Stays for Top Hung Locker Doors

Dowel

Forum Member
I have three high level lockers with top hung doors which need stays.

The doors are 400mm high, smallest is 420mm wide, the longest 940mm wide and weigh 0.3 to 1.35kg respectively.

Any nominations for stays worth buying or those to avoid?

Thanks for reading and in anticipation of comments.
 

mistericeman

Forum Member

Dowel

Forum Member
Thanks both @mistericeman and @trevskoda .

I like the look of the gas struts. I assume they work like gas struts on tailgates where the strut holds the door shut until it is raised part way after which the strut pushes the door further open. Unfortunately the vendor in your link has none for lighter doors but I found a seller who has 50Nm struts. Waiting for a reply as to whether there is a minimum weight from them.

trevskoda, did you buy recycled ones? Leisure Lines is not too far from home and they have what sounds similar. I need to phone them to see whether the spring pressure can be adjusted as my doors are very lightly built.
I will post again when there is some progress as I am trying to source several finishing touches. (y)
 

Pudsey Bear

Forum Member
I used these from Magnum, cheap as french fries, just springs inside so nothing to fail, if fitted properly they are also strong enough to keep the locker door closed so no need for a catch.


 

trevskoda

Forum Member
Thanks both @mistericeman and @trevskoda .

I like the look of the gas struts. I assume they work like gas struts on tailgates where the strut holds the door shut until it is raised part way after which the strut pushes the door further open. Unfortunately the vendor in your link has none for lighter doors but I found a seller who has 50Nm struts. Waiting for a reply as to whether there is a minimum weight from them.

trevskoda, did you buy recycled ones? Leisure Lines is not too far from home and they have what sounds similar. I need to phone them to see whether the spring pressure can be adjusted as my doors are very lightly built.
I will post again when there is some progress as I am trying to source several finishing touches. (y)
No i had 3 old caravans which i stripped one out, they work well, dont waste money on expensive stuff.
van c.jpg
roof to back.jpg
kitchen side.jpg
forward from beds.jpg
 

Pudsey Bear

Forum Member
Not seen those before but Hafele is good gear, not sure I would want gas struts though, surely they will apply pressure to what is essentially flimsy ply.
 

DnK

Forum Member
Not seen those before but Hafele is good gear, not sure I would want gas struts though, surely they will apply pressure to what is essentially flimsy ply.
I used 15mm light weight furniture ply for my cabinets and doors these stays are fine in that application. The struts are only under pressure in the door closed position and reducing pressure as the door opens. Would you use flimsy ply (3mm?) for cabinet doors? I guess only in a framed cabinet door in which case no problem.
 

Pudsey Bear

Forum Member
My doors were from Magnum Motorhomes.


148%2075g%20back%20to%20doing%20lockers%20long%20shot%20752013-08-15%2011.15.05.jpg



I did make some doors out of 15mm lightweight ply and put edging around them.

197%20Door%20made%20and%20face%20frame%20T%20edged%202013-09-12%2013.39.58.jpg
 

Dowel

Forum Member
Thanks for further suggestions from @Pudsey Bear @Red Dwarf @DnK

I did go to Leisure Lines aka Cak Tanks in Kenilworth who had the metal spring loaded type. No figures available for the force required to close them and no fitting instructions. I felt the springs were too strong.

I made a search for caravan breakers, the closest is the far side of Coventry so decided to give them a miss as when my time and some diesel to get there was added in I would rather have new stays.

I did buy one 80 Newton (about 8.1 kg force) Hafele gas strut, good quality but too much for my light doors so returned it to Toolstation. I also bought and returned a simple stay which when the package was examined turned out to be for a drop down door. The Toolstation catalogue failed to mention that important point!

I did consider making some sort of simple props but decided not to pursue what I expect would have taken up too much time.

I looked at the ebay vendor of gas struts recommended by mistericeman but the “gentlest” they had in stock were also 80N. I found another ebay source who have 50N struts not Hafele but possibly a good copy. I sent an ebay message as noted in my second post above but received no reply. I followed this up with an email but still no reply so far.

I have gambled on them being better at sending stuff than answering queries and hope to receive some 50N struts on Monday, fingers crossed.

I have, in parallel, also been looking for a PC fan to push some air into my coolbox locker. I sent simple queries to 3 ebay vendors. On further prompting one replied to say he cannot help as he could be held responsible if his advice caused a problem. I have not heard from the other two or had any response at all from the makers of Arctic PC fans own enquiry desk. Perhaps they have so many customers that they don’t need to answer simple queries.

Assuming that I do actually receive some struts next week I will let you all know how they do.

Nice locker doors @Pudsey Bear.
 

Pudsey Bear

Forum Member
For mine i used a few bits of scrap ply to make a very simple knock up, two bits and a old hinge then messed about til I got the position right so it both supported the door open and also held it closed, there was is minimal stress on the door or frame.
 

Dowel

Forum Member
Was expecting delivery today but received this message via ebay on the weekend:

New message from: gabifurniturecomponents

I'm sorry for my mistake and for the inconveniences.

Currently I'm out of stock with 50N gas struts.

I have issued full refund and requested to cancel the order.

Kind regards



Found another ebay supplier: eBay item number: 251389461246

Fiteo Limited

Unit 4, Trojan Industrial Estate, Borough Close, Paignton, Devon, TQ4 7EP

Now expecting delivery by Wednesday.



On a different topic duckduckgo on firefox on a windows 10 laptop will not find motorhomebuilder.com. Duckduckgo finds pages of similar or barely "related" web sites.

The same search on my Linux MX21 laptop and on my android tablet do find it OK.
 

Dowel

Forum Member
Gas struts dispatched 12th Sept, estimated delivery 15th but none so far.
Tracking says only dispatched so delayed by "Royal Mail industrial action"?
Patience is a virtue .........
 

Dowel

Forum Member
GTV Gas Struts arrived on Tuesday last week. They appear to be near identical to the Hafele struts that Toolstation sell with the exception that I was able to choose 50N struts from a wide range on ebay whereas Toolstation only stock 80N.
Dimensions are approx: Overall Length = 270mm, Centres of Ball Mounts = 245mm
gtv-gas-strut-instructions-1351crop-lighten-add-dims-jpg.5561

The GTV ones have only basic instructions, for one type of door and hinge, printed on their plastic bag. Hafele show 3 alternative ways of hanging doors so I used their table to set the positions of the ball mountings on door and cabinet frame.
Hafele Gas Strut Data Sht p.1-1214 -50%.jpg Hafele Gas Strut Data Sht p.2 -1213 -50%.jpg

The slots in the foot of the ball mounting for the door were long enough to allow fine adjustment to line up the open doors.
O'side lockers 1 & 2 -1372 -50%.jpg

The third locker was to be top hung as those adjacent but was then thought to be likely to foul a fitting on the ceiling so the hinge was fitted to the foot of the door. It turned out that the door misses the ceiling fitting so maybe I will switch back to top hung and need another one or two gas struts. Reaching into the locker over the open door is ok for me but may not be for my other half.
O'side lockers 1 to 3 -1378 -50%.jpg

I am pleased with these gas struts from Fiteo via ebay and grateful for your suggestions so thank you all for your help.

The van is in the garage for MoT today which gives me time to write this. Torrential rain shower just started so all has worked out OK!
 
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