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

FastEddieB

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Fast Eddie B
When ordering our bifold door from Schweiss, I paid a little extra ($90, I think) to have a manual backup in case the power went out and we needed to get the plane in or out.

What we got was that little handle sitting on top of the motor:

41418025214_68c2c3e7f7_z.jpg


To get the door up, you take the top cover off the motor, insert the crank and start cranking. And cranking, and cranking, and cranking. All the while, the door and motor is going up, necessitating a ladder or scaffolding to keep cranking as it goes up. The contractor said he started the process to be clear on the concept, but thought it would take hours of cranking to get the door open - not good if let's say a storm is approaching and you need to get the door up or down with the power off. He said the force required was high, maybe too high for a power drill to work. A standby generator might work, but its 240v and high current, so it would have to be a big one.

In any case, the contractor thought it was the dumbest thing he had ever seen. I think I agree.

What do you think?
 
There may yet come a time when you really want the airplane out of the hangar...

But the odds of it coming in handy? I don tin so.
 
FastEddieB said:
CRANK THIS PAL!!!
Click to expand...

Lol, just poking a little fun. I'm actually enjoying the whole series on having your place built. Chin up, it's going to be really nice for you tow when it's done!
 
That falls in a the category of YGBSM. I get that a $90 option doesn’t set much of an expectation, but that’s underwhelming.
 
I think I'd be getting a bigger drill until I could get a replacement system.

Regrettably this is not even close to the dumbest thing I have seen though.
 
Can you modify it to connect to a cordless drill?
 
I got that option on mine. I admit, it's a bit cheesy, but I don't really regret it. My biggest fear is that the door will be in the up position when the power goes out due to a massive storm that's coming. Getting the thing down will be MUCH easier than trying to crank it up.

BTW... A neighbor had a motor burn out on his door (not a Schweiss) in the halfway position. We got it up enough for him to get his car out, and then back down by using a drill with a universal socket. (It had a bunch of needles in it. Don't know what else to call it.) It tore up the socket, but got the job done. Had to take the motor apart to do it though. Standing on the door itself while doing it was MUCH easier than doing it from a ladder.
 
FastEddieB said:
When ordering our bifold door from Schweiss, I paid a little extra ($90, I think) to have a manual backup in case the power went out and we needed to get the plane in or out.

What we got was that little handle sitting on top of the motor:

41418025214_68c2c3e7f7_z.jpg


To get the door up, you take the top cover off the motor, insert the crank and start cranking. And cranking, and cranking, and cranking. All the while, the door and motor is going up, necessitating a ladder or scaffolding to keep cranking as it goes up. The contractor said he started the process to be clear on the concept, but thought it would take hours of cranking to get the door open - not good if let's say a storm is approaching and you need to get the door up or down with the power off. He said the force required was high, maybe too high for a power drill to work. A standby generator might work, but its 240v and high current, so it would have to be a big one.

In any case, the contractor thought it was the dumbest thing he had ever seen. I think I agree.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

Are you cranking it against a brake? A brake that releases when power is applied to the motor via controller?

My door is on a 20 amp 220v circuit and it does not trip the breaker while running an aircompressor (7 amps) on the same circuit.

Any generator with 220v output and 4400 watts or more would probably run your door fine.
 
Might not be the dumbest, but that rates right up there. Best bet in case of power going out is a generator.
 
I can't imagine a manual mechanism to raise a hangar door that would be in any way useful. Too much force to impart.
 
What else do you expect when you buy a Schweiss?

Sorry, don't mean to be an arse. Well, maybe I do. When I was door shopping Schweiss seemed to be the "if we put a high enough price tag on it, people will think it must be good" option. And none of their sales guys at Sun-n-fun knew anything about their products, except that they are "awesome".
 
It may take an hour or two of cranking, but what if your car was in the hangar (you out flying) and you wouldn't have access to it at all until the motor was fixed? I know what I'd do. Crank!
 
Someone should lose their job for coming up with that solution.
 
Power went out in our warehouse once and the overhead door was open. Well, it was closing time and we couldn't just leave it open while the power company said it might take 48 hours to get power back on. Climbed up to the motor, and had to crank it down with a ratchet. And of course this was done with arms elevated. I think my arms were useless for the next 36 hours.
 
timwinters said:
Dude, it's a 240v motor. Do you really think a cordless drill could come close to the power requirement?
Click to expand...
24V x 10, so 20 minutes to crank up the door instead of 2. :)

How many battery swaps to keep a cordless drill running constant for 20 minutes?
 
the other Tim said:
"Dude, it's a 240v motor. Do you really think a cordless drill could come close to the power requirement?"

Yeah James, geeez! :rolleyes:
 
So stick it to the man, go off the grid. Go 100% solar.

Or at least solar back up emergency power....
 
timwinters said:
Dude, it's a 240v motor. Do you really think a cordless drill could come close to the power requirement?
Click to expand...
What goes into calculating required power? Last time I checked it included time...prolly should start by working out the energy required. how much does the door weigh? how far does the center of mass have to move?
 
Clark1961 said:
What goes into calculating required power? Last time I checked it included time...prolly should start by working out the energy required. how much does the door weigh? how far does the center of mass have to move?
Click to expand...
Problem one be torque - you are directly driving the motor which has a fixed gearing tied to the weight of the door - there will be a minimum torque to make it move. Probably don't need quite as much torque as the main motor, but you wouldn't want a lot less. Once you have the torque - the rest is just a function of time given the power available.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Problem one be torque - you are directly driving the motor which has a fixed gearing tied to the weight of the door - there will be a minimum torque to make it move. Probably don't need quite as much torque as the main motor, but you wouldn't want a lot less. Once you have the torque - the rest is just a function of time given the power available.
Click to expand...
If a man can crank it with that little bitty crank shown in the picture torque is not a problem.
 
timwinters said:
Dude, it's a 240v motor. Do you really think a cordless drill could come close to the power requirement?
Click to expand...

If some old guys hand on that manual little crank can, yes.
 
Salty said:
Ever see the voltage from a solar panel on a cloudy day?
Click to expand...

Yes. I also watched the batteries continue charging as the sun was low in the western sky and no longer shined on the panels, although the charge was not as high as it was at noon.

You are correct, clouds affect the amount of charge, as well as the angle of the sun to the panel, or dust or bird poo. That is why battery back up works, to store electricity for when you need it. Living in the area that I live in has an average of 450 sunny days a year :rolleyes:, well, at least more direct sunlight than the national average, having solar system that charges up batteries for emergency back up power and also returns access electricity to the power grid makes sense. If I was die hard and wanted to go off grid, I would add a wind generator for night charging. And after the solar power system is paid for, I will no longer have a monthly payment for electricity. Right now my monthly payment for the solar system is about the same as my electric bill used to be, so when that system is paid off, (about 3 years now) I will no longer have a monthly payment for the system or electricity. Right now it cost 35 bucks a month to be hooked up to the rural electric co-op, and I am getting a check of around 35 bucks a month from the electric co-op for the excess electricity that my system produces. (bureaucracy at its finest)

Of course hydrogen power would be more efficient than solar....
 
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