Sliding glass latches

I'm stumped on this one. I've always built my own cages, and normally use hinged doors.
Years ago I built one cage with sliding glass doors and the only method of latching it was the use of a showcase lock, which requires a key to open.
This is it http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/slide_lock.jpg

Using the key every time I needed in the cage became a pain, so I never built another one with sliding doors.
Now however, I have a couple of designs that I would really like to use sliding glass with. I'm not fond of the idea of having to use a key to open a couple dozen cages though. Keyed locks are fine for venomous, but more of a bother with other snakes.
I've come up with several ideas of how a latch could work, but I can't make them myself.

Does anyone know of a type of latch that is secure without using a key? Even ideas of how to secure the doors period would be appreciated. I've thought on this for a week and just can't come up with anything I consider acceptable.
How do you guys who use Vision cages and such secure the doors?

If you look at the sliding display locks, they operate on a pretty simple principle, the key turns a screw-thread that pushes down or lets up on the small, slightly flexible bit that's shaped to slide in one direction but catch in the other...

It would probably mean making them yourself but creating something similar with a simple spring depressor rather than the screw threads balanced over a fulcrum and held in place with a pin that it can pivot over seems pretty simple... Then you would just have to depress the side over the spring, raising the other, much as the display locks do but far faster and without a key...

Picture a spring loaded clothespin, one side being the surface that slides over the (bit that's stuck to the other pane of glass and has the ridges or cut-out sections that the lock drops into) and the other being the peice that drops into the grooves (Pin I suppose, although they don't function like normal locks) and the means of easily lifting it so it can be opened...

I'm not certain if the above description made too much sense, I can see it in my brain very easily but I may be making assumptions others might not in the words I used and how I picture the device being constructed... If it makes no sense whatsoever, I'll knock up a quick illustration on the computer and post it if you're interested.

I understand what you are saying Seamus. If I take a route similar to that, I'll also make the toothed pice as well. Those locks cost from 10-15 dollars depending on where you get them, and I'd rather not have to buy them just to throw the lock away.

I've come up with 3 or 4 simple designs for different methods of acomplishing what I want to do, and it looks like whatever I do will have to be made.
I'm sure there's prime patent opportunity here, as there doesn't seem to be anything commercially made to fit this purpose.
Considering though, that the only reason one would need to lathc such doors without locking them would be if something inside, a snake for instance, could open the door.
Outside of reptile cages, there's likely no market at all for a latch that doesn't lock. Probably why there isn't such a thing made commercially.

Hey there Clay ,

The keyed locks can be a royal pain .... BUT one thing i have found in a few of my habitats & cages with sliding doors is this .
Now my habitat is 6' tall 2 ' deep and 6' wide, it uses two huge pcs of 1/4 safety glass thats are 5'x3' these slide in a "commercial grade" aluminium track and the glass has a alum. roller track( has nylon rollers) cause the glass is so heavy .Now what i was doing was using "security locks" on it there found in the window& door hardware at lowes/home depots small white clips w a thumb turn screw so all you have to do is do a 1/2 twist to make it secure the door( now depending on the track you plan on using it may or maynot work for you) plastic tracks for glass will crack with these .You had asked about neos etc for securing those? if im not mistaken they have a hole on each end of the glass that a turn pin sticks into so all you do is push/pull it to lock and unlock it ? but i can say " in my experiences " with sliding doors with the hardware i use they can be opend by a snake pressing against it , before i put locks on them i was almost daily going" field collecting in the snake room".. the simpliest way i could think of to keep doors shut and not need a lock or keyed device would to be make a safety stick kinda like for sliding patio doors lol not sure in what way the sliding tracks you plan to use would manage but i guess that would be a " bandaid fix" lol hope i was of a lil help

I use the keyed lock on all my Vision cages because I don't want even the slightest chance of escape and most of my Visions house large boas (6-7 feet in length). As for the price of the locks, if you're paying more than $5 each, you're getting ripped off. Both Lowes and Home Depot carry display case locks (usually on the same isle as their other locks) and most of them are between $2-$5 each.

I have also used a small thumb screw locking device for sliding glass doors. It's a small metal piece - kind of F shaped. Imagine the top bar of the F as where the thumb screw is, the second bar of the F sets in the track, and the point of the F presses against the glass. The screw digs into the outermost portion of the track and the point of the F supposedly keeps the glass from sliding (I found that a small piece of electrical or duct tape on the glass where the metal hits prevents any scratching and helps keep the glass from sliding against the metal). The screw will dig a divit into the track, so plastic tracks are out because they will split or crack under the pressure. I personally don't care for this type of mechanism, I just don't have 100% faith in it even though my snake never escaped while I used it. I just like a keyed lock I guess.

Dianne

Since it was brought back up... I decided to display my serious lack of graphic manipulation skills and post that... um... sketch... I mentioned in my first post...

Just a small note, I don't think the concern was about cost so much as it was convenience... finding a solution that didn't require a key and could be opened faster. The cost was mentioned because there are two parts to those sliding locks so unless the entire apparatus is being modified, it's not woth the money to throw away the actual lock.

Anyway...

Really... really... really bad picture but it sort of works...

