Some years ago they made a vacuum flipper kit for the rear license plate,I am looking for one. Search showed only electric which is fine but I was looking for a vacuum on .My license plate hides my Quick change . This is on a Model A Thank you
Okay. Sd. Pivot the plate linear motor to one side of it rod from the motor pushes the plate up. Or, if you built it in a fashion that the rod would pull the plate in. Never see the rod that way
Dan uses a couple of vacuum choke actuators, a plastic tank, some tubing, and a swinging Stainless steel hinged plate. So,.....you can do this if you want.
If you're trying to build your own, look for a heat riser pull-off(GM), or headlight door actuator. Not common, but I found some at swap meets.
Don't think I would want run vacuum all the way back to the rear of a vehicle. The electric ones are kinda pricey. How about one of those controls like they use for a lawn mower throttle. Really "old school" technology.
Actually depends on how and where you run the rubber line. I installed one on my avatar in 1989. Still works like the day I installed it. There a lot of ways to make OP's idea work, and a lot of hurdles to consider along the way.
I picked up a motor for a quarter glass on a mini van. I'm going to adapt the arm and s ee if it has enough travel on it.
A simple electric door lock solenoid can easily be reworked to work for a license plate flipper. Simply hinge the plate bracket at a point partway down each side, and attach an operating rod under the car to pull the plate up and down with the solenoid.
I can see Vacuum as being nifty if the vacuum pull brings the plate down in sight and no vacuum lets a light spring pull it up out of the way. Plenty of heater and AC vacuum actuators kicking around that would be plenty strong. Just like any longer vacuum line you could use steel tubing for the majority of it and rubber at the ends.
How about a cruise control bellow from a 70's vintage car? Engineered to hold against throttle return spring pressure, and is linear in design. Just my pie hole making noise......Roger
One of those should be easy to find And as he said strong enough. The problem with a hand flipped plate is that when you go to leave an event you forget to flip it. Vacuum operated means that when the engine is running the plate shows and when the engine is off the plate flips up. No remembering to flip the plate or flip a switch. There also a number of hidden license plate holders both manual and automatic if you want to pay the bux Electric that speedway sells https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Hid...ds=Hidden+License+Plate&qid=1603127096&sr=8-8 Hand pull out for Corvette https://www.amazon.com/Altec-Produc...ds=Hidden+License+Plate&qid=1603127096&sr=8-2
Or even easier to find! A vacuum blend door actuator [from a heater] The great thing about vacuum is....... When you're "flat to the boards" when street racing there is no vacuum, so your plates automatically flip up
If their memory's that bad, how do they remember where they parked their car when it's time to leave?
Keep forgetting about those modern things, I was looking for vacuum cans, when most heat systems were still cable!
Please excuse the foreign car, this is the first thing that came to mind. Driven by some dude named Jim or something..
How about the 4x4 actuator for an S10? They a strong enough to engage the front axle. And have a cable, so you could mount it anywhere and run the cable to the licence plate.
Back in the 80s, I built a retractable license plate and tailight unit for my '40 pickup...was going for the "drag truck" look. I used a GM power window motor and switch so I could raise it up AND down. Mounted a 4" arm on the motor and ran a cable to the taillight unit. Mounted the whole taillight unit on a pair of spring-loaded screen door hinges so there would be constant tension on the unit and it wouldn't flop around when lowered.