What’s an “H-5000-2 ?” You ask? Good question! It’s the part number for a Hartwell latch – those clever spring-loaded latches that make your home built look like it came out of the Lockheed fighter factory. They latch very well, and release with a solid “click!” When triggered. They come in several different flavors, denoted by part numbers….like H-5000-2.
They are ridiculously expensive if you shop for a new one, but if you happen to be one of the first people into the B&B Airports tent on the first day of AirVenture… or get lucky at the Fly Market, you can sometimes pick them up for a relative song. Well… that song used to cost you $10, but that’s tripled since the price from the factory went up to government-contractor pricing!
But be careful—the part number doesn’t tell you the whole story. I have a box of them, and recently pulled out a pair to make matching storage hatch covers on the F1 Rocket. Got all the way to “installed and painted” before I realized that one latched fine, and the other didn’t. Hmm… same part numbers but one had a different depth for the latching arm! You see, along with the part number, there is a depth measurement stamped underneath – and that tells you how thick the “striker” material needs to be.
Fortunately I had two with identical depth numbers stamped on them, so I only had to drill out some rivets and repaint to get a perfect set. But the lesson is that when you find a bargain box full of the same part number, you might not have matching parts
