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Automatic Opener For Sliding Door
Cliff Brandenburger no longer has to push and pull to open the 16-ft. door on his shop. In fact, all he has to do to open the heavy sliding door is push a button.
"I made an automatic opener from a 1/3 hp motor I salvaged from a conventional garage door opener," explains Brandenburger, Beecher City, Ill.
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Automatic Opener For Sliding Door BUILDINGS New Techniques 25-1-8 Cliff Brandenburger no longer has to push and pull to open the 16-ft. door on his shop. In fact, all he has to do to open the heavy sliding door is push a button.
"I made an automatic opener from a 1/3 hp motor I salvaged from a conventional garage door opener," explains Brandenburger, Beecher City, Ill.
To get the motor to open the sliding door, he added a 90-degree gearbox that's powered by the worm gear on the motor. The shaft on the gearbox is fitted with a 2 1/2-in. sprocket for roller chain. This gear drives a 3-in. sprocket on a vertical shaft mounted about 5 in. away. This second shaft has a 5-in. sprocket below the driven sprocket. (See photo.)
The right angle gearbox is a 5:1 reducer, so for every five turns of the worm gear the shaft with the 2 1/2-in. sprocket turns just once.
This drive assembly mounts on a 2 by 8 plank that slides onto an angle iron frame that is fastened to a shelf at the edge of the shed door opening.
To open and close the door, he built a track the width of the door, starting with 2 by 4s that run the entire width of the door. Along the bottom of the 2 by 4s he mounted lengths of 1 by 2 lumber, using deck screws. On top of the 1 by 2 and against the 2 by 4, he mounted roller chain that fits the 5-in. sprocket on his opener.
The chain on the 2 by 4 sits in the 5-in. sprocket on his opener, so as the sprocket turns the door is moved. A spring attached to the door post and the opener assembly keeps the sprocket firmly against the chain, even if the door swings a little in the wind.
Brandenburger added a lever to pull the assembly back and lock it, in order to disengage the opener. When he releases the lever, the spring pulls the assembly back against the track on the door.
"The reason I used the garage door opener motor is because it reverses each time the switch is thrown. So I push the button once and the door opens. I push it again and it closes," he says.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Cliff Brandenburger, RR 2, Box 42, Beecher City, Ill. 62414-9310 (ph 618 487-5247).
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