Hal The Van

[KTMRIDER]

Sorry for the loss :0(.
Eric

[photographix]

Sorry to hear about Tiger. His input in your build was invaluable. We'll all miss him.

[Dia]

Awww! So sorry to hear about Tiger. They always take a piece of our hearts with them when they go. He'll be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge.

[WVvan]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I really appreciate that.

He had four of his friends show up today for the burial. I'd previously seen Tiger and them hanging out in the backyard. Always wondered if he thought they were just really big squirrels.



(Click photo to enlarge)

[WVvan]

When we last left my work on the fridge cabinet I had a problem.



The drawer sliders I bought were supposed to keep the drawers shut but that feature might have worked in a stationary setting but not in an RV. The drawers would open and close with the corresponding turns as I drove. Used bungee cords as a temporary measure but needed a more permanent solution. You can buy marine style latches that do the job but besides being pricey they would require me to modify the cabinet frame. That would mean removing the frame from the van and doing some welding on it. I wanted to come up with a different solution. Dreamt up several ideas for tackling the problem, some much better than others, and finally narrowed it down to the one I'll show you here.


This is a close-up view of where the drawer slider attaches to the frame. The frame is made of angle iron so to the right of the slider is an edge. Looking at the piece of angle iron that runs along the top right gives you and idea of the depth of the edge or lip.




This is the the side of the the drawer. I've drilled a hole near the front edge of the drawer.



Through the hole in the side of the drawer will extend this 3/16" rod. It will slide behind the lip of the angle iron and hold the drawer closed. Now how to slide it back and forth?




I've got the drawer standing on end and here's the view looking down at it. The front of the drawer is unfinished because I'm going to cover it with Formica and wasn't going to do that until I got the drawer latching problem fixed. The handle is new from Lowes. I picked this particular style since it's wide enough to get a good grasp of.




You can see the two holes from the handle that was on there temporarily since I've been using the van in the interim. Mark the screw holes for the new handle.



Drill out the two holes for the handle screws. Then mill out slots that extend from each of these two holes 3/4" to the left. This is how the 3/16" rod will be slide back and forth to unlatch the drawer. By grasping the handle and sliding it to the left before pulling the drawer open.




So how to attach the handle to the 3/16" rod? Here is a section of metal I surplused a while back from some machine at work we were getting rid of. The metal is around 18 gauge with a 90 degree bend along one side.




Cut off an appropriately sized piece.




I'm using a pair of vice grips to hold the rod and metal piece together. The handle on the front of the drawer will be bolted to the metal and the metal will be attached to the rod.




Move the handle which moves the metal which moves the rod and unlatches the drawer.




So to attach the metal to the rod, say "Hello" to my new friend. Bought his for another project. Surprisingly affordable.












Line up the metal slide with the slots on the front of the drawer. Clamp it in place then drill two holes in the slide for the handle screws.



Attach the handle and give it a test slide.




Here's the inside the drawer view.




Mount the drawer inside the van and test it out. With the handle all the way to the right the drawer is latched.




Slide it to the left and the drawer can be pulled open. Here's the rod and the edge of the drawer with the drawer barely open. The rod just clears the drawer hardware since I wanted to keep it as close to the vertical center of the drawer as it could.




continued

[WVvan]

continued

Now that the slider works it needs a spring to keep it pulled to the right so the drawer will stayed closed. Instead of buying a spring I'm going to make my own. I've no experience with this but there are plenty of videos on youtube showing how it's done.

WARNING - From what I've read you can really hurt yourself including losing an eye if you aren't careful when attempting to wind your own springs.

The wire I'm using is marked as music wire which is the same as spring wire. The wire comes in a coil. NEVER cut the ties on the coil.




Just uncoil as much wire as you need then cut it free from the coil. Don't try to wind a spring with the wire coil still attached.




There are a whole set of formula that can be used to calculate the size of wire and spring geometry needed for any particular application. I'm just going to wing it. Using wire diameter of .041".




