Is this about the dumbest thing you've ever seen?

pmanton said:
Turns out, there was a brake on the motor that you could manually release, and a little cordless drill would run it right up.

If for any reason you let go of what ever your using to turn the motor over with the brake released, the door is coming down CRASH.
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In our case, it happened to be a counterbalanced door...the only way it was going to crash down is if cables broke.

I used it as an example more to suggest that a conversation with the door manufacturer (which doesn't sound like has happened thus far) might reveal more to the "manual operation" than just leaving a crank sitting on top of the motor.

But I guess understanding that would require reading the whole post. ;)
 
FastEddieB said:
Most electric doors I’ve seen don’t have anything like that, though it’s not far from what I imagined I’d be getting as a backup.
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I guess I should have been more specific and that the doors I was thinking of were put up in the 70s and 80s.
 
Zeldman said:
Most electric doors I have seen had a chain opener backup for when the electricity went away.

The picture looks like a direct drive, a 4:1 drive would be easier for a heavy door.
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Won't work on the Schweiss. The motor and the reels that the motor drives aren't on the wall like a commercial garage door, they are on the bottom edge of the door itself. Schweiss shows a Dewalt drill being used to emergency raise one. As pointed out the only defect in this plan is that you have to follow the door up/down while using it.

Schweiss does have the option of having a "top mount" (not attached to the moving part of the door) motor and I think it might have the manual chain drive as you show (or it woulnd't be hard to add). Obviously, my door and the OPs are of a different design.
 
SoonerAviator said:
That's why I suggested a CORDED Impact Gun. A Harbor Freight impact wrench will spin it plenty fast with enough torque. I'd avoid using a pneumatic tool, as then you're just being inefficient to run a generator to power an air compressor.
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I disagree with this view. I think the more tools one can get involved in the sequence the better. It's a great opportunity to show the rest of the family how essential it is for us to have more tools! :cool:
 
I don't know what's dumber, the crank or that it cost $90.
 
zaitcev said:
The doors in my picture are in Austin, Texas. How much more hurricane-proof do you want?
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My hangar bifold doors have steel pins that lock the doors in place both on sides and into the concrete floor, the doors themselves are steel frame.
 
teejayevans said:
My hangar bifold doors have steel pins that lock the doors in place both on sides and into the concrete floor, the doors themselves are steel frame.
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So do ours and I’m in Tennessee. I think that’s pretty standard.
 
zaitcev said:
I just have to ask - why don't people use folding sliding doors? The landlord for one of my airplanes has those, and they work great. They slide effortlessly and one person can easily open and close them in about the time required for the bifold to move. I can see why you would not want to deal with them on a hangar where you park your Gulfstream 650, but they work great on a 60 ft door that is tall enough for a GA piston.
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The problem I have with those push and slide doors with no motors is that I can't figure out how to make my remote control work with them.
 
Our garage door just got installed. It has a manual backup more in line with what I had assumed the bifold door would have:

41867953514_b4c69daf3c_c.jpg
 
I’ve used a 5000 watt generator to run my door up and down, no problem.
 
Job I'm working on right now has two ~ 90'w x 100'h doors.

They have backup handles just like yours, only bigger. We laughed at the thought of the poor maintenance man who draws the short straw and has to climb the 120' vertically of either stairs or caged ladders to get to the catwalk over the doors... Catch his breath from the journey... Then start cranking.

Fun fact, prior to commissioning of the first door, someone left said handle installed, then the door was run using power... Handle whipped around and broke some things on and near the gearbox/motor the handle was on. Big $$$ for such a simple mistake.
 
As an update, we finally scored a generator large enough to raise and lower the hangar door, and it worked with no drama:

49258651522_9c0a305a6d_z.jpg


I think that generator might be big enough to power our 1,350 sq ft living area, except maybe the heating/air. I’m going to call tomorrow to get a quote on a properly installed transfer switch.

It also runs on propane, which may be handy. We bought a 40 lb cylinder as a backup to start. The generator itself has an 8 gal tank, so with a moderate load that should last a while before switching to propane.
 
It looks like that's the exact same portable back-up generator that I have!

bought it from a buddy who had it for a few years and never used it...hell, he it had never even had gas put in it. $300, I think he said he paid $700.

:cool:

Runs great. Had to use it for a couple of days last winter when we had a ice storm.

My only complaint...needs a bigger tank!!
 
If that generator has a gas engine, propane or whatever, but combustion, shouldn't it be outside when running? Would running in a closed hangar poison people?
 
Bill Greenwood said:
If that generator has a gas engine, propane or whatever, but combustion, shouldn't it be outside when running? Would running in a closed hangar poison people?
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Of course.

But for the couple of minutes required to open the hangar door, it should not be problematical in a 60x40 hangar with a high ceiling, especially with the hangar door going up the whole time. In any case, there’s an adjacent garage door with a chain-pull manual backup, so typically I would open that first and wheel the generator outside before powering it up. Certainly to power the house, it would be from an outside location.

But thanks for caring!
 
Wouldn’t all they would need is a clutch and pulley system? Some way to disengage the motor and gears, and some way of pulling it manually or dropping it manually?
Maybe could rig up a way to disengage?
 
When we had the great roof-removing storm at ADS last June, ended up no electricity, ginormous hangar door closed and three cars inside. What to do?

Found generator in hands of hangar neighbor (whose hangar still had a roof, but whose Baron had $50,000 damage from a wall blowout) who happily loaned his generator (looks just like one above).

After repairing the split fuel line hose, and jump-starting the generator (no way it was gonna start with the pull cord, first start in five years), and running up to Home Depot to buy wire and connectors to hook up to the junction box (with wires to the mains disconnected to preclude back-feeding), the generator had zero difficulty operating the door - to the surprise of many skeptics observing.

BIG, honkin’ door - has two big 220v motors operating it, one at each end.

Hadn’t bothered calculating, just figured it’d work or it wouldn’t.
 
The brake on my industrial garage door is wimpy compared to the hangar door because the garage door is pretty nicely counterbalanced with a spring that holds it more or less in whatever position. The hangar door is going to come crashing shut without the brake.
 
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