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SEAN J. WILSON & SCOTT A. GARDNER SEARCH & DESTROY FIRE TRAINING, LLC
SEARCH & DESTROY FIRE TRAINING, LLC SEAN J. WILSON & SCOTT A. GARDNER, LEAD INSTRUCTORS 5150 HAMPSHIRE DRIVE / SHELBY TWP., MI 48316 586-231-1478 SEARCHANDDESTROYFE@FE.COM
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PORTABILITY BY DESIGN
One thing we intentionally designed our door to be, is PORTABLE. Working by myself, I can disassemble and load the door into the 6 bed of my Chevy Colorado. I can also unload and assemble it by myself, though its MUCH easier with help. We teach a lot of off-site classes, so portability was something that was very important to us. However if you only intend to use this at your fire station with no intention of moving it, its components could be welded together more easily and with less drilling.
Bolts:
7/16 x 3 Grade-8 bolts, quantity 15 7/16 x 4 Grade-8 bolts, quantity 12 7/16 x 6 Grade-8 bolts, quantity 4 3/8 x 6 Grade-8 bolts, quantity 6
RAW MATERIALS
Where the hell do I get all this friggin heavy-ass steel from?...Home Depot? Menards?
Your best bet is to find the local metal mart.in our case, it was a place called, uh, Metal Mart. What you need is the wholesale supplier to local welders and fabricators. Theyll likely also do custom cutting and bending. If its not one of your hang-outs already, Im sure you can find the place in your area pretty quickly online. Failing that, stop in at your nearest welding shop and ask around. Also, if you dont know how to weld, buddy up to the guy or guys on your department who do and get them to teach you, or better yet involve them in the project. Paying a welding shop to do this work for you can get pricey. At least in my area (Metro Detroit), the going rate for welding is about $60/hour.
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TOOLS LIST
Youll need a number of tools, including: Welder Drill press (bench-top is okay, but it must be bolted down) corded drill cobalt drill bit airline drill bit (extra long bit) Large C-clamps Bench grinder Angle grinder Chop saw K12 rotary saw (optional, comes in handy if you plan on trimming the diamond plate yourself) Table saw (for cutting dimensional lumber after the prop is built)
Top-Piece U-Channel
NOMENCLATURE
Door-stop U-Channel
Handle
Upright Support
Base
STAGE ONE:
BASE & FRAME
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DIAMOND-PLATE BASE
The footprint we ended up with is rectangular, measuring 48 x 56 ( diamond plate). We cut the corners off, but thats completely optional. Had we known what wed need at the time, we couldve saved quite a bit of money. Not being certain, we ended up buying a monstrous 5 x 8 sheet of diamond plate. Weve used the leftover diamond plate for other projects, but youll do much better ordering it custom-cut to those dimensions and not have to cut it down yourself later.
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6 x 6 Steel 8 Tall
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5- I.D.
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U-CHANNEL TOP-PIECE
We had a custom U-channel bent for us out of 1/8 steel, but 3/16 would also be fine if you want to go heavier. If portability is desirable for you, then a U-channel top-piece is the way to go. However, if this prop is going to be permanent-party in a corner of your apparatus bay forever, you could more easily just weld another piece of dimensional steel to your uprights. This U-channel is 48 long.
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U-CHANNEL TOP-PIECE
Ill be damned if I remember how I drilled these out to match. I cant remember if I clamped the upright and the U-channel together and drilled them out together, or if I just used a drilling template for each individually and was very careful in my measurement, and precise in my drilling. I drilled these out with a airline bit, (extra long bit). We use 3/8 X 6 Grade-8 bolts and wing-nuts. Its good to have a little play. Im pretty sure I clamped them.
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TRAPEZOID-BRACE
We put a brace on the hinge-side upright-support. We decided to do only one so that it wouldnt be a tripping hazard during evolutions. As it turns out, its really not that obtrusive. If I were you, Id do one on each side just for what-the-hell. You can put one on the hinge-side early in the process, but I wouldnt do the lock-side upright until everything is settled with the spacing of the uprights.
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TRAPEZOID-BRACE DIMENSIONS
We had this trapezoid custom-cut for us. Its 1/8 steel. I believe the bottom-side is 20 wide, the top-side is 5 wide, and the sides taper up to be 7 tall.
