Here is how I installed a standard garage door opener on a sliding Eichler garage door. Click on the thumbnail pictures to see the full sized photograph.
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The doors on our house open a full eight feet. Find an opener that will pull the full distance. The only ones I found were worm drive and those required a extension option to do it. The track is mounted parallel to the door as close as was possible given clearance for the other door. |
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I could not get the supplied brackets to attach the track to work, so I got a couple of angle brackets from the hardware store and bent them as shown. |
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I have installed several openers over the years on different houses and I have never liked the wimpy straps that are supplied to hold the motor unit. These are sections of 1/2 inch EMT cut, flattened and drilled to provide a rigid support. |
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The only hard part was making up an adaptor to hook the traveler on the track to the door. I formed it this way so that it would clear the top of the inner (manually operated) other door. The material came from the local hardware store. This could be beefed up some, but it seems to be holding after several years of use. |
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One of our neighbors solved the door/traveler adaptor a little differently. Here is their solution. Since they mounted their opener a little lower, they did not need the vertical section we have. |
| 6. | We have had only one problem: I did not bother to check to see which of the optical sensor boxes was the transmitter and which was the receiver. I ended up putting the receiver on the north end of the door. When the first winter came around the sunlight from the south shining in the sensor fooled it into always indicating something blocking the door way. So the door would not close. I swapped the transmitter and receivers and we have not had any trouble since. So: Put your optical reciever toward the door that the opener is not moving. It will then be protected against false alarms by sunlight. |
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