![]() ![]() Now would be a good time to measure, and cut your dowel. ![]() With this information you should now have an idea of how far away to mount the solenoid, and how long you need the steel dowel to be. Take your measurements and figure out the distance of throw on your solenoid. With the pivot pin, dowel, spring and solenoid all attached now, you'll start to get a better idea how best to mount this up. You may need to make adjustments, and the springs will get in your way. The other end of the spring will be secured to the mounting surface, but wait until the very end to attach the other end. ![]() You need to separate the legs of the retainer clip and thread the spring end through before inserting into the pivot pin, bending and clipping the ends off. Refer to the picture to see how I attached the return springs to the solenoid. Once the hole is drilled, situate the dowel where it needs to be and insert the pivot pin. This is one of those steps that may be completely different for you, but the way my solenoids are built, I had to drill it as close to the end of the rod as possible. You'll need to drill a hole through the steel dowel big enough to fit the pivot pin. IMPORTANT! -Make sure that you line up the holes well before drilling, and check your work after every step to make sure everything still lines up. ![]() Holes were drilled through the strike plates, steel reinforcements, and wood to accommodate the steel dowel. The strike plates (the metal plates mounted to the door frame) are scrap steel I had laying around. I reinforced the vertical pass-through with some framing hardware I found at Home Depot. I used the left-over wood to make the horizontal mounting surface that the solenoids attach to. For my door, I had to add a vertical support for the bolt to pass through. I see great potential for a standard roll-up garage door with the solenoid mounted to the door frame, and the bolt going through the track and into the door itself. I'll use my end result as the example from here out, but use this guide as a loose how-to while building yours. This would look a lot cleaner and keep the electrical contacts under wraps.įigure out the best way to mount the lock on your door, it may end up looking drastically different from mine, as I have a funky 1/2 garage that barely fits my motorcycle. Another improvement on my design would be to use a small hobby box as an enclosure for each solenoid. This will help the bolt to stay extended, and make a great noise as the bolt closes. Optionally, you can buy a couple of magnets to mount inside the recessed mounting hole. Solder and shrink tubing work better, but are harder to get apart if you should need to. Depending on what kind of connections your solenoids have, you'll probably want to get some crimp-on connectors. Hardware In addition to the above, you'll need 2 return springs per solenoid used, 1/2" steel dowel rod (about $6.00 for 3'), an extension cable long enough to reach your outlet with enough to spare for some additional wiring, and possibly some bits of steel for reinforcement. Search for "X10 Keychain Kit" or "RC6500" on eBay to find the one I bought. This is a simple kit that includes the receiver/appliance module and one remote. X10 Controller I got my X10 controller (Keychain Remote type) on eBay for about $15.00 shipped. Read up on the various types of solenoids here. IMPORTANT! - Make sure you get a continuous duty solenoid, some solenoids are only meant to be energized momentarily, which will cause a problem if you leave them energized and walk away. Some of them are very strong, and your options for powering the lock in the event of a power outage are greater. Here is what you'll need to build your own remote control deadbolt: Solenoid I used two 110V solenoids out of an icemaker, but you may want to build your lock using DC solenoids. ![]()
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