Help needed with garage door control for robot lawnmower

[BMB]

Hi – I’m new to this forum and need some help with technical information as I have very little electronics/electrical knowledge.

I’m building a miniature garage for my robot lawnmower, and want the doors to be electrically controlled.

Please can someone advise if I should use a DC or AC electric motor, and should I use 12v or 240v etc.

Many thanks

 

[rjenkinsgb]

I'd go with DC; it's safer to work on and DC motors are usually simpler to use.

 

[BMB]

Great - thank you so much, that's the first part sorted.... I've been trying to get an answer to this for ages.
Now I need to invstigate which types of Relays and switches I need for DC motor!

 

[crutschow]

First is to select a motor and mechanism that can do the job.
Then we can work on the rest.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Possibly something in this general style, with the speed appropriate for whatever door drive linkage you intend to use?

I'd aim for something between 15 - 30 seconds for a full closed to open swing, so nothing is ever moving fast enough to damage the mechanism when the motor stops at the end of the movement.

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[ronsimpson]

In old recliner/easy chairs there are motors like this. I get them for free from old chairs. 24Vdc simple wiring. Comes with a power supply. If you get them new, they came in all sizes but in used, they are about like this one.

 

[BMB]

Thanks everyone for your help - it's greatly appreciated!
Due to the Make/Model of my robot lawnmower, I will need 2 doors - an entry door and an exit door.
I have seen a couple of examples that I'm basing it on.
This one is the same as my robot - 2 doors, but uses Roller Shutter doors (which I unfortunately can't find in the UK), but will try and use this garage design:

Becuase I can't get these doors in the UK, I thought I would go for the door design from this example:

Please can you let me know which motor you think is best for this.
Many thanks.

 

[Pommie]

Silly question, why do you need doors? Why not a car port type enclosure?

Mike.

 

[BMB]

Yea.... it's not a silly question, it's probably more sensible to go for a car-port type, but I like gadgets, and I really like the fun of it

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Becuase I can't get these doors in the UK,

Look for "Tambour" doors - there are loads of suppliers.
eg.

Amazon.co.uk : tambour door

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Tambourline Tambour Door FULL KIT 343 x 650mm (Matte or Gloss Black)

Tambour doors are a great alternative to hinged doors or they can be combined with regular cupboard doors for a contemporary look. These kits come as a set complete with tracks and spirals for smooth operation and efficient use of space. The slats are manufactured from solid colour, high quality...

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[Pommie]

Yea.... it's not a silly question, it's probably more sensible to go for a car-port type, but I like gadgets, and I really like the fun of it

Best answer. Doing it for fun. Well done.

Mike.

 

[For The Popcorn]

Could you use a automotive power seat motor? They are geared down, so the speed is reasonable and they have plenty of torque.

Mount a square door to the motor at the corner. Rotate 90° to open, reverse polarity and rotate back 90° to close. Limit switches stop the rotation at each end.

Some of the motors I've seen have a large disk attached to gear, which would make the door easy to attach.

 

[BMB]

Thanks Mike! .
And thanks rjenkingsb for providing the links to Tambour doors - they look great. Having looked on the sites, unfortunately, there are none wide enough for the garage.
It looks like I will have to go with the self-made door as in the Husqvarna example.
I'm OK with making the doors; I thought I could use a single motor to power both doors....
I just need to understand what power DC electric motor I need.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.

 

[BMB]

Thanks 'F' - this sounds like a good idea to use a seat motor

 

[rjenkinsgb]

For the drive mechanism, the simplest is probably a loop of timing belt such as this:

With a suitable pulley directly on a geared motor shaft and an idler at the other end to tension it.

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Attach a link from the top of the door to the belt, so it pulls/pushes parallel to the "garage" ceiling, just like a full size garage door operator unit that uses belt drive.

A small geared motor as I posted earlier could lift quite a solid and heavy door, or any mass with a counterweight on a pulley from the door.

You could drive both end doors from the same belt loop by attaching the door links to opposite sides of the loop, if you put the motor and idler vertically above and close enough to the ends, so the link attachments are always clear of the pulleys.

You can get all sorts of clamps and fittings for attaching to the belt, as it's very common in 3D printers and robotics etc., eg.

Pardon our interruption...

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[For The Popcorn]

An ad from www.sciplus.com popped up in my feed, so I checked if they have power seat motors. Yep, a nice looking model for $10.

Unrelated, a couple other items caught my eye. The first is a stepper-motor driven peristaltic pump, for precision liquid dispensing. These things used to be breathtakingly expensive. This onevis begging for an application.

The second one is an automotive power door lock mechanism. Supply voltage of one polarity, and the plunger extends 5/8" and stays extended when power is removed. Connect power in the reserve polarity and the plunger retracts. A handy device for five bucks. I have one of these buried in the stack somewhere to make an automatic refrigerator door lock for our RV – no more picking stuff up off the floor when the door comes unlatched going around a corner!!

SciPlus has a lot of potentially useful stuff.