The blue peice would be a spring mechanism, identical to those used on spring loaded clothespins, a simple twist of wire held beetween angled peices to maintain pressure.

The flat line along the bottom would be the peice that slides inside the curled edges of the portion attached to the pane of glass.

The triangular peice in the center is a fulcrum, or more likely dual fulcrums, one on each side, with space in the middle and a pin used between the two to hold the top peice...

The top peice, shown at an angle with a blob at one end, would be the peice that would actually be depressed down one side, lifting the... um... blob... that would actually be resting inside the slots on the second peice. The only really important aspect to it be that it hangs over the edge of the "flat line along the bottom" in order to function properly and maintain the proper pressure against the fulcrum and spring.

Ideally there would be something extending out in front of the section that would be resting within the notches in order to maintain a tighter pressure against the edge of the opposite peice of glass.

Despite my difficulty in communicating the subject, I know... in my head at least... exactly what I'm trying to say... I might get out some sheet metal, a spring or two and a sautering gun and see if I can knock up a few working models... if I have any smaller peices of sheet metal here that is... I should, considering the... random useless stuff... I have accumulated but I'll have to check.

If anyone thinks they can understand my inane ramblings and might be able to knock together a better picture, I'd appreciate it. For now however, I'm going to see if I can find my tin snips (I last saw them someplace in my kitchen... I think).

It may not be too terribly pleasing, aesthetically speaking, but what about a simple hook and eye latch? Could you not have a small hole drilled into the upper corner of your glass plate, attach an eyebolt with a hook in the eye, and then attach another eye bolt in the outside of the frame for the glass/track?

That way, the glass could not go any further back than what that hook would allow (and you could minimize that amount by making certain the hook just fit tightly into the second eye bolt), the connection/disconnection could be made with one hand, and if the glass were snugly inside the tracks, a snake could not push its way out.

Again, this may not be what you are wanting for several reasons, but it seems simple enough, easy enough, and cost efficient. it may be too simplistic or too ugly to abide, but that would be up to the owner, I suspect.

Just a thought . . .

That raises an entirely new question and opens a huge number of options that I hadn'e even considered...

Clay, were you planning on using tempered or non-tempered glass for the doors?

Non-tempered, with the ability to drill into it offers a whole, huge new range of possibilities for latches or non-key locking mechanisms.

As for the price of the locks, if you're paying more than $5 each, you're getting ripped off. Both Lowes and Home Depot carry display case locks (usually on the same isle as their other locks) and most of them are between $2-$5 each.

I only purchased one of these locks years ago and that was from a glass specialty shop. I have never looked for them anywhere else because I didn't like them.
As Seamus said, the price is not the issue, it's the aggravation of having to use a key to access the cage. This is a needless bother for me and it gets compounded when you consider applying that to 40 or more snake cages. Feeding time would become very tiring.
A keyed lock is fine for a venomous cage, but I don't want to be bothered with it for anything else.

Clay, were you planning on using tempered or non-tempered glass for the doors?

Non tempered of course. Tempered glass is just too bothersome. I need to be able to cut the glass to fit what I have built, as that is the last step of my method of construction.

I had considered drilling the glass, but I wasn't sure if that was something I could do myself. I don't know what tools are involved.

I actually have reworked the design I was developing and eliminated the sliding glass doors there in favor of a modified hinged door. I haven't built one of these units yet though, so it may look better in my mind than it will in reality.
I still have a couple of other ideas floating around though where sliding doors would be handy.
Another problem I have always had with sliding doors is you only have access to roughly half the cage at a time. I'm working on a design where two cages will be built in a single unit side by side. In essence one sliding glass door will make the front for both cages so that when one section of the door is opened, that piece of glass slides in front of the adjoining cage and you have full access to the other.
This just makes cleaning easier, as well as catching a skittish snake that will invariably retreat to the other end of the cage causing you to have to slide the doors back and forth.
The limits with this design though will restrict the size of snake that can be housed in the cage. It won't be practical to apply this to cages that have to be four feet long, as that would make the entire unit twice that length and very difficult to move about.
Currently though, I am just looking at a complete over haul of my colubrid caging so that leaves much more open to consideration.

I realise that price wasn't the complaint but rather the whole locking thing - that's why I mentioned the other type of device. Though personally I found the thumb screw device more annoying than the locks. There were two reasons why I did mention pricing though. First, because you might be able to modify the shank portion of the lock to close your sliding glass doors without having to use the lock itself. And second, because there might be someone else reading who does like the locks and can find them cheaper at a hardware store. As another thought, you might want to consider looking at Lowes or Home Depot where the display case locks are as there might be another fastener that would work for your purposes. Or you could also look around where they have their sliding glass patio doors - there are a number of non-locking theft detering devices on the market for patio doors that might work for your designs.

Also, someone mentioned the drilled glass idea. On the old Neodesha cage I had, there was one pane of sliding glass for the whole front of the cage (36" if I remember correctly). On both ends there was a hole drilled through the glass and the lip of the cage. All I had to use to keep the glass in place was a clip (I personally used one of the clips you find on the end of a dog leash). A pin mechanism would also work I would think.

Dianne