Fire Panel tutorial

[jackpilot]

Here is a "minimal," but illustrated!, tutorial to make your own FireHandles.
These handles are homemade with very ordinary materials.
They are nevertheless bulletproof, feel right and work flawlessly.

I DID NOT build them, they were a gift from my good friend, Peter Cos.
They had been designed and built for him, long ago, by a brilliant handcrafter, his Father in law, Adrian Popescu at a time when FDS had no mechanical design/work capacity.
While easy to replicate , these are a precious and unique prototype, result of countless hours of creative ingenuity.
I wrote this little guide as a tribute to Adrian who passed away last year
1) General principle
A threaded rod which links at one end with the Handle is inserted in a tube, with a spring contained between a sliding retainer (which moves in the tube) and another one fixed to the tube. .
The tension of the spring is adjusted with the bolt holding the sliding retainer
Another bolt. on the other side of the fixed retainer limits the travel backward.(See diag..sorry for the rough drawing))




2) A pin, inserted in the rod, travels forward and left or right in the T shaped channel of the tube, guiding the Handle to do what it is supposed to. (being pulled and turned either side)
Two micro lever switches allow interfacing. (See Pic)

3) Handles are made of layers of plexiglass with embedded LEDs and the top part is engraved.

[Trevor Hale]

Thanks again for posting this Jack.  Seriously, this is the most incredible way of doing this.  Cheers to all that were involved in creating it..  Extra thanks for taking the time to show us how it is done.

Trev

[Bob Reed]

I had been trying to decide how I was going to do this. Now I know.. Thanks Jack!

[ivar hestnes]

Very nice work there Jack

[saabpilot]

Thanks Jack,   

Great little article that will come in handy when we will "upgrade" the Fire Supression panels.

Best,
Bjorn