Affordable Shop Door Opener for the Financial Challenged.

I had alluded to this write up some time ago on Dallas’s shop build, but got busy and couldn’t find my camera. I found it and got busy just for you. :flipoff2:

Being a KLR Rider I’m following the norm as being identified as a cheap bastard.

Actually, I’m just frugal.:evil:

Anyway, if you have some big doors on your shop and wish you had a way to lift them without spending your kids College money look at this.
My shop has one 16’ X 12’ and one 12’ X 12’ so it’s a pain in the neck to raise them manually, and Commercial Shop Door lifts are expensive.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/KLR%20Motorcycles/IMG_5119a.jpg
Can’t believe I can’t find a better picture of the outside of the shop.


I used a Harbor Freight 440 lb 120 volt electric winch and made a simple garage door lift.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01331.jpg
I mounted mine to the middle band of the wall braces. But, you can put it any where near the door.

You’ll want to make some bracing for the winch to keep it from twisting the building brace.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01337.jpg
I used threaded rod and cut some angle braces and bolted it all together. The winch has no movement when I raise or lower the door.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01354.jpg

I ran the cable up to the top of the upper brace and hung the pulley the winch came with to the brace. You’ll need to remove the hook and pin from the end of the cable and feed it down next to the rollers and track.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01353.jpg
Just put it where the winch cable will go up and down with the door without rubbing on anything. Not real hard to do either!
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01336.jpg

I cut off the loop and bought a cable clamp to loop around the shaft of the bottom roller. .
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01352.jpg
Warning!!!
Do not remove the red lag bolts, that are on the bottom roller mounting. They are under tension and will hurt you if you just unbolt the lower plate and roller. There is no need to. This axle does not spin and is not a wear point. In 5 years I’ve never had a problem with the cable.

Another thing you may want to use as a safety feature.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DSC01332.jpg
Sorry for the crappy picture. I'll try and get a better one later.

Every time I close the shop doors for the night I put the winch control behind the latch slide so I don’t forget and try and raise the door with the latch engaged. Forgetting will screw up a door real quick.

You’ve no doubt noticed the yellow rope on the bottom of the door.
This winch only raises the door. If you have raise the door up to the top, there won’t be enough weight on the door to lower it. So you’ll need to give it a little tug to get it started. If you can’t deal with this you can buy some more pulleys and make the winch pull the door down too. But, the easiest fix is to just take some lifting tension out of the door spring. But then, if the winch quits on you, then your door may be too heavy to raise by yourself. I’ve lost one winch so far because of lightning. (RELAYS GOT SMOKED) Cheaper to replace the entire winch than buy new relays! I think I bought these on sale for about $60 each.

So, there you go. Not real fancy, or pretty, but I don’t have to worry about anyone breaking the code to an automatic opener. And I don’t break my back getting my doors open.

Curtis

I was quoted 80$ for a new manual chain operator, the door guy would sell me a used motorized operator for 100$. I got one for free though instead. No remote programming to worry about, the wire to the remote box was clipped.

I took mine off and threw it in the scrap!

I prefer the clearance.

your cable clamp is on backwards :flipoff2::flipoff2:

....remember, never saddle a dead horse...