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garage door opener for sliding doors

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Bailey

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Help, I have sliding garage doors and I am quickly realizing that there are NO :( automatic garage door openers for sliding doors. So with that said, does anyone know of a company that manufactures them possibly or can I use an overhead opener and make alterations to it providing that it would still be safe? :?:
 
Have you looked at an operator for a sliding gate? They are designed to do what you describe , you'll have to modify/fabricate a mount for the motor..Some also incorporate a photo eye that stops /reverses gate if obstructed.....
 
Should be a real piece of cake to modify mounting for standard overhead door opener to function on a sliding door. Most common ones are chain drive just like a gate opener. One of the screw drive openers would be easier than the chain systems as if the chain gets loose, it might be more prone to come untracked due to the change in motor mounting position.
Dialtone
 
You could probably adapt a normal garage door opener, ie. the one with a chain drive. Mount it parallel to the door. If there are 2 doors, you would have to couple them in a similar manner to the way curtains are opened by a cord.

Len
 
ljcox said:
You could probably adapt a normal garage door opener, ie. the one with a chain drive. Mount it parallel to the door. If there are 2 doors, you would have to couple them in a similar manner to the way curtains are opened by a cord.

Len

That is what I keep thinking. The doors actually function the same as an overhead door only sideways. They arch around and slide next to the side garage walls? I contacted Genie and Chamberlain and they say it just won't work, but they cannot tell my why? I thought that was interesting. :?
 
I have a sliding garage door, I mounted the opener sideways and it works OK. The opener was designed for a 7 foot door, but my door is 8 feet. I got it to open 7 1/2 feet by removing part of the cover and adjusting for max. I could have extended it to 8 feet for $50 more, but it was not worth it for 6 inches more opening.
 
Bailey said:
ljcox said:
You could probably adapt a normal garage door opener, ie. the one with a chain drive. Mount it parallel to the door. If there are 2 doors, you would have to couple them in a similar manner to the way curtains are opened by a cord.

Len

That is what I keep thinking. The doors actually function the same as an overhead door only sideways. They arch around and slide next to the side garage walls? I contacted Genie and Chamberlain and they say it just won't work, but they cannot tell my why? I thought that was interesting. :?

I don't know why they claim it won't work. Perhaps they don't want to be blamed if you have problems. Russlk was able to make his work.

Len
 
I was looking for the same thing for my sliding barn doors! You've probably already found a solution, but I thought I would share with everyone else. I recently found a company called real carriage doors that sells a sliding garage door opener, here's the link (see the video at the bottom of the page):
**broken link removed**

Pete
 
Commercial opener for sliding barn doors and home-built solution

LiftMaster makes an opener specifically for sliding barn-type doors, but it's pricy (over $1200). See SD - Industrial-Duty Door Operator for Single and Bi-Parting Doors

Another outfit with one is **broken link removed**

An account and pix from one fellow who has successfully adapted a regular opener to operate sliding doors can be found at Barn door opener followup - TractorByNet.com

I like this latter approach but have a problem that my doors are 16 feet wide and the internal limit switches on most openers won't allow more than 10 ft. of motion. Will be working to see if the limit switch can be changed or perhaps use external limit switches.
 
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