Paul B
NJRC Member
OK, I am sure no one is going to do this, but I needed a way to close the front hatch of my wall that my tank is in so that if anyone dropped it, it would not break the glass of the tank. When I put the tank in the wall in 1979 I added a screen door closer that you can see here above my Supermodel wife. (This picture was from years ago when I had the Plaza Hotel MH lights on the tank, they are now DIY LEDs but lets not dwell on that) The thing worked fine for all those years. The problem with a screen door closer is that it is built to close the door and do so without slamming. I didn't need to close the hatch because I have gravity for that and the screen door closer pulled down on the hatch so that it felt very heavy.
So I bought a new closer (piston) and drilled a 1" hole in it. Then I cut and snaked out the greasy spring that is there to pull the door closed. I covered it in black electrical tape so it wouldn't get rusty. Now it closes nice and slow, even if I let it go. And it is very light. I added some magnets to hold the hatch closed tight.
I have been meaning to do this for 40 years but never got around to it until today.
So I bought a new closer (piston) and drilled a 1" hole in it. Then I cut and snaked out the greasy spring that is there to pull the door closed. I covered it in black electrical tape so it wouldn't get rusty. Now it closes nice and slow, even if I let it go. And it is very light. I added some magnets to hold the hatch closed tight.
I have been meaning to do this for 40 years but never got around to it until today.
