Drawer latches, nitinol, solenoids, etc.

From: Mike Turco (miketurco_at_yahoo-nospam4me.com)
Date: 06/29/04 

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 11:23:25 -0700

I'm lookin' for a drawer latch that I can drive with a mosfet. What I have
is more-or-less like a cash register drawer. I'd like to find something
inexpensive -- or at least less expensive than designing my own latch and
having to have it sent out to be made. Quantities are low, probably ten or
twenty a month.

I'd like to avoid bringing in a 12V line for a solenoid, although (I
suppose) a dc-dc converter is possible.

I was hoping to keep the current for the entire product below 100ma, and the
electronics only pull a few mA. I was thinking that maybe I could charge up
a capacitor or something and then use that stored energy to kick open the
solenoid. Off-hand, that doesn't sound practical, but I thought I'd mention
it.

I've also been thinking about making (or finding) a nitinol latch. It
resolves the issue of the 12V, and the whole mechanism will probably be less
expensive than one driven by a solenoid.

Another, possibly inexpensive way to go about this would be to use a small
motor and a few plastic gears to drive a pin.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Remote Trunk Latch on Concorde not working...
    ... most likely cause would be a faulty solenoid on the latch. ... Glenn Beasley ... I opened everything up and found that it was a bad connector on the solenoid. ...
    (rec.autos.makers.chrysler)
  • Re: trying to make an electromagnet
    ... Use a solenoid to pull back the latch and release the ... > ballcock, thus refilling the tank. ... solenoid pushing the ballcock away from it to start the watering cycle. ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)