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Something New in Garage Doors
- cygnus_x1 12y agoa little pricey! http://www.accessgaragedoors.com/pdf/dominagaragedoors/domina-price-list-jan-2013.pdf http://www.accessgaragedoors.com/pdf/dominagaragedoors/domin... (in Euros)
- pageld 12y agoIt actually reminds me of those cable folding doors (http://www.bifold.com/note.php http://www.bifold.com/note.php) which have been around for a while. They aren't usually used on garage doors though, more for airplane hangers and pole sheds. I guess I'm not seeing the benefits for the extra complexity.
- rjdagost 12y agoLooks like it'd be a real pain in the ass to open when the motor fails.
- lsaferite 12y agoHaving worked in a warehouse building with massive roll-up doors that had electric motors I would imagine these doors have a backup that uses a reduction gear to make manual operation simple yet slow.
- faitswulff 12y agoNot to mention maintainability.
- PhantomGremlin 12y agoI've been too lazy to grease/oil my powered "conventional" garage doors, either the lifting mechanism or the side rails, but they are still working after 15 years of use. I agree with your maintainability concern with this mechanism.
- fubarred 12y agoThe springs of most conventional garage doors are a hazard to life (if you have a two-story bldg) and property. When the garage door is down, those suckers are cocked like a pistol with the weight of said door. And when one or more fails spontaneously, they will follow Newton's third law and shoot upwards into whatever or whomever happens to be there, with metal shrapnel going in either direction. I've had to repair a garage ceiling and replace all of those springs (once one spring goes, all of them should be changed.)
- e2e8 12y agoYou are talking about extension springs? In my experiance torsion springs break very harmlessly. They just snap and unwind but stay on the shaft. Torsion springs are the only kind I have myself seen used for garage doors.
- fubarred 12y agoNo, you had something entirely different so don't try to trivialize something you don't know anything about. Ours fired through the ceiling of the garage and gouged the underside of the roof sheeting because of how the door and springs was engineered. It went off like a slingshot and sent metal fragments upwards at high velocity. Also, they looked like they were from the early 1970's and the springs separated completely as a result of metal fatigue into 3 segments plus some other bits of shrapnel here and there.
- lsaferite 12y agoThose doors would need a ton of space between the vehicle and the door though.
- falcolas 12y agoThey fold outwards, and would require less room anywhere inside the garage, Han the op version.
- function_seven 12y agoI think he means a vehicle parked in front of the garage door.
- lsaferite 12y agoWell, the video I saw at the link provided showed the doors opening inward. If they normally open outwards then it obviously wouldn't have any additional clearance requirement on the inside of the garage. EDIT: I stand corrected. I went back and looked at the image (not video) I saw before. It was deceiving due to the layout but it was folding to the exterior. http://www.bifold.com/assets/slider-37.jpg http://www.bifold.com/assets/slider-37.jpg
- fubarred 12y agoSome of these designed wouldn't work in places like San Francisco if you own a vehicle that just barely fits into said garage. The entire interior/exterior operating clearance would need to be available and measured carefully.
- bbcbasic 12y ago"The biggest difference between this system and a traditional garage door is that you don’t have the track rails extending into the garage space, and that only half the height of the door ends up above the open doorway" = Oops better look for another USP, because this alternative ingenious solution has been around for years: https://www.factoryfast.com.au/p/automatic-garage-roller-door-opener-motor https://www.factoryfast.com.au/p/automatic-garage-roller-doo...
- foobarian 12y agoHalf the height of the door... that's actually kind of a lot? My garage door does have tracks into the garage, but there is only about 10 inches from top of the doorway to the ceiling.
- lsaferite 12y agoDid you watch the video? The comment about half the height of the door was in reference to how far the folded panels extend HORIZONTALLY into the garage. The folding process never goes above the top of the mechanism which looks to be less than 10 inches above the top of the door.
- thedufer 12y agoWatch the video - the door rotates 90 degrees (like a normal garage door), so it's half the height of the door rotated into depth.
- lsaferite 12y agoI think part of what they are shooting for, at least from the video, is the 'elegance' factor. It's two flat panels with very little detail in them. The roll-up is a bunch of slat and looks much more busy.
- bbcbasic 12y agoTrue, although I am also thinking the only advantage of the half height is if you have a garage not big enough for a car. So this is for people who want an elegant looking small garage. Some houses do come with small garages where the space has been reclaimed for living space, but most garages could fit a regular system.
- bluedino 12y agoDoesn't work well for trucks or vans in shallow garages, where the rear of the vehicle ends up very close to the door.
- lsaferite 12y agoFrom looking at the video it seems like a full-size van would only need about 18 inches of clearance between the door and the van. Maybe 24 at the outside.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- blakecaldwell 12y agoMechanical engineering is black magic.
- joezydeco 12y agoFor the software types here yeah, it is. But THIS is black magic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfvm8I9_oU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfvm8I9_oU
- post_break 12y agoHinge on one side. Piano hinges on the parts that fold. Math to calculate the correct angles. Didn't seem like voodoo to me. This is the one that really looks like magic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10y28PD73vk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10y28PD73vk
- Animats 12y agoThere are lots of expensive, exotic garage doors. There's even a web site for garage design: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=197602 http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=197602 Vertical bifold doors are common for airplane hangars.
- fubarred 12y agoNeat. Seems some folks have their hangar setup as an upscale loft as well. (Apart from "ranch" homes that share a common landing strip.)
- ChuckMcM 12y agoThat is pretty sweet. My favorite 'weird' garage door idea though is the one that goes down into the ground. Basically a vertical slab with a very long scissor drive to lift up the door. The down side being maintenance of course, need to clean out all the crap that accumulates 12' below the ground.
- rdl 12y agoIt should open outward, not inward. Then, it takes up zero space internally, and even provides a sun-shade awning when opened.
- pcurve 12y agoI think that would make it be more prone to accidental damage
- tombrossman 12y agoGreat idea if you live in a sunny, temperate climate. Not so good the first time you try to open the door somewhere snowy.
- logn 12y agoCan you explain the specific problem? Would snow have to be near the top of the door in your scenario?
- tombrossman 12y agoSure, the motor powering the door will not be able to overcome the resistance of even a few inches of snow outside. Think of the bottom edge of the door as the tip of a lever's long side. It is the opposite of what you want when using a lever. The long side is for applying power and the short side gives you the extra torque you need. Put more simply, the door won't be able to push snowdrifts out of the way if it has to swing outward to open. Your 4x4 with snow tires will remain stuck inside the garage, unable to exit. EDIT - After re-reading the question I now realise the comment above was about modifying this particular design to open outward at the top, and I was (incorrectly) assuming it was about a traditional outward-opening door like you might see in southern California. Sorry for the confusion. That may still be problematic, but not for the reasons I gave here.
- cujo 12y agoYou still have a potential issue if you leave the door open during a heavy snowfall. Forgetting to shut the door for a few hours could cause some damage if done at the wrong time.
- xpda 12y agoIt looks like there would be a lot of stress holding the doors up. I can only see the arm on the side, and at that angle it looks like it would not be very strong. I wonder about the longevity. But they do look cool!
- lsaferite 12y agoWatching the video you can clearly see the upper panel has support arms on both sides. Also, it's basically cantilevered when retracted and should be pretty solid.
- thanksgiving 12y agoUnrelated but just wanted to thank the article writers for including a regular link to YouTube in addition to the embed. I have flash set to not automatically run on all websites but I do have it set to work in YouTube and Vimeo (among others). A link is very nice and appreciated.