Removing the tape

I removed the tape holding the door in the correct position while the bonding set.

With a little bit of filing, the door opened fine.

Gas spring

The gas springs I'd ordered earlier could now be fitted. I drilled a hole in the body, and also one in the aluminium right-angle bars that had been bonded to the door.

Looks fine, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it doesn't work. When I closed the door, the plate I'd bonded yesterday came away.

Time for plan B

Doors - Plan B

The problem with the earlier attempt was that the part of the door attached to the spring and the hinge were separate, and the bonding wasn't strong enough. Plan B was to make a kind of a frame to hold the hinge mount and also the gas spring joint, and use GRP to hold this to the door.

While I was at it, I extended the frame to also take the catch mechanism - which took longer than I thought because the catch uses imperial bolt sizes, and I couldn't find any (although after the bottom of a box containing a large number of random nuts, bolts, washers and other bits fell out, I found some that would do for this purpose).

This is the prototype for the frame - it needs a little more work (I'll probably use some right-angle steel, and weld that to the hinge mount I made yesterday, with a hole for the gas spring). However, it was getting cold, so I called it a day.

The only problem with it is that the spring is a little severe, and I may need to release some of the gas so it doesn't try to throw the door off when it opens.