Oil Door opening spring

[seagull]

I posted this in the modification section but also wanted it here in case someone had comments or improvements;

I normally leave my oil door open for cooling, one day the wind blew it closed and I missed that it was not latched on the preflight. Just as I was lifting off the door started flapping, I had enough runway left and landed so no harm was done but it made me think.
I have added a spring to the door to hold it open. The pictures are self-explanatory. I wound the spring 4 coils out of .045 music wire. The spool is aluminum and I used a longer bolt to put it all together.


The stock right side hinge.


Parts to do the mod, the spring and sleeve I made.


finished with spring in place.

[vlittle]

So Real men wind their own springs! For everyone else, we can buy torsion springs at McMaster-Carr.

V

[HansLab]

What a glorious idea. Thank you for sharing.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by vlittle

So Real men wind their own springs! For everyone else, we can buy torsion springs at McMaster-Carr.

V

True, but then you have to buy only what they have available.
If you make your own, you can custom make the shape and not even have to wait for it to come in the mail.......

An alternative to installing a spring is to upgrade to the current design that uses nylon bushings / spacers and steel self locking nuts.

This allows you to precisely set the hinge friction so that the door will stay open to vent the engine compartment when on the ground, but it is still easy to close and latch.

[David Paule]

Nice job!

But I noticed something (in the red ellipse) that looks like it could be a crack. Or it could be just a bit of crud hanging in front of the part. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I think it's worth a look.



Dave

[hiline]

I have what Scott said,so my door can stay open...works great!

[seagull]

I did have friction on the door, it would stay up on its own except for hard wind. The problem I felt was it might be lowered without latching and I would not realize it until I was in flight and it lifted. I spring eliminated that concern.

To address winding my own, it was late at night, McMaster Carr was not open. I made 5 versions experimenting with wire gauge, wind diameter, the number of winds and direction to get what I felt was an easy open. I would have had to buy a lot of springs.

The area that looks like a crack is something in the photo, look at the fourth photo down. It is the same side but with the spring in place, no crack.

[alexe]

Nice job Walt!

[lr172]

Originally Posted by seagull

I did have friction on the door, it would stay up on its own except for hard wind. The problem I felt was it fight be lowered without latching and I would not realize it until I was in flight and it lifted. I spring eliminated that concern.

Th address winding my own, it was late at night, McMaster Carr was not open. I made 5 versions experimenting with wire gauge, wind diameter, the number of winds and direction to get what I felt was an easy open. I would have had to buy a lot of springs.

The area that looks like a crack is something in the photo, look at the third photo down. It is the same side but with the spring in place, no crack.

Where do you get the music wire?

[seagull]

Originally Posted by lr172

Where do you get the music wire?

I have it in the shop from my RC model addiction. You can buy it at most hobby shops. A company called K&N metals will usually have a display with 3’ pieces of all diameters, typically less than $1 a piece.