Name: Cheap and easy ball catch latches! | Videos | Gan Jing World
Uploaded: 2023-12-01T16:25:51.906Z
Duration: 6 min 41 s
Description: This video shows how to turn a piece of PVC pipe and a golf ball into a great alternative to hook-and-eye latches. These clamp latches have just the right amoun... | Videos | Gan Jing World

pocket83

https://video1-us-east.cloudokyo.cloud/video/v6/52/9d/c9/529dc9e4-2901-4af3-a10d-33b78800a8b5/master.m3u8

This video shows how to turn a piece of PVC pipe and a golf ball into a great alternative to hook-and-eye latches. These clamp latches have just the right amount of grab to keep a door from blowing shut, but they can still be easily pulled away to close.  

Materials and dimensions: 
PVC- 1.5" ID cut to 15/16" in length. 
Golf ball- drilled to 9/64" and counter-sunk using 3/8" bit. 
Screws- (two) 1.25" for C-clamp; (one) 2.5" for ball.
*Use treated screws for exterior applications. 

Magnets:
Sure, there are such a thing as magnet latches. And they probably work great in many cases. And that has nothing to do with this video. Please don't try to up-sell me on magnetic latches. These latches are cheap, easy, and don't rust. 

Sunlight:
PVC has a long life, even being exposed to constant direct sunlight. These clamps are guaranteed for a decade, which will outlast any latch you are likely to find at the box-store. How do I know this? Look at the greenhouse in the end scene: I constructed that from PVC pipe seven years ago now, and it gets to support a foot of snow every winter. UV degradation here is a less important consideration than rust is, from the screws that you're using.   

Making it weaker/stronger:
This technique can be easily adapted to light-weight doors by just widening the gap in the PVC slightly from the example. Heavier doors may require more clamping strength. There are a few ways to do this. First, you may want to use beefier screws. The most obvious strength adjustment is to close the size of the gap that has been cut for the golf ball. If you do this, you may want to also sand a mild angle on the outer edges of the clamp (in the places that touch the golf ball) to encourage it to snap/roll into place in easier. Lengthening the pipe itself will also make the clamp more rigid. The most drastic mod would be to "cope" the PVC into a shape that better holds the golf ball- think of a monkey hugging a basketball. This closer fit could be made by starting with a PVC part that has a slightly smaller gap, and then using a drum-sander to make a concavity in the center of each of the clamp's arms. 

*****

Addressing problems:
I may have called myself lazy, but it's really industrious and practical to improve your surroundings for efficiency, because it will save you time in the long run. I started to notice that I would try to quickly move in and out of the shed hastily in order to complete my task before the peripheral inconvenience of the flapping doors could catch up with me, rather than just accept that the task at hand had certain unalterable minimum time conditions, and that my refusal to accept this reality was irrational. I'm reminded of Wile E. Coyote, who could run beyond the edge of the cliff and onto the air, where he could continue until he accepted the inescapable truth about this condition. Stop avoiding your problems and take time to address them; you will find that most of our stresses require only minor efforts to correct, while pretending not to notice them will have a cumulative affect on us- which quite often robs more of our net time than does the fix.

*****
Music:
Digya Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/