This is going to be an extension spring so I want the spring coils as close together as possible. The lathe has a setting for threads per inch which in this case will be the same as wire coils per inch. So the tightest coil would be 1 inch / .041" = 24.39 coils. Round that down to 24.




Cut off a length of music wire. Put a 90 degree bend in the end.




Clamp a metal rod in chuck jaws of the lathe. The wire will be wound around this. Use the jaws to also hold the bent end of the wire.




To feed the wire I'm using this groove that is in the bottom of the tool holder.




Clamp a cutting tool on top just to hold the wire in the groove. The wire can still slide freely.




Set the lathe on it's slowest speed and making sure of eye protection and keeping hands far away from the winding bits, let it go. So here it is. My first ever spring. Far from perfect but let's see if works.




Trim it and bend it.






Attach one end of the spring to the metal slide and the other end to a wood screw.






Works like a champ. Snaps right back into position when let go.




Now that I have a latching design that works it's OK to finally Formica the front of the drawer.



When doing final assembly the original screws weren't long enough so used longer machine screws. Torqued them into the handle as tight as I dare then cut off the heads.




Use two nuts against each for locking since the slide must be loose enough to move freely. Then trim off excess thread.




OK that's first drawer done.



continued

[twogone]

that right there is some do-it-yourself...dang...

[Bbasso]

Loosing a pet / best friend was hard for me and took a long time to recover. Keep your head up and be positive!
Sorry for your loss

[WVvan]

Thanks guys.

continued

Next is the big drawer I use to hold the porta-potti.




With the water reservoir full this drawer will have some momentum to it so I'm using a 1/4" latching rod this time.




Going to make what I'm thinking is an improvement on the design. Instead of a extension spring I'll use a compression spring. Get to make one of those for the first time.

On the metal slide make a cut out. Will end up enlarging this slightly before final assembly




Spot weld like before but notice that now the rod is on the inside of the metal slide. I'm flipping the slide to better fit the handle placement.




Make another bracket for spring adjustment.




Now to make the compression spring. Like before I'm winging the design. I set the lathe to 6 threads per inch for the compression part of the spring. It took me three tries before I was happy. One end has had the wire trimmed before I took the photo.



To get the tight wind at each end of the spring I disengaged the drive mechanism (the half-nut). With the half-nut engaged the middle part of the spring is created. The spring is being wound on a 1/4" rod but it expands when finished.


Here's how the spring fits on the metal slide. I'll explain the LED light shortly.




With the spring on the rod, install the adjustment bracket then move it back and forth on the rod until I get what feels like the correct snap back force. Then screw the bracket in place.





Here's the handle slide all the way to the left, as seen from the front.




Since the hole through the side of the drawer has tighter clearance than the first one I've waxed that end of the rod.




As to the LED light. I was finishing this up yesterday and the power went out in the whole neighborhood. Well guess who happens to have a mobile power supply? Me that's who. I completed work on this using the van batteries.




Milled out the slots in the Formica.




Handle attached.




Drawer installed back in the van




How the fridge cabinet looks now.



Now I can build the bottom drawer.

View of the neighborhood after sunset. Wouldn't know it but there's a street light on the pole directly behind the van.



One other point about the advantage of this latching design. If the van is stationary for a while and there's no worry about the latching the drawers then just shut them with the rod extended. The drawer sticks out less than an inch if not latched. Not enough to be in the way but enough to tell you what needs latched before you get ready to roll.

I do have one employment announcement. This is my new trainee.





Her name is Fox. Displays extraordinary energy levels along with innate curiosity but has problems with remaining focused. She's got some big paws to fill.

[shenrie]

Originally Posted by WVvan

Always wondered if he thought they were just really big squirrels.

^^^ no offence, but that made me lol.

pretty cool picture of the deer, warms the heart. animals always seem to just "know".

sorry to hear about your kitty i lost 2 within a year or so of each other and i havent been able to bring myself to get another. sometimes the heartbreak is too much. it amazes me how attached you can get so quickly to those little furballs.

fox looks like a cutie. love her eye color

...and nice job on hals cabinets. your a true diy'er. i love watching this thread!