider of a past life and prototyped a proof of concept. Because I don't have any experience with the newer versions of a Kitfox I thought I'd ask for your honest opinion, thoughts and recommendation for either improvements or which trashcan to use (I really don't want to spent more time working on an idea that you know has severe limitations.)


    This will latch the door frame at front and back and barely protrudes into the person space in the cockpit - two of the design requirements. So, here's the proof of concept in a rough form - your inputs are requested. In the next iteration, if there is one, I'll lower the operating bar 0.2 in and shorten it 1 inch.
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  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    Default Re: IV door latches

    I have to say that if I were going down the road of rods I wouldn't complicate it as much. I'd have the latch at the front of the door, which would overlap the door frame as they currently do (onto a striker plate) and I would have a single rod on the same latch that would travel within the door frame itself and then engage in a hole at the rear of the door.

    Excuse the crappy hotel paper and poor drawing skills, but something like this maybe:
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