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And Now For Something Completly Different — Parallax Forums

And Now For Something Completly Different

OK, Forumista,

I am mentally stuck on a problem I KNOW I should be able to do mecanically, sometimes I think I have a solution, but then it evades again.

This has nothing to do with Parallax nor electronics, but if lost I search the help of the brightest people I know, and they are here.

The Problem:

Lets imagine a standard off the shelf carport, one of those tent like metal frame with plastic foil over it. You know them. This one has some sort of Garage Door, two zippers, one left, one right and a flap in between one can then - hmm - wrap up with some bungie cord or so.

I put a metal pipe on the bottom, so I can - sort of - roll it up. Doing so I noticed that when I might be able to attach the zippers to the pipe, I could roll it up or down and the zippers would follow.

That part was easy, longer pipe, rubber-band.

Now the part where I am stuck.

Direct in front of the carport is a automated gate. its about a inch away from the flap, the zippers and my pipe on the bottom of the flap/garage door.

And I keep thinking that there SHOULD be a way to mount some steel wire to the gate, route it SOMEHOW to a ring with a spring at some usable place to hold tension so that when the gate is opening it rolls my flap up and when it closes it rolls my flap down.

Sure I could build just a separate system, another motor, that rolling up and down is mostly solved, but yeah somehow I almost have a more beautiful pure mechanical solution and then I get stuck.

Open for any inspirations how to solve the SOMEHOW, there is not really a NEED for it, it just bothers me...

Enjoy!

Mike

Comments

  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Is this gate one that is hinged and opens in an arc, or one that slides parallel to a fence or wall? I'm guessing a hinged gate since that would be the more difficult one to deal with.
  • T ChapT Chap Posts: 4,198
    edited 2019-10-02 13:54
    A drawing (floorplan and elevation and section view ) is a good starting point. A hinge gate still has movement which an aircraft cable could use to lift the other roll up scheme but it would possibly need some scale factor to multiply or reduce.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,244
    Speed and available torque of the gate actuator may present problems. Got a photo (or better yet a video) of the installation?
  • kwinn wrote: »
    Is this gate one that is hinged and opens in an arc, or one that slides parallel to a fence or wall? I'm guessing a hinged gate since that would be the more difficult one to deal with.

    Two standard wire mesh fence gates one hinged left, one hinged right. Two actuators.
    T Chap wrote: »
    A drawing (floorplan and elevation and section view ) is a good starting point. A hinge gate still has movement which an aircraft cable could use to lift the other roll up scheme but it would possibly need some scale factor to multiply or reduce.

    That is what I am thinking, it should be.
    erco wrote: »
    Speed and available torque of the gate actuator may present problems. Got a photo (or better yet a video) of the installation?

    The two actuators are Mighty Mule Series 362, each able to move a Gate up to 250 lbs, the wire mesh Gates are 6 FT by 6 FT and quite light, So torque will not be a problem.

    Sorry, no video/photo available, I am still resisting to pay for and carry around my own surveillance equipment.

    Mike
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    The simplest setup I can come up with would be to have an arm with one end fastened to the gate and the other end sliding along the top of the fence as the gate opens. A cable attached to that sliding mechanism along with some pulleys would raise and lower the door flap.
  • Well after some longish brainstorming I decided to "under develop" the problem.

    I cut the flap off the carport, cut it in half and zip-tied it directly to the gates.

    Not as geeky as rolling it up using the gate as power source, but - well - it works.

    Enjoy!

    Mike
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