New Home for my Cubs

[Rudi]

I know that I haven't been on the forum as much as I would like to lately, and judging by the amount of unread posts I have to look at... it is going to take a while.

Anyways, as you know I am working on the New Home For My Cubs project... and it takes a lot of work.

The last few days I have been busy designing and building the prototype truss for the extension.. as well as trying to get a few other little jobs done. In the snow and then with 4-1/2 inches of rain, it has been a bit of a challenge. Oh, and it is getting warmer though.. today it is only -2C or 26 F....

Here are a couple pics..


New Shop Doors..





Cutting Down The Driveway

More Pics... Pole Barn Project

[brianJ]

Looking good out there Rudi. Nothing like new construction. I am currently having the " I have too much stuff that should be inside for the winter and a lack of inside "

[1stCub]

Now that one strong looking addition. I think you may be able to winter a mean bull in that one. looks great!!!!

[Bigdog]

Git-r-done Rudi!

[Rudi]

Thanks guys:

As you can see, I still have quite a bit of work to do. Removed the old roll up garage door last night.. big project that one... gotta watch them springs.. can put a man in hospital at least and kill him at worst.. so caution was the primary buzz word.

Redid some of the driveway again today. Seems seeing bumps etc., is different from the seat of a dozer and from standing back and looking at it. Without grade stakes, it can be interesting. While I was at it, I took the excess road stock and built a parking area for my implements that will live outdoors. It is an elevated area for drainage primarily.. so the implements will not end up buried in weeds, but remain on a good hard packed surface with no grass etc.. to hurry rust along.. I hope.

Got the second truss ready, so tomorrow I get to play with the inside half of the double rim joists, then start putting up trusses I hope. They are going to be a bit heavy with 32 feet of run to play with. Another overbuilt item.. but I do not really believe in half measures.

It will be warm.. not insulated this year.. maybe next, but it will be sealed, have an insulated sliding door and maybe a portable propane heater for the winter. That should keep me toasty as I play with my Cubs and other implement projects.

Busy, busy, busy. Please Lord let the weather hold. Cold I can deal with, snow I can't.. not till the end of next week at least... and they are calling for an old fashioned winter.. lots of snow and Cooooolddddd

I am wondering and I hope y'all can pop in here with an idea. I have been looking at Rick Dulas's ideas on track for sliding doors. I just removed all the bogies and C-channel that is used for the roll-up door panels. Can that be adapted to work as an overhead sliding door? There is 16 feet of straight C-channel which is what I need. Thoughts, ideas please....

[brianJ]

and they are calling for an old fashioned winter.. lots of snow and Cooooolddddd

Is there a different kind out your way. You guys get some of the best pounding storms eh?

[Rudi]

Brian:

After growing up in Timmins and experiencing some of the best winters ever (cold, tons of snow -- footses of the stuff every year), Inuvik and Ellesemere Island and then the beautiful snowy Black Forest in Lahr, I have found the New Brunswick winters to be some of the best. Yes we get nailed, a lot of blizzards or Nor'easters, and there have been times when we have had 17 feet of snow.

My first experience with a Dieppe winter was Christmas of 1981. I was posted to Leitrim (near Ottawa) and arrived here for 6 days on Boxing Day. I was scheduled to be on shift on Jan 02 82, but ended up stranded here. My Olds was buried under 8 feet of snow and it took 3 days to dig out. We had to move people by snowmobile (twin Merc 440 T/T's). Needless to say, I got charged for being 3 days AWOL..

I loves winter...

[Boss Hog]

Looking GOOOOD Rudi
David

[drspiff]

I am wondering and I hope y'all can pop in here with an idea. I have been looking at Rick Dulas's ideas on track for sliding doors. I just removed all the bogies and C-channel that is used for the roll-up door panels. Can that be adapted to work as an overhead sliding door? There is 16 feet of straight C-channel which is what I need. Thoughts, ideas please....

Shouldn't be any problem using the C Channel. It is nothing more than a piece of angle iron that has risen above its station. The last time I took an overhead door down, the rollers and channel looked something like I've drawn in the following image.



It will work the same way as the angle iron and skate wheels. Just to convince yourself, fab a couple of brackets and hang the C Channel. Fab a hanging strap and attach it to the C Channel roller. As long as the downward force is directly under the roller, the door will hang straight down and roll smoothly.

Let us know how it goes.

Rick (Helping Rudi experiment) Dulas

[Jim Becker]

Keep in mind that the track and rollers for the overhead door are not designed to have a lot of weight on any one roller or point of the track. With an overhaed door, the maximum load will be on the track when the door is fully raised and there is a pair of rollers for each SECTION of the door. The rollers are equally spaced along the length of the track. Sliding doors typically have 2 rollers for the entire door.

You will probably need additional bracketrs to support the rail. You may also need to get some heavier duty rollers or else make a bunch of brackets so you can line the door with rollers. The bunch of brackets idea may make adjusting the door rather difficult. (You will want to be able to adjust the door.)

