Lopi Freedom Door catch

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bob95065

Burning Hunk
Aug 13, 2013
237
Felton, CA
I am restoring a Lopi Freedom wood stove that I got in very poor condition from a craigslist ad. I restored the door and in the process I disassembled it. I polished the brass front, sanded and painted the rusty frame and replaced the broken glass.

I put the door back together last night and for the life of my I can't figure out which way the little catch goes on the shaft of the handle. I tried several ways and it doesn't seem right to me. Can someone please post a picture of the catch on the inside of the door so I can see how it goes on the handle shaft?

TIA,

Bob
 
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Its got a little slope on the outer edge of the end piece, that gradually gets the door to pull inward and tighten on the gasket. It only goes one way and tightens to the clockwise rotation of the handle. Lopi used that handle/cog for years, I always thought one of the nicer designs out there, similar to Quad's design too.
 
I got the door catch sorted out. I am restoring this stove from a basket case and I wasn't sure how the catch went in because I hadn't put the new door gasket on yet. With no gasket the door won't latch. Once i put the new gasket in the door that filled the gap the latch stayed shut.

It would seem to me that they would have been better off with a doorclatch that closed when rotating the handle down instead of up.