brian

brian

Well Known Member
I've found that my oil door is easy to forget to fasten. By its nature, it lays closed when not latched, so it's easy to miss that it hasn't been latched.

I've thought about making some sort of spring-loaded flag that pops up and/or holds the door open when it's not latched. But it seems to me that surely someone else has already observed this problem and come up with a fix for it.

Has someone already done this? Is there a product on the market for it? Any suggestions for something that will cause the oil door to remain up, or a flag to pop out, when the door isn't latched?

thanks,
brian
 
Mine is spring by the use of the hidden hinge which incorporate a spring in that hinge. It is a very simple set up and can be done with any type hinge. It is so obvious that if I forget to close it, I should not be going flying.
 
Bavafa said:
Mine is spring by the use of the hidden hinge which incorporate a spring in that hinge. It is a very simple set up and can be done with any type hinge. It is so obvious that if I forget to close it, I should not be going flying.
Click to expand...
Anyone have a picture of what these springs look like and where I can get one?
 
Or you can simply buy the torsion springs (McMaster has them) that fits your installation. I know they were selling extra spring with the hidden hinge but I can't remember who/where one can buy the exact part.
 
I have a Hartwell latch on the oil door of my RV-4:

ojmqdu.jpg


One of my pre-taxi scans is left gas cap, oil door, right gas cap. It is very obvious from the cockpit if the door is not latched.
 
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Another idea

Brian,
I was looking at the oil door hidden hinge and or adding a spring to my current setup, in the mean time, I built this:

IMG_20120524_113956.jpg


Simple little wood block with a #2 phillips bit in the bottom to open the door. A slit is cut in the wood block to keep the door open in windy conditions. And of course it is painted bright orange so that I can see it!!:eek:

Dan
 
Steal one of the many plastic hair clips that your wife-daughter-girl friend might have lying around and take the spring out of it. Works great and if you keep your mouth shut it won't cost you anything. :D
 
I guess I don't understand the problem. In 33 years of flying, I have never left the oil door open. I open it during my walk around, check the oil.... look around, and then latch it.
What am I missing?
 
gasman said:
I guess I don't understand the problem. In 33 years of flying, I have never left the oil door open. I open it during my walk around, check the oil.... look around, and then latch it.
What am I missing?
Click to expand...

In my case, I know i did it once and perhaps almost did it another time, although I'm more watchful for it now. My door does not open to full vertical, so as soon as I let go of it, it drops closed. My gascolator/fuel screen drain is also in there, so I check oil, drain the screen, go over to the wing to put the drained gas back in the tank and put the fuel cap back on. The fuel catch cup is also the tool to close the oil door, so I can't latch the door until I've dumped the fuel out of the tool. In that process, I did not get back to the door, and I just didn't want this to happen again.

Thanks to all for a lot of great ideas.
 
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