Magnetic Hatch

[Palmerama]

Creating my own magnetic hatch, any advice on doing this before I start cutting and inserting the magnets.

I have a hatch approx. 300mm long, I intend to insert a dowel in the front end and 4 magnets, 2 mid way and 2 at the rear.

I took my magnets from magnetic door catches:

 

Both the metal strips easily pop out to reveal the magnets

 

[Dave Towell]

Try www.e-magnetsuk.com and there neodyium magnets. They are lose magnets and not in a bracket but work really well.

[Pete B]

Hi,

I'm not sure those magnets will be powerful enough - I've found they're not that reliable on cupboard doors. I think you'd be better using neodymium magnets as they are much more powerful. I've bought some from here and there are many other suppliers on the web. I paid about £3 for 20 plus postage so they are not expensive and they come in all shapes and sizes.

 

Pete

[Terry Whiting]

I used magnets from a damaged outrunner, I only required one to hold a 30cm canopy

of my BA Hawk. One dowel in the front, two 3mm squ strips glued lengthwise to the caopy base, these eliminated side movement, I epoxied the magnet to the fuselage, and inlaid a piece of tinplate to the canopy .

Works just fine

[Ernie]

Hi Guys, Neodymium are just great, they are very very powerful, much better than the door latch type.  The main problem is fixing them to the airframe..They are best built into the structure

ernie

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Palmerama]

I only added 2 of the magnets as they seem strong enough!

 

Here's the dowel in the front.

 

2 x Magnets fitted!

 

Testing and they hold ok, I had to jerk the model to get the magnets to release the hatch, nearly hitting model on the floor in the process. Releases ok if done properly (I don't recommend jerking in mid air)

[Pete B]

I agree, it's likely to get the plane diverted these days..............

 

Pete

[Doug Ireland]

Small round "Rare Earth" magnets, available from e-bay. very powerful!