Cat Lever Door Handle Stop - no disassembly

My son's cats have learned how to open lever style door knobs, and they usually bust in while at the worst time, like when he is on a work Zoom meeting. I saw a lot of designs for a lever lock that only lets the handle pull up, but they require removal of the lever, plate, and latch mechanism, which is not great in a rented apartment. Note: This is not cat proof, just cat resistant, but should deter them and make it harder form them to open the door without hindering adults from opening it. I hope they don't figure out how to push the knob up! This simple design attaches to the shaft of the lever handle and uses the door jam as a stop to prevent the lever from being able to be pulled down. It can be mounted on either side, as needed.

I printed all pieces with no supports, no brim, with the top and bottom in PLA, and the gaskets in TPU. You can use a bit of glue to hold the TPU gaskets in place, but it is not required for functionality. If you don't have TPU, you can skip the gaskets and get some removable-reusable double sided nano tape. The tape comes off easy, and it gripped the shaft even tighter, but it was hard to get the old tape back in the groove again, so you will need to replace it if you reinstall it somewhere else. You will also need 2 M4-16 (or longer) screws with nuts and washers.

Just attach the lever top and bottom to the main shaft on the side where the door jamb protrudes. The lever arm will hit the jamb when pulled down, so the lever will only open the door when pulled up, Be sure to leave enough clearance to allow the door to open and close easily without the lever arm snagging on the jamb while closing.

This design should work fine for door levers with approximately 1" (25 mm) shafts with at least 3/4" (15 mm) depth of shaft to grab on to. I included the Freecad model if you need adjust anything - play with the VARSET first for most minor adjustments. Use "Shaft Radius" to adjust for smaller/larger shafts, "Lock Arm Length" to adjust spacing to the jam, and "Lock Extension Length" to make more or less lever arm hanging down if your catch engages really early when rotating.

Please leave likes and comments if you found this useful.

thanks,

Chris