Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

Many thanks,

On Feb 24, 11:01*pm, wrote:
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

Many thanks,

I was going to suggest rigging up a sliding gate opener until I saw
the prices!

http://www.nextag.com/slide-gate/search-html

Maybe they come cheaper than what they show here, but I doubt they're
in the GDO price range.

wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?


That's how mine is rigged.

Standard garage door openers come in two types, a chain drive and a screw
drive.

If you can figure out how to mount the head of the unit sideways and some
way to couple the door to a drive screw or a bicycle chain the standard
opener should work, but it will not be an easy install.

The commercial sliding gate openers I have seen have a bicycle chain setup
where the chain is strung along the bottom of the gate and the opener drives
a sprocket.

The problems I see with a sliding garage door is that the doors slide past
each other, and there is not a lot of room to rig an opener.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.
wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

Many thanks,

In article , "Bob F" wrote:

wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

That's how mine is rigged.

I can see the potential for some serious safety issues
and code violations here. Standard openers are designed
to be installed at 8-10ft off the ground. I'm guessing
that in this configuration the electrical and mechanical
parts will be within easy reach of a child. Fabricating
a safety shroud would be a non-trivial task.

It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain
with 0.5-1.0 HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...
:-(

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message
...
In article , "Bob F"
wrote:

wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

That's how mine is rigged.

I can see the potential for some serious safety issues
and code violations here. Standard openers are designed
to be installed at 8-10ft off the ground. I'm guessing
that in this configuration the electrical and mechanical
parts will be within easy reach of a child. Fabricating
a safety shroud would be a non-trivial task.

It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain
with 0.5-1.0 HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...
:-(

I have to climb on a ladder to reach the mechanism. It's at least 10 feet above
ground, above the door.

In article , "Bob F" wrote:

I can see the potential for some serious safety issues
and code violations here. Standard openers are designed
to be installed at 8-10ft off the ground. I'm guessing
that in this configuration the electrical and mechanical
parts will be within easy reach of a child. Fabricating
a safety shroud would be a non-trivial task.

It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain
with 0.5-1.0 HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...
:-(

I have to climb on a ladder to reach the mechanism. It's at least 10 feet above
ground, above the door.

Ladder? Well, serious safety issue right there ;-)

Is there any chance you could post some pics? I'm curious
to see what you did and I'm sure it will help the OP too.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Feb 25, 6:53*am, "Bob F" wrote:
"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message

...





In article , "Bob F"
wrote:

wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

That's how mine is rigged.

I can see the potential for some serious safety issues
and code violations here. Standard openers are designed
to be installed at 8-10ft off the ground. I'm guessing
that in this configuration the electrical and mechanical
parts will be within easy reach of a child. Fabricating
a safety shroud would be a non-trivial task.

It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain
with 0.5-1.0 HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...
:-(

I have to climb on a ladder to reach the mechanism. It's at least 10 feet above
ground, above the door.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Same here...or was. I rigged one up that way and all the mechanism
was at the top of the door.

I did discover that the maintenance on the track and bogies was a PITA
though. Finally got tired of it and put in a standard overhead. Mine
was homebuilt out of 3/4" lumber and the weight of the door was the
major problem. Maybe with a light weight door the wear and
maintenance wouldn't be so bad.

Anothe thing I discovered is "Put in a 9' (wide) door, not an 8'.
Been kicking my rear ever since I installed the 8'.

Harry K

In article , Harry K wrote:

Same here...or was. I rigged one up that way and all the mechanism
was at the top of the door.

I did discover that the maintenance on the track and bogies was a PITA
though. Finally got tired of it and put in a standard overhead. Mine
was homebuilt out of 3/4" lumber and the weight of the door was the
major problem. Maybe with a light weight door the wear and
maintenance wouldn't be so bad.

Yeah, most of the industrial strength installations I've
seen have the chain drive at ground level, presumably
'cause of the door weight. Fine when the mechanism is
protected but horribly expensive for a regular garage.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Feb 25, 9:27*am, (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
In article , "Bob F" wrote:

wrote in message
...
Hi. I'm rebuilding the doors on the back of my garage, and am likely
to put in a barn-style sliding door rather than an overhead door. I've
been looking for an opener that's designed for this kind of door, and
am drawing a blank. Any suggestions? Can I get away with creative use
of a 'standard' garage door opener?