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STAGE TWO:
THE DOOR
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DOOR, PART 1
For our door, we chose a heavy, commercial-grade hollow-core metal door that wed had donated to us from a local door and window company. The door is 36 wide, and we cut it down so that it is 48 tall. You could also consider fabricating your own door of the same dimensions out of box-steel and plate-steel. Just an idea. The door is reinforced by 2 x 2 angle-iron attached horizontally at the top and bottom, and by a 1/8 U-channel covering both sides and the edge the middle third of the door on the lock-side. The U-channel is formed by an L-bracket and a plate surrounding the door and then welded together where they meet.
48 tall
36
wide
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DOOR, PART 2
We reinforced the top and bottom horizontal edges of the door with two pieces of 2 x 2 angle-iron. We cut our angle-iron down to 24, you could go wider (up to full-width) if youd like.
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DOOR, PART 3
We created our own homemade U-channel to protect and reinforce the door by connecting two custom-made pieces. The first, an 1/8 steel plate measuring 18 x 30. The second, an 1/8 steel plate bent into an L-bracket, with its face measuring 18 x 30, and the small angle of the L bent to 1-7/8 I.D. (most doors are 1-3/4 thick). In retrospect, I would probably use 3/16 steel for both.
1-7/8 L-Bracket 18
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DOOR, PART 4
We created our own homemade U-channel to protect and reinforce the door by connecting two custom-made pieces. The first, an 1/8 steel plate measuring 18 x 30. The second, an 1/8 steel plate bent into an L-bracket, with its face measuring 18 x 30, and the small angle of the L bent to 1-7/8 I.D. (most doors are 1-3/4 thick). In retrospect, I would probably use 3/16 steel for both. Drill out the plate L-bracket together for the best fitment upon installation onto the door. Use the plate as a template to mark the door, and drill out the door. Use cobalt bit for all holes. Install plate and L-bracket using 7/16 x 3 Grade-8 bolts and hex nuts. Once installed, weld plate and bracket together.
1-7/8
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Mount wood-boxes same distance from top and boMom edge of door
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STAGE THREE:
THE HINGES
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HINGES, PART 1
Our hinges are of a fairly simple design, at least when compared with the elaborately elegant type of hinges mounted on springs on some of the commercially-available doors. If youd like some good plans for a spring-hinge design, check out FROZEN LEATHER TRAINING, they have a link to plans for their design.
We decided to go this route for simplicitys sake. The give in our prop when gapping it relies, not on springs, but on the muscle required to flex the door and the top-piece. We thought when building this prop that the door would be fairly strong, but sacrificial, and have to be changed every few classes. Three years and thousands of forces later, its a little warped but still in good shape.
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HINGES, PART 2
The hinge-plates you see here are steel plate, and both measure 5 x 5. Were I to do this again, I would make the door-side hinge-plate 5 high by 10 wide to allow for easier mounting of doors regardless of door-width. The hinges are the most complicated part for most of the FE door-props that you see. I dont remember the EXACT order of assembly for these, but I will explain all that I remember about the process and provide ample pictures.
Upright-side 5 x 5
Make door-side 5 x 10
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HINGES, PART 3
This is the basic design we settled on, though we ended up using rectangular steel box rather than square simply because it fit better. I dont recall the exact size of the tubing we used for the actual hinges, but suffice it to say its thick steel, and its inner diameter is large enough for a 7/16 x 6 Grade-8 bolt to be dropped in VERY EASILY for use as a hinge-pin. In fact, we started off using the same length Grade-8 bolt, but it was easier to line it up and drop it in with the smaller size. When youre metal shopping, bring a 7/16 Grade-8 bolt with you to measure for I.D. The rectangular steel box is 1 x 1-.
HINGE TUBING
PLATE STEEL
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HINGES, PART 4
The hinge tubing we measured to a 5 length, then cut into three equal parts (you do the math, that was years ago!). I seem to recall that we connected all three tube sections with the hinge-pin loosely, then welded each section to its respective hinge-plate.
