There are many
hidden costs that most of us do not think about when starting a
rabbitry. While most of them are small and insignificant on their own,
they can quickly add up to become quite a tidy sum. One of the things
we do here at TAP rabbitry to cut down on costs is to make as many of
the items that we need ourselves whenever possible. If you have read
my series on cage building on our blog, then you will note that the
one thing that I did not cover in that three part series of cage
building was the making of the cage door latches.
A cage no matter how
well it is built is not very secure without a good latch. Now there
quite a few cage latching options available on the internet, some are
better than others and the prices of such latches is somewhat
variable. Although cage latches are not overly expensive $0.85 to
$1.50 a piece, if you need say 30 latches this small price could
easily cost you a cash outlay of $25.50 to $45.00 depending on the
type of latch you are buying. The great thing is that you can make
your own cage latches for free in just a few minutes using materials that most of us have
around the house.
The focus of this
article is to show you how to make the most common form of cage latch
available for purchase on the internet for free. That's right, I said
for free! Today, I am going to show you how to make the same sturdy
and secure cage latches that we use here at TAP rabbitry out of
ordinary metal coat hangers that most of you have hanging in your
closet. Now, the type of hanger we will be using is the full metal
coat hanger, not the type you get from the cleaners with the
cardboard tube at the bottom. In order for this to work, you need a
one piece complete metal coat hanger. Once cut and straightened, each
coat hanger will produce two complete cage latches.
There are a few
items and or small tools that are not totally necessary, but they
will help make this process quite a bit easier. The first is a 1 inch
scrap piece of PVC pipe in which to wrap the metal wire around. A
small bench vise makes it easy to hold the PVC in place, but if you
do not have a bench vise, you can screw the PVC pipe to a bench or
scrap piece of 2x4 then clamp the 2x4 to your bench or table. In
addition, you will need a pair of vise-grip and needle nose pliers.
The Steps
Before we can begin
to start making the latches, we need to cut and straighten out the
coat hangers. You want to cut the coat hangers near the neck (see
picture above) then straighten them out as best you can. You should have
a semi-straight piece of wire approximately 34 inches in length
overall. Take this wire and cut it into two equal parts (each should
be about 17 inches long). Once you have all the wire cut for the
number of latches you need, you can start making your latches.
Step: 1 – Take
your 17 inch wire and make a small hook in the end about ½ to 1 inch
in length with your needle nose pliers. Then place the wire with the hook about 1 inch past the
edge of the PVC pipe and clamp it into place with your vise-grip
pliers.
Step: 2 – Then
bend the wire around the pipe to make a U-shaped bend.
Step: 3 – Remove
the wire from the pipe and then move your hand down the straight end
of the wire until it is even with the hook above and make a 90 degree
bend in the pipe.
Step : 4 – With
your vise-grip pliers, clamp the wire to the PVC pipe at the 90
degree bend. Then take the straight end of the wire and wrap it
around the PVC pipe twice to complete your latch. When done the
straight end of the wire should be pointing downward.
Congratulations you
have just made your own cage door latch in four easy steps. That's
all there is to it, now when you attach the latch to your specific
cage door you may need to make a slight bend or modification here and
there depending on the type and size of the cage wire that your cages
are made of. This simple latch can be used on either the top of the
door or the right side. If you have a door that swings open to the
left, simply flipping the latch upside down and it will still work
perfectly. I know because we had to do that to one of our cages.
Conclusion
I realize that cage
latches are relatively cheap, and feel free to purchase commercial
latches if you want, know one is going to beat you up for it, at
least not us anyway. However, if you want to save a few dollars,
there are few latches easier to make then this type. Having said all
of that, these latches are made from hanger wire, and if they are on
an outside hutch, they will eventually begin to rust. On our outside
hutches, our original latches are about three years old, and I made
new ones for this article to replace a few that have become pretty
rusty. Making these latches only cost me 30 minutes of my time, and
heck it was raining outside anyway, so it was a good time to do some
cage maintenance. As always, we ask that if you find this
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