[kmeinke]

I have three pocket doors on my Coach (Coach number 1517) and two open and close perfectly .  The third door opens perfectly but when it closes, it stops about 1 inch short.  There are no delays or strange sounds, it just stops about an inch short.

I am going to Newell in March for the annual maintenance and it can wait until then, but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to why this is happening

Ken

[Jonestead]

I have the same issue...what did Newell find?

[kmeinke]

I have the same issue...what did Newell find?

I ended up fixing it before we got to Newell.  In the mid bath, above the vanity, there is an adjustment piece where you can add or reduce air pressure re the door.  I added a bit of pressure  and it now opens all of the way.  It took about 10 minutes once I knew what to do

[Richard]

Arch,

You may have to go on a hunt here. Let’s start with how the door works. It rides on a inverted C channel track with rollers. So check for obstructions on the track. Also check to see if the door is warped. Some of them had mirrors on one side which over time can cause the door to bend and therefore obstruct before closing.

After that you can try increasing the pressure to the door. Close by your 12V compressor there should be a pressure regulator. It is probably set somewhere between 50 and 60 psig. That regulated air goes to the doors, the slide seal(s), and the potty. Careful with just jacking it up because the potty will start to malfunction at higher air pressures.

If none of that addresses the problem, then you go on an Easter egg hunt to find the actuator. It is going to be somewhere close to the air cylinder in the door hidden behind some carpeted panels. I can’t tell you which ones, or how to find the screws to remove them, because no two Newells are alike. Welcome to a big watch out on the forum. What you see on yours may not match what some other owner sees on theirs. When you find the actuator, you probably will find some adjustable exhaust mufflers on the exhaust ports on the actuator. Newell uses those adjustable ports to regulate the speed of the door opening and closing. You could try unscrewing the adjustment a bit to see if that makes a difference.

And one last somewhat remote possibility is that the door has become uncoupled from the cylinder. The door is not directly coupled to a pneumatic cylinder. It is coupled to the cylinder magnetically. The purpose being that you are supposed to be able to force the door open if needed. Good luck with that ! But in some cases the door could not be perfectly aligned with the magnet.

[[email protected]]

Arch,

You may have to go on a hunt here. Let’s start with how the door works. It rides on a inverted C channel track with rollers. So check for obstructions on the track. Also check to see if the door is warped. Some of them had mirrors on one side which over time can cause the door to bend and therefore obstruct before closing.

After that you can try increasing the pressure to the door. Close by your 12V compressor there should be a pressure regulator. It is probably set somewhere between 50 and 60 psig. That regulated air goes to the doors, the slide seal(s), and the potty. Careful with just jacking it up because the potty will start to malfunction at higher air pressures.

If none of that addresses the problem, then you go on an Easter egg hunt to find the actuator. It is going to be somewhere close to the air cylinder in the door hidden behind some carpeted panels. I can’t tell you which ones, or how to find the screws to remove them, because no two Newells are alike. Welcome to a big watch out on the forum. What you see on yours may not match what some other owner sees on theirs. When you find the actuator, you probably will find some adjustable exhaust mufflers on the exhaust ports on the actuator. Newell uses those adjustable ports to regulate the speed of the door opening and closing. You could try unscrewing the adjustment a bit to see if that makes a difference.

And one last somewhat remote possibility is that the door has become uncoupled from the cylinder. The door is not directly coupled to a pneumatic cylinder. It is coupled to the cylinder magnetically. The purpose being that you are supposed to be able to force the door open if needed. Good luck with that ! But in some cases the door could not be perfectly aligned with the magnet.

So on my recent trip my pocket door into the walk-in closet started to slow and get stuck. I dug into it yesterday to look into what is going on with it. I did find a good amount of goo on the rod, not sure what it is, seems to be grease. I cleaned all that off and cleaned everything to get all the goo off. I pulled the entire cylinder down and opened it to make sure the internal piston was working properly. That did not seem like it was an issue, I put a little bit more grease on it and re-installed it. Is the rod supposed to be lubricated, if so what do I lubricate it with? 

Apparently my door must be warping as Richard noted above, once it gets to a certain point it is hitting something in the pocket. I do not see any easy way to get into the area other than to remove the wall section in the closet, which appears to be riveted to the roof structure and possibly stapled down to the floor. Not sure how else this wall is secured, that may be it. 

I did find some good information while researching the cylinder used. 

Here is a link to the catalog for these cylinders, I believe its an REA 25.
 https://www.ocpneumatics.com/content/pdfs/REA_REB.pdf
I will post some pictures of the internals and the part number on the cylinder. I did find a supplier that may have the entire cylinder as well. The original cylinder is obsolete and this is the cylinder they list as a replacement:
https://www.ocpneumatics.com/smc-ncy3b25...-cylinder/

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Here are some photos:

Cylinder part number
   
Internal piston
   
End of cylinder removed
   
Outer magnetic body
   
magnets inside of external body
   
showing the snap ring and metal spacer
   
parts laid out in the order they go in the body, snap ring, metal spacer, plastic ring with rubber seal, then the magnets with steel rings in between