That's how mine is rigged.

I can see the potential for some serious safety issues
and code violations here. Standard openers are designed
to be installed at 8-10ft off the ground. I'm guessing
that in this configuration the electrical and mechanical
parts will be within easy reach of a child. Fabricating
a safety shroud would be a non-trivial task.

It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain
with 0.5-1.0 HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...
:-(

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar * * * * * "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Gary Player. |
|http://www.malch.com/* * * * * * * Shpx gur PQN. * * * * * * * *|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain with 0.5-1.0
HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...

You might be surprised how flexible a child's fingers can be.

When I was 11 YO and in Boy Scout camp, we had a "ferry" that went
across a small pond. A heavy rope was attached to one end of a
floating platform, wrapped around a tire rim attached to a tree on one
shore, back through 2 posts (front and rear) on the platform, then to
a tire rim on the other shore and back to the platform. If you were on
the ferry, you could pull yourself across the pond, or any one (or
more) on shore could pull the ferry across. When there was a bunch of
us trying to get the ferry across, we used to see how fast we could
get it moving.

One time while I was on shore with a bunch of boys pulling the ferry
as fast as we could, my feet slipped but I held on to the rope for
support. I was the last one in line and my fingers were pulled around
the tire rim, and bent backwards into the shape of the inside curve of
the rim. Hurt like h*ll! The medic said an adult's fingers would
have snapped, but I was just bruised and a few hours later my fingers
relaxed and I was able to bend them again.

Granted, that wasn't a sprocket and a chain, which have the abilty to
puncture, but a kid's fingers just might give a little more than you
might imagine.

That said, put the opener out of reach!

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:17:40 -0800 (PST), Harry K
wrote:


Anothe thing I discovered is "Put in a 9' (wide) door, not an 8'.
Been kicking my rear ever since I installed the 8'.

Harry K

Not about side-sliding doors.

Around here and other places, two single doors are popular instead of
one wide enough for two cars. A bad place to economize if you ask me.
I can only imagine how many people hit the post in the middle, or how
many wish they could park one car in the middle and put things on the
sides.

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:05:33 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:


It's scary thinking about what the sprocket and chain with 0.5-1.0
HP behind it would do to a child's fingers...

You might be surprised how flexible a child's fingers can be.

When I was 11 YO and in Boy Scout camp, we had a "ferry" that went
across a small pond. A heavy rope was attached to one end of a
floating platform, wrapped around a tire rim attached to a tree on one
shore, back through 2 posts (front and rear) on the platform, then to
a tire rim on the other shore and back to the platform. If you were on
the ferry, you could pull yourself across the pond, or any one (or
more) on shore could pull the ferry across. When there was a bunch of
us trying to get the ferry across, we used to see how fast we could
get it moving.

One time while I was on shore with a bunch of boys pulling the ferry
as fast as we could, my feet slipped but I held on to the rope for
support. I was the last one in line and my fingers were pulled around
the tire rim, and bent backwards into the shape of the inside curve of
the rim. Hurt like h*ll! The medic said an adult's fingers would
have snapped, but I was just bruised and a few hours later my fingers
relaxed and I was able to bend them again.

That's why we should have more kids working in factories and the
needle trades, where they could be useful.

Granted, that wasn't a sprocket and a chain, which have the abilty to
puncture, but a kid's fingers just might give a little more than you
might imagine.

That said, put the opener out of reach!

Nah.

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:34:10 -0800, "Roger Shoaf"
wrote:

Standard garage door openers come in two types, a chain drive and a screw
drive.

If you can figure out how to mount the head of the unit sideways and some
way to couple the door to a drive screw or a bicycle chain the standard
opener should work, but it will not be an easy install.

The commercial sliding gate openers I have seen have a bicycle chain setup
where the chain is strung along the bottom of the gate and the opener drives
a sprocket.

The problems I see with a sliding garage door is that the doors slide past
each other, and there is not a lot of room to rig an opener.

There are security gates for neighborhoods that open sideways. The
gages are often lightweight but probably not always. I suppose the
brand names are right on the mechanism. They might make a cheaper
version for homes too.