Barefoot wrote:Planovet wrote: ...I think the positioning of the struts is placing too much tension on the hinge. In my humble opinion, you should reverse the strut mounting positions. I know you will have some holes to cover but I think it will help put less stress on the hinge. Here is a discussion on the subject, red highlights are my own.
_________
I agree. As it is, the struts are mainly lifting the hinge (as you saw) instead of mainly lifting the hatch. Seriously consider moving the top mounting points closer to the middle or bottom end of the hatch sides, repositioning the bottom mounting points if needed. You may even find you don't such stout strts, as the leverage will be so much better.
Exactly – what is happening is that because the attachment load is close to the hinge, the load is also higher. The load decreases until you get all the way to the bottom of the hatch. Of course, at that point, it will no longer open it enough; so, you have to strike a balance and get it as far to the bottom as possible and still have it open enough. After the attach point is about half way to the bottom of the hatch the reaction at the hinge should drop near zero, and the hatch is now balanced at the attach point. If that doesn’t open enough, you could cheat to back toward the hinge, but… you could end up back where you started.
This is actually why a stick with a fitting on wither end isn’t such a bad idea, even though it seems low-tech.
Mark (& Cindi) 
