New Door Idea

[Phil]

I woke up with this idea this morning and thought I?d throw some fresh meat into the lion den and see if I can?t start a really big cat fight. I hope I do.

The idea is to use a 12v Solenoid Operated Dead Bolt lock. It would be installed in mid-fuse decks. The bolt will point up and ultimately penetrate into the base of the door. The bolt operates when 12v is applied to the solenoid.

With a very tiny bit of wiring logic, the 12v can be routed through a micro-switch. That switch is used to detect when the interior (or exterior) handle has rotated X degrees (from fully open) toward the closed position. I?ll use 20 degrees for example.

- Get in and pull the doors down.
- Rotate the door handle to close the main door pins.
- From 0 degrees to 20 degrees the bolt is retracted.
- At 20 degrees the bolt engages to secure the bottom of the door (before the main pins have even started through the Nylon or Aluminum blocks).
- The bolt stays engaged until the handle is rotated back and the switch opens at 20 degrees. By having the bolt engage before the pins enter the door frame, it protects against those who are concerned with bumping the handle accidently.


A couple of fail-safe modes and emergency points.
- Should you need rescued from someone on the ground, it can be operated with the regular exterior door latch. They just twist the door latch and the micro-switch disengages the b
- Should you have a 12v power failure, the bolt will retract when the power is lost.
- Should you have an accident that rips the wire from the solenoid, the bolt will retract.

I can?t think of a failure mode that would cause a problem assuming you use a bolt that extends with 12v and retracts with 0v ? not the opposite.

One of my concerns were damaging the door by extending the bolt without having the door in the correct position. Meaning the bolt would miss it?s hole and it would push up and damage the bottom of the door.

After a little research, I found this lock has a safety circuit in it. The force of the bolt deployment is really low and if the bolt can?t extend into a recess, the 12v is removed. Saving the switch and any damage that could occur. Keep in mind it?s designed to deploy into a female recess and then the bolt is designed to operate in shear. The bolt isn?t designed to punch holes in wooden door frames ? or our RV-10 doors.

Okay, now that I?ve shaken this fresh chicken in front of ALL the lions, have at it. I?ve got a Houston RV builders group lunch to go to?. 


http://tinyurl.com/ybktr2s

[N941WR]

I think you might be on the right track but here is another idea.

Keep in mind; I built a -9 and not a -10, so my knowledge of the door and its latches is limited to a few flights in a friend's -10.

Can you modify the latch and add a third pin that goes down into the horizontal door seal? Maybe design it so that engages first, thus making sure the two horizontal pins engage fully. This would give you three locking pins rather than two.

Just another thought...

[CNEJR]

idea, Phil. I think that would work.

[Mike S]

It sounds like a workable solution for normal usage-----I am a bit concerned about in the event of an accident that the door frame getting a bit tweeked, and the latch pin getting caught between the now misaligned holes----would the spring be enough to retract the latch pin???

Of course, the same could be said of any latch system.

Personally, I think the idea of a third pin, driven by the existing door latch mechanism is a preferred choice. I prefer mechanical actuation vs electrical. And the unit shown requires continuous power, which concerns me.

Would it work, I think so. Would I use one, probably not.

But this is the kind of thinking that makes progress happen.

[David Shelton]

Has anyone given much thought to a front-hinged door? I much prefer a door that floats open a couple inches rather than one that rips off and hits the tail.

[RudiGreyling]

Great, let the ideas flow....

from what I've seen so far I like the mechanical 3rd pin actuated by handle turning youtube video the best so far. (3 pin mechanical lock, vs current 2 pin mechanical lock)

Regards
Rudi

[ScottSchmidt]

http://www.nwacaptain.com/door_center_latch.html

In another thread this was introduced. It appears that a system like this could be added to our current system with very little engineering.

Very nice drawings too! Some thought went into this.

[Phil]

I like that one too, Scott.

I had another idea last night that is parallel to Sean's.

Per the plans, our door handle runs the bar/pins horizontally into the door frame.

Sean introduced the concept of converting the horizontal movement into vertical movement.

Now visualize a capital "H" on it's side. Our door handle can operate the center section of the "H". This is the vertical Axis in the door. Then we could use Sean's solution to convert the vertical movement into horizontal movement. This horizontal movement would drive two pairs of pins, upper and lower.

Make sense?

Phil

[N427EF]

Interesting idea.
The big difference between Phil's idea and Van's fix is the vertical and horizontal geometry of the latch mechanism.
Notice the undercut in Van's latch? It acts to hold the door in and down.
A bolt straight up is ineffective in holding the door down since the door moves
up and out at about the same rate.
This dead bolt would only be effective if both the front and rear pins are properly engaged in which case it is not needed.
The latch acts as a sole mechanism to hold the door shut, although I wouldn't bet my pennies on it.

[RudiGreyling]

I like the center pin into the F-1015C mid cabin deck idea operated by the same door handle lever.

The center pin will not engage into the mid cabin deck slot hole if the geometry of a closed door fore and aft pins is also not engaged in their respected holes.

Maybe I don't understand the problem really... is it possible to lock the door handle lever all the way down, but the pins did not engage even though the door geometry looks closed? OR is it that the passengers only 1/2 way push the door handle lever down not engaging the pins?

Kind Regards
Rudi