Screen Door Prop

thingiverse

I wanted a better way to hold open our garage screen door. Our cats like to explore our attached garage. By propping open the screen door (with the outside doors closed), they are free to come and go as they please. In the past, we have just jammed a shoe at the bottom of the door. This works, but it gets knocked about and constantly needs to be put back in place. This prop is designed to mount to the top of the door frame between the screen door and the interior door. Its two-piece, snap-together design allows it to rotate from the "open" position to "closed." It is a close-fit design (I didn't want it to be too sloppy). So once it's snapped together, it doesn't easily come apart. It will come apart, but it does need some coaxing with a small flat-blade screwdriver. Mount the cap to the frame with an appropriate wood screw. I didn't design the mounting hole with any specific screw in mind. I used a random screw that I found loose on my workbench. Then snap the prop into the header. The rotation is limited to a little over 90 degrees (it will not freely spin all the way around). When I mounted the cap to the header, I oriented it so the prop could be "flicked" open and it would stop with the arm perpendicular to the screen door. This is my first ever annular snap fit design, and I'm happy to say that it worked exactly as I envisioned on my first try!