[Rudi]

Now that is what I mean by input

Rick:

Exactly my thoughts. I figured that these channels would do the job, especially as I will be custom building the door. The door itself should be pretty lightweight in comparison to the usual sliding doors. With the bogies mounted into a custom built bracket as well, then they should work as efficiently as when mounted for the overhead door. The overhead door was pretty heavy and even with lots of spring tension it required a chain to open it... old and heavy.

The bogies themselves are also older and they are ball bearing style, not the newer nylon bushing type which are just junk as far as I am concerned.

Jim:

See, there is another thought. With the typical sliding door package they supply only 1 st of wheels.. 1 for the leading edge and 1 for the trailing edge of the door. I don't much like that. Leaves way too much weight on a single set. I would much prefer using 4 or even 6 bogies to evenly distribute the load. Also, the door would tend to run truer. The nice thing about building a pole barn with telephone poles buried 5 and 6 feet in the ground, is that you get pretty much no movement. This provides almost near perfect stability for a sliding door. So once you get it adjusted, it will pretty much stay that way. I am not a fan of having to constantly adjust doors.


I like the ideas so far.

Picked up the last bit of stock I think I need. Another 14 2" x6" x12 footers for the next 8 trusses. Only had two left. With luck those will be built by tomorrow night and my brother in law will be over with the crane to hoist em up. Then all that will be left will be closing in the gables, building the soffit ladders, tying the trusses together with strapping every 12 inches and sheathing the roof

Getting there.. boy I do like construction projects.

[cowboy]

Sweet Rudi

It is lookin' great. It appears you have the doors on the inside with one to slide to the left and one to the right Thats how a good friend of mine has his. On the other hand my uncle gets a work out trying to push his outside mounted soors through the snow and ice

Take care Rudi

Billy

[Barnyard]

It will be warm.. not insulated this year.. maybe next, but it will be sealed, have an insulated sliding door and maybe a portable propane heater for the winter. That should keep me toasty as I play with my Cubs and other implement projects.

Just make sure you're vented good for that portable heater. I'm sure you thought of that, but I just wanted to add that little reminder. It's always "better safe than sorry" as the saying goes.

Looking good though. You'll have a new hide out in no time. I wish I could get back to working on my barn (Bob). That one will take me some time.

[drspiff]

Rudi! Jim has a very valid point about supporting the weight of the door. Adding additional wheels would spread the load, but trying to get half a dozen wheels adjusted to all carry the same burden requires more patience than most mortals have. It also assumes that the C Channel rail is dead straight having no vertical deviation along its length.

Another possibility is to have the lead and trail wheels fixed on the door, and have the others in between sprung. What I'm envisioning is an upside down U strap that has a hole in the crosspiece. That slides up the wheel bracket. A valve spring is put on after the strap and secured in place with a washer and cotter pin or washer and nut if the wheel bracket is threaded. This drawing should give you the idea.



The intermediate wheels would be pre-loaded so that at rest, it only takes 10~15 pounds of upward force to raise one of the fixed wheels in the track. Why valve springs? They are free at the local NAPA or automotive machine shop, very stiff, compact, high quality, and free. (Oh, I already said that)

Let me know what you think.

Rick (the world is full of opportunities) Dulas

[Rudi]

Billy:

Thanks.. I am enjoying this. Actually those two doors are hinged and are for the main shop. The Pole Barn door will look similar to those two, but will be the slider. I am going to hang that door on the outside.. I know.. I am going to have snow to deal with, but far better to deal with a little bit of wind blown than have 8" of buildup between the outside of the shop and the outside face of the door.

With the winds the way they are here, I very seldom get much buildup on that face of the shop/barn complex.. so I don't imagine that is going to change much. Also, when it gets real thick, Ray will be by with the Ram 1500 before I can get to the shop, so that be okay too

Bill:

Yup as always, I am concerned with off-gassing and exhaust/combustion fumes. I intend to have a powered vent or two to clean out any buildup in that part of the complex. I have heated the main shop with propane for almost 15 years before I converted over to electric.

And I am reminded that I should always include the safety comment especially for those new to the forums who may not be aware that Safety is Job 1 here.


Rick:

Another neat idea. This is going to be interesting to say the least. I am wondering what the safe load on these ball-bearing style bogies would be.

This is similar in design to the ones I have. I would have to count the ball bearings to deteremine which type I have.



2" 7 Ball Standard Roller or maybe this one:



2" 10 Ball Heavy Duty Roller

I found these at Garage Door Parts, LLC

Trying to find decent info on Sliding Barn Door Hardware is more than a little not fun. And it is expensive stuff. If I could find some used barn door track, that would be something..

Here is another question. What about say flat track with steel pulley/v-belt style casters? Although, I have a feeling that is more for interior doors than exterior.

I also plan on having a wooden cap to cover the track, bogies and straps... help keep the weather out of the hardware and make it look a tad prettier..