garage door motorizing

[gazz]

place were moving to has one of those garage doors that have a pivot bolted to the frame about half way up, then 2 springs that run verticaly, one from each pivot,

it's a bit naff really, as it wobbles as it's opened and closed, and if i can get a cheap door with the big single spring above the door and wires to pull the arms up the vertical track, i will replace it, (anyone got one near nottingham for sale?)

but for now i'm making do with whats there, it was missing it's locking mechanism, and to replace it all would cost us about 50 quid, so for 60 quid i bought an electric garage door opener, which will be very handy as we both ride motorcycles, and it's always a pain to get off the bike to open the garage door, now we will just press the remote as we enter the drive, ride in and park, press remote again and enter the house through the side door.

Anyway, i've got the door working on the motor, and it seems to work pretty well.

But reading the net just now, i've discovered this type of door cant be automated, it can be converted to a horizontal track door for about 200 quid then it will work with a door opener, but the sites dont say why it cant be operated by an opener.

Anyone know why this type of door shouldent be motorized? i've used a camopy door adaptor arm with the motor, this allows the door to swing through it's odd arc as it's closed,

Like i say, i'd like to replace the door with a top spring vertical track model when i can find one cheap enough near nottingham, but in the mean time, i'd like to keep the existing door motorized, but if it's likely to be ripped off the pivots, bent in half or what ever by the motor, then i'd best look for a different door type sooner.

[Peter Andrews]

Gazz - from your description it sounds like the door mechanism that I have, see

mine has been motorised for over 20 years (now it will break, I know!), only mod has been to put an ordinary 4" hinge between the actuator and the door as shown.

Peter

[Gazz]

thankyou very much for those photo's,

yup thats the mechanism on my garage door, i've got a canopy arm on the door as the opener came with one, but nice to know that if i'd bought the opener new i could have saved the 45 quid for the canopy arm,

my door goes up and now nice and smoothly, no creaks or groans to show the pivots are being stressed, i adjusted the springs each side to make it go up level, but i'll leave it alone now,

bod knows why it shouldent be motorized, i know that with the springs at normal tension it's almost impossible to push the door closed from the top, but i just released the tension a bit to allow that to happen, door wont stay up on it's own now, but the opener holds it open now, and if i have to use the manual release, i've got a stick of wood to prop the door up with till i can fix the opener... if it ever fails.

[Peter Andrews]

Glad to have been of help. I should have said that the door and opener were supplied and installed by a local (franchise) company, circa 1989, - so I really don't know why it shouldn't be motorised. ...and mine is opened and closed many times a day.

I'll take the pictures down now:-)

Peter

[Invisible Man]

I added a motorised unit to my garage door at a former address. When it was lowered it lurched down suddenly the first bit. The remote control had a large non-recessed very sensitive "press" area. When closing the hatchback once with the door open I accidentally caught the press area on the remote. The door hit me hard enough to stun me and I ended up on the deck with a lacerated head. Back strain made its presence felt much later. I claimed that the remote was badly designed so it was difficult not to accidentally operate the door. In the installation instructions it recommended that their detector devices were purchased and fitted to prevent accidents like this happening. I alleged that if these were necessary safety items they should have been included in the kit. The retailer's liability insurers immediately accepted liability.

[gazz]

my door goes down gently all the way, but I really must set the torque settings up on my opener, i just bunged them on the recomended middle settings and left them there, it takes a bit of force to get it to reverse at the moment.... and the bathroom window is right in the arc of the garage door, so i know one day i'll have the window open and open the door, and if i do that before the torque is set up, it'll dammage the window by the time it reverses, really should see about an interlock so the door cant be operated with the window open.

My opener came with 2 types of remote, the big single bar type button ones for clipping to the sun visor of a car (which i will be modifying 2 to work on our motorbikes, just a waterproof button on a lead, with the remote hidden somewhere dry on the bike) and there's a car alarm style 3 button remote,

That one i have in my pocket all the time, and it's the big button on the top that works the door (other 2 buttons are for other things i havent got, lights, alarms etc) i have found that in the 3 days i've had the door opener i've lent against something and operated the remote in my pocket accidentily at least 10 times,

did it today whilst i was painting the bathroom, took a while for me to figure out why the door had just opened as i thought i had emptied my pockets when i put my painters suit on,

I might see if i can erase the key fob remote from the system, and program it to operate off one of the smaller recessed buttons,

I have the beam break sensors on my system, the opener was second hand so had all those bits, but they were an optional extra when it was bought new, a highly recomended one at that, so why the hell they were optional i dont know,