My wife has been finding it impossible to lift the garage door
following a back injury last year.

I had an inexpensive boat winch on the work bench for years so I
mounted it on the right side of the door frame, strung a couple of
pulleys and 1/8 cable.

Now she can open the door without lifting. Works so well I had to go
out and buy another winch for the other door!

Errol Groff

Instructor, Machine Tool Department

H.H. Ellis Technical High School
643 Upper Maple Street
Dantieson, CT 06239

New England Model Engineering Society
www.neme-s.org

how about a garage door opener?

This ancient garage is one good windstorm away from falling to the
ground. No electricity out there and i am not going to spend one more
moment or thin dime than necessary on the old thing.



Errol Groff

Instructor, Machine Tool Department

H.H. Ellis Technical High School
643 Upper Maple Street
Dantieson, CT 06239

New England Model Engineering Society
www.neme-s.org

how about a garage door opener?

i

Ok, that's it...you're banned for life from this NG. That just ISN'T the
way people here think and we don't want you corrupting them!

now what a perfectly good reason to build a new 30x 60 heated and cooled
garage for the wife's well being , and to be courteous you could set up shop
in the part unused by her auto so that you're sure to be around to help
carry anything she should bring home

On Mon, 16 May 2005 21:06:53 -0500, the inscrutable "williamhenry"
spake:

now what a perfectly good reason to build a new 30x 60 heated and cooled
garage for the wife's well being , and to be courteous you could set up shop
in the part unused by her auto so that you're sure to be around to help
carry anything she should bring home

Hey, have Conroy's wife do it for you.
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.woodworking/browse_thread/thread/197a1ab85659f13b/9e971fc1cc69bf10?q=radar+garage+door+group:rec.woo dworking&rnum=1&hl=en#9e971fc1cc69bf10

Oops, I thought that said "razing" the garage door. My bad.

Oops, that thread was on the Wreck, not here. sigh


------
We're born hungry, wet, 'n naked, and it gets worse from there.
- http://diversify.com Website Application Programming -

This ancient garage is one good windstorm away from falling to the
ground.

So you park your car inside so that the car is damaged when the building
falls in on it? sounds like a good reason to part outside!

On Mon, 16 May 2005 23:35:33 GMT, Errol Groff
wrote:

My wife has been finding it impossible to lift the garage door
following a back injury last year.

I had an inexpensive boat winch on the work bench for years so I
mounted it on the right side of the door frame, strung a couple of
pulleys and 1/8 cable.

Now she can open the door without lifting. Works so well I had to go
out and buy another winch for the other door!


I hope the door is counterweighted or countersprung. If a boat winch
gets away from you while under load, the spinning crank handle can
break bones. ( In my case it was a finger that required several pins
to reassemble)

In article ,
D Murphy wrote:

A more rugged and rudimentary idea would be a counterweight on the
other side of the garage, with the cable taking two turns through
two blocks.


There ought to be springs and cables or a wound spring to do just that.
They get old and stretched out after a while. I had one let go at an
older house I used to own. They can do some damage.

That's two reasons that the "old fashioned" counterweight is better than
a spring: Does not weaken, not very exciting if the cable breaks (thud).
Of course "no-one" does it "that way" today...

If you have extension springs, you should have safety wires, which keep
the parts from flying very far when they let go, unless they are very
small parts (less than a full turn). Just a hunk of cable going down the
middle of the spring, attached to something at both ends, long enough to
let the spring stretch. The shaft on a torsion spring does the same
thing. Don't be under the door when they let go...

In article ,
Ecnerwal wrote:
:
:That's two reasons that the "old fashioned" counterweight is better than
:a spring: Does not weaken, not very exciting if the cable breaks (thud).
:Of course "no-one" does it "that way" today...

Cleverest counterbalance I ever saw was a bundle of fairly heavy chain
hanging from the end of a cable. As the door went up, the chain piled
up in a bin on the floor. The free hanging part of the chain tracked
the weight of the vertical portion of the door, with the closed door
just a bit heavier than the chain and the remaining chain just a bit
heavier than the rolled-up door.

--
Bob Nichols AT comcast.net I am "rnichols42"

Ecnerwal wrote in news:LawrenceSMITH-
:

In article ,
D Murphy wrote:

A more rugged and rudimentary idea would be a counterweight on the
other side of the garage, with the cable taking two turns through
two blocks.


There ought to be springs and cables or a wound spring to do just that.
They get old and stretched out after a while. I had one let go at an
older house I used to own. They can do some damage.

That's two reasons that the "old fashioned" counterweight is better than
a spring: Does not weaken, not very exciting if the cable breaks (thud).
Of course "no-one" does it "that way" today...

If you have extension springs, you should have safety wires, which keep
the parts from flying very far when they let go, unless they are very
small parts (less than a full turn). Just a hunk of cable going down the
middle of the spring, attached to something at both ends, long enough to
let the spring stretch. The shaft on a torsion spring does the same
thing. Don't be under the door when they let go...

I should have mentioned the safety cables. I installed them when I replaced
the springs. There were two cars in the garage when the spring let go.
Somehow neither one got hit. We were in the family room and the noise was
loud enough to make you jump.

--

Dan

"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
Ecnerwal wrote in news:LawrenceSMITH-
:

In article ,
D Murphy wrote:

A more rugged and rudimentary idea would be a counterweight on the
other side of the garage, with the cable taking two turns through
two blocks.


There ought to be springs and cables or a wound spring to do just that.
They get old and stretched out after a while. I had one let go at an
older house I used to own. They can do some damage.

That's two reasons that the "old fashioned" counterweight is better than
a spring: Does not weaken, not very exciting if the cable breaks (thud).
Of course "no-one" does it "that way" today...


One thing I have found over myyears as an engineer. Gravity is always
reliable