automated sliding doors

does anyone here have any experience with automating cavity slider doors? i have a bi-parting internal cavity door and i want to automate them (separate control of each side is not necessary... together is fine). a simple push to open and push to close is enough.

now, before anyone says "hit the internet and research", yes i am doing that already, still in progress. there is a DIY-install automation mob, plus i have contacted some companies which deal with disability aids. but if anyone has ever done this before it would be great to hear about it.

it is very much possible that the approach i need to take may have to be 100% DIY (ie devise my own rack and pinion, pulley, motor control etc) since the only workable solution i have so far is buying 2 commercially available sliders, one for each side, at a cost of almost $1000. not really viable for the DIYer!

i do recall seeing in the clipsal powerhouse in fitzroy that they did have one such automated sliding door. anyone know where from and how much?

so if anyone has ever done this and/or has any tips or sources of parts, then i would love to hear your thoughts.

cheers,
rob.

 

I think the current trend is to buy two half doors and install them on a mechanism. These doors are half the width, therefore they weight much less and slide very smoothly. No matter which method you use, you will need a commercial grade mechanism able to handle both doors at the same time. The doors themselves are not as important as the actual mechanism.

With the half doors you can use one mechanism and some bike chain etc. This is due to the lower weight.

I wager you are building a starship inside your house and when the doors open it will make a sound like Psssshhhh.

 

ha ha ha.

admittedly the thought did cross my mind to add some nice sound effects to it. but i'm not into this multi room audio stuff so it's not feasible. hmmnnn, maybe add one of those DIY electronic sound kits?

nah, the real reasons for wanting this is that it's a pain in the butt when the mrs does cooking (the sofa in the loungeroom is in line-of-sight with the stove in kitchen, and boy does the rangehood noise bother me), or when she yaps on the phone out there. while watching tv i just wanna push my c-bus remote and shut her out!

they are hollow core doors so weight isn't a problem. i'm sure the c-bus integration won't be hard either, it's just figuring out a cost effective solution to motorize them.

no matter what problems or how long it takes i WILL get this done. i reckon it's worth the effort.

 

If you look in silicon chip magazine you will find a number of garage door projects listed over the years. More or less the same thing.

 

Please keep us up to date with the progress of this project. it is an interesting one that I had a brief look at a few years ago and came up blank.

I too am in a situation where doors are left open that continually need to be shut.

Maybe a curtain track with motor. The track does not have support the weight as that is done by the rollers. it only has to slide the door back and forwards. Also supports double doors.

Mick

 

The simplest idea for motorizing a sliding door I've heard of is the following idea for a hydraulic mechanism:

- sliding door is mounted on a track with two or more rollers.
- the track is wide enough for a thin-wall flexible hose (like a fire-hose), so at least one of the rollers can run on the hose (the weight of at least half of the door is on the rollers, which will pinch the hose).
- seal the ends of the hose, and connect smaller hoses to the ends of the roller hose.
- connect the smaller hoses to a low volume pump; one end to the inlet, the other end to outlet, forming a loop.
- fill the system with enough water to expand the roller hose, but not enough to lift the door.
- pump water from one end of the hose to the other. It will cause the hose to expand on the outlet side and gravity will cause the door roller to roll away from that side.
- to move the opposite direction, reverse the pump direction.

I've heard of this being used in prisons in Australia - fast, reliable and can handle very heavy doors with no gears or pulleys. It would be very quiet, too. This was over 20 years ago, so any IP must be public domain by now.

It might be worth some thought.

A C-Bus Shutter relay ought to work well to control the pump.

 

@tobex: i already thought of, and looked at, silicon chip. while not an exhaustive search, it came up nil. as mentioned, probably the major issue is with the mechanical side of things not the electrical. but having said that, there is an important requirement for the electronics too which i'll explain later.

right now my two avenues of thought are 1) rack and pinion, and 2) sprockets and chain. rack and pinion may be easier to install but it takes 2 sets of everything since there are two door panels. sprocket and chain is much harder to install and service but can use only 1 motor and can synchronise both door panels. for the motor i heard that a vehicle wiper motor is powerful as well as a good speed (reduced with gears) for this task. a 12v motor and control has the added benefit of being able to have battery backup.

the best control circuitry i have come up with so far is from oatleyelectronics.com kit K023C. it will require some adaptations eg: discarding the UHF remote control, but it has the battery backup feature and MOST IMPORTANTLY it has over-current sensing on the motor in case of door obstruction.

the motorised curtain track is an interesting idea. will put some thought into that.

so too is the hydraulic system. very "think outside the square" stuff. but i shudder to think if the hose(s) get a leak!

good to see that i'm not the only one who wants this. i'm sure collectively we'll come up with something briliiant.

 

I bought my kit from Oatley too. but a used garage door opener does the same thing.

 

Auto door mechanics

I have built a similar setup by utilising the mechanics out of an old auto door system (BWN). The controller is a Mitsubishi Alpha PLC and triggered by CBus with various options.Although the motor is probably alittle large for the cavity doors being from an older auto door, the newer models are somewhat smaller. Just a thought