Got stuck for two days on a weird door lock issue in a 90s Otis elevator

The car door would close, but the hoistway door lock wouldn't engage, so the car wouldn't run. I checked the lock roller, the cam, the linkage, everything looked fine. After a full day, I finally found a tiny, almost invisible crack in the lock bracket itself, letting it flex just enough to miss. Had to fabricate a new bracket on site. Anyone else ever get fooled by a part that looked okay but was secretly broken?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunar471mo ago

Sounds like you just missed it the first time.

barbarar321mo ago

Wait, are you saying @lunar47 that the thing was actually there and I just didn't see it? Because I looked really hard. What exactly am I supposed to be looking for again? I feel like the instructions were kinda vague.

the_mary3d ago

Honestly I stared at that picture for like 20 minutes and still couldn't see it. My husband came in and spotted it in like 2 seconds, which made me feel REAL dumb because it was basically right in front of my face the whole time. I think the directions were TERRIBLE and they should have just circled it or something. But also I'm the person who loses their phone while holding it in their hand, so maybe that says more about me than the instructions. Don't feel bad, I bet half the people just claimed they saw it to sound smart.