Bifold Doors On Irrigation Pipe Buildings

Bifold Doors on Irrigation Pipe Buildings BUILDINGS Miscellaneous 15-1-6 Grover Thompson, Alliance, Neb., used 2-in. sq. tubing and 27-ga. sheet metal to build four 14-ft. high bifold doors for three different buildings that he constructed from used 6 5/8-in. dia. center pivot irrigation pipe. Thompson welded together sections of irrigation pipe to build the frames for a 50 by 60-ft. shop building and an attached 40 by 60-ft. lean-to machinery shed. The shop building is equipped with a 20-ft. wide bifold door and the lean-to with two bifold doors, 15 and 12 ft. in width. He also built a 40-ft. wide air-plane hangar which has a bifold door across its full width. "I spent only about one third as much as I would have on commercial buildings and bifold doors," says Thompson. "Commercial bifold doors cost about $100 per foot so a 40-ft. wide door sells for about $4,000. I built my 40-ft. door for $1,200." Thompson opens and closes the doors by pulling a two-way switch. An electric motor powers a gearbox, removed from a center pivot irrigation system, which winches in cables wrapped around a pipe along the bottom of each door. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Grover Thompson, HC 33, Box 22, Alliance, Neb. 69301 (ph 308 762-1356).

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