Make a door squeak?

[Sayen]

I'm usually trying to stop squeaky doors, but in this case I need one to make a nice natural sound. We had the perfect door with noisy hinges, and some well-intentioned lacky used a nice, quality hinge oil to get rid of the sqeak. Any ideas for restoring that lovely natural sound?

 

[jonliles]

The squeaky is from metal on metal contact. Remove the lubricant from the pin and inside of the barrels and from between the barrel and you'll have a nice squeaky-halloween-ready hinge. Removing the the lubricant depends on what was used. You maye be able to use hot soap and water - but that will require you taken the hinge off.

 

[FatherMurphy]

After cleaning, if it's still too quiet, a quick dip in a mild acid might roughen/rusty it back up some. Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) for cleaning concrete and swimming pools is usually sold at 20% concentration, mix it with ten parts water to get a 2% solution, and dunk the parts for however many minutes seems appropriate. It will remove any zinc plating, and leave iron nice and clean and easy to rust up. Won't do much to brass, though.

Take the standard precautions with the acid, gloves, goggles, ventilation, rinsing parts after dunking, etc., and have a plan in advance for what you do with the acid after use.

If muriatic acid sounds too strong for you, some toilet cleaners are milder versions of the same, or even vinegar might work for you.

 

[Les]

You might also consider (after removing lubricant and/or plating) mis-mounting one or more hinges so that they don't quite line up with each other - introducing more friction.

 

[MPowers]

A couple of tricks I have heard of both involve rosin, like that which dancers work into the soles of their shoes.

Trick # 1. "Lube" the hinges with rosin. Put it on the top and bottom surfaces of the hinge barrels and on the pin.
Trick # 2. Never tried it myself but... who knows. Anyway, rig a cotton string to the off stage side of the door with a 1 or 2 lb. weight on it. Run the string over a block of polished hardwood like ash or maple instead of a pulley. Dope the string with lots of rosin.

Trick # 3 plan on mic'ing the hinge or string, it's never loud enough.

#4 Hire a good foley artist, record it and play it back.

1+3 & 4 are methods I have used at one time or another. #1 best timing, #4 best sound.

 

[Sayen]

Great, thanks! I did try cleaning off the oil, but the "damage" was done. It's a really nice door and set of hinges. I like the acid idea, just sounds interesting, and failing that I'll give the rosin a shot. I've worked with acid for other types of projects, so I have some experience and know the dangers.

 

[FatherMurphy]

Got to thinking later that after the acid dip, a salt water bath might speed the rusting, assuming iron hinges.

Something like mineral spirits or acetone or lacquer thinner might get the residual oil off as well.

All depends on how much of a mad scientist you want to be.

 

[JohnHartman]

Just to add a note to this for future readers. I used Mpowers #2 trick above. cotton string doped with rosin, over a hardwood handrail close mic'd with a C-clamp for counter weight. Worked like a charm, but needed to be re-rosined before each show. Even had everyone confused as to how the hinge only squeaked while we were running but didn't any other time. you need to be paying close attention to what the actor is doing though.

 

[SHCP]

You might try buying a screen door hinge (the ones that spring back), and just attaching it to the door as a third hinge (most times they surface mount.) I have not ever had one that does not squeak. I went and added one to the set I have right now to test, and it worked for me.

 

[bluedaizies]

I'm usually trying to stop squeaky doors, but in this case I need one to make a nice natural sound. We had the perfect door with noisy hinges, and some well-intentioned lacky used a nice, quality hinge oil to get rid of the sqeak. Any ideas for restoring that lovely natural sound?

Use liquid hand sanitizer to clean off the hinges. That seems to work pretty good.

 

[TimFrancis]

I'm usually trying to stop squeaky doors, but in this case I need one to make a nice natural sound. We had the perfect door with noisy hinges, and some well-intentioned lacky used a nice, quality hinge oil to get rid of the sqeak. Any ideas for restoring that lovely natural sound?

This is a nifty foley version using a cup, string and stick.

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[Moonthink]

This is a case (in my opinion) of way too much thought and work (and still no guarantees about being consistently repeatable) for what should be a sound cue. Even hiding a small (possibly wireless) speaker near by would have been easier and more reliable.

 

[bobgaggle]

This is a case (in my opinion) of way too much thought and work (and still no guarantees about being consistently repeatable) for what should be a sound cue. Even hiding a small (possibly wireless) speaker near by would have been easier and more reliable.

Isn't it great to have a place where you can spit ball ideas and pick other people's brains (some of the best brains in the industry) to determine the probable best course of action? I wonder what would have happened if an actor in OP's show stopped opening the door midway through its swing and the squeaky door cue continued to run. What if someone slowly opens it to peek through? would it make the same squeak every time? Or would you have to spend time/money to build multiple cues for every way someone opens a door? How much money does a string and rosin cost? How much does a small wireless speaker cost? Do they have one in stock? Are the actors going to open it the same way repeatably every time? Sometimes the "easier" way isnt, or doesn't produce the intended results...

 

[Moonthink]

Fair enough, Bob. What I should have included in my first reply is how fascinating it is to see the many trains of thought and possible solutions. Personally, I'd still opt for the sound cue, but with the caveat that there's more than one "right way" to do something.