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HINGE-PINS
7/16 x 6 Grade-8 hex bolts. A nut should not be necessary. The hingetubing that you use should fairly thick steel, and of a large enough diameter that these hinge-pins drop in easily. On ours, a bolt will fit in the tubing, but a little too snugly for easy drop-in insertion, so we use 7/16. Keep it loose and easy to assemble.
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HINGES, PART 5
Next, we fabricated the rest of the door-side hinge more or less according to our plans, and attached them to the door with 7/16 x 4 Grade-8 bolts. Again, I recommend using a wider door-side hinge-plate than we did so to have more flexibility with door-width if you need to change out the door down the road.
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HINGES, PART 6
For mounting your hinges, mount them equidistant from the top and bottom of the door. That is, mount the top-hinge the same distance from the top of the door as the bottomhinge is from the bottom of the door. Again, this will aid in making the door reversible later if you so choose. The next few pages are all pics of the hinges, should you need them for reference.
Mount hinges the same distance from the top and boMom edge of the door
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HINGES, PART 6
As I recall, to mount the hinge-plates to the upright-side, we first installed both top and bottom door-side hinges to the door. Then we measured to get a ball-park idea of where the TOP upright-side hinge was going to be welded. Next, we connected the top upright-side hinge to the door-hinge and dropped the hinge-pin in. Finally, we used a floor-jack underneath the door to jack the door up into its proper position while steadying it with our hands. Once in place, we marked the spot, lowered the door, separated the hinge-plates, and welded the upright-side hinge-plate onto the upright.
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HINGES, PART 7
For the BOTTOM hinge, we did more or less the same thing. We started by connecting the door-side hinge to the upright-side hinge with the hinge-pin. However, rather than jacking it up, we merely attached the door to the upright at the top hinge. From there, we manually held the door in its proper place to mark it, lowered the door, and welded the bottom upright-side hinge onto the upright.
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STAGE FOUR:
DOOR-STOP & WOOD-BOX
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DOOR-STOP, PART 1
For our door-stop we used a very beefy piece of flat steel measuring thick by 2 wide. These dimensions mimic perfectly the door-stop found on your average commercial steel jamb. This is a SOLID piece of steel. So it wont be too close to some of the bolt-heads mounted on the door, order this door-stop cut to 26 and center it on the 30 U-channel.
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DOOR-STOP, PART 2
If you use 5 x 5 for your uprights, mount your door-stop centered horizontally on the upright (not on the U-channel). Quite frankly, this is a good reason to use 5 x 5. Not only is it easier to mount so that the door will be flush, but if you mount hinge-plates on either side of the hingeside upright, your door can be reversible.
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STAGE FIVE:
FINISHING TOUCHES
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HANDLES
This suckers heavy. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise. We made our handles out of some small-diameter round stock. We put it in a bench vise and heated the areas we wanted bent with a small torch, and beat it into shape with a hand-sledge. Then cut the excess bottom pieces off with a chop-saw. Not too hard. The ones you see here are 7 wide. You could also go to a good auto spring shop and have a couple of shallow, wide U-bolts bent. Make sure your welds on these are good! You dont want to be carrying the diamond plate and find out you did a lousy job on the one thats over your foot.
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U-CHANNEL TOP-PIECE
We use wing-nuts on our U-channel. Hand-tight works just fine.
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HINGE-PULL ATTACHMENT
Youve probably been wondering what the hell that apparatus mounted on the side of our door is. If you havent figured it out yet, its a hinge-pull prop. We have a separate PDF covering how to build this prop, contact us if youd like a copy of it. Its a fun add-on, and cheap to build (by comparison).
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REVERSIBILITY BY DESIGN
Because we have centered everything on the door and on the upright, this door is easily reversible by simply welding duplicate hinge-plates onto the opposite side of the hinge-side upright. Youll flip the door upside-down and attach it that way. Youll also need to put another wood-box on the opposite side of the lock-side upright. Minimal investment of time if youve got the welder warmed up already. Shoot, you could make all your hinge-plates and wood-boxes in one batch. This will enable you to diversify your training, and demonstrate the differences in technique required by the dimensions and physics of a halligan bar when forcing both left-handed and right-handed opening doors.
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Avoid people who would belittle your ambitions. The small-minded will always do that. The truly great make us feel that we, too, can become great. Mark Twain
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