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I always wanted a piece of Star Trek and the Disney Monorail in my house, and one thing they have in common is that they both have automatic sliding doors. It would be the perfect, most geek-ified entryway for my bedroom.
Edit: Not every detail is included in this Instructable. I did the best I could using pictures I had taken 4 years ago. There are some more details on my blog if you would like to read more: http://uiproductions.blogspot.com
To be acceptable as a permanent renovation to our house, I knew the door had to have a normal appearance, as well as be practical and maintenance free. To reduce the number of moving parts (and maybe for a little coolness factor) I decided to make the door air-powered. The air would be supplied by a small compressor and storage tank located in the attic. In order to open and close from the inside and out, the door needed a little bit of brainpower. I decided to use a small PIC microcontroller, my platform of choice still to this day. Arduino didn't exist back then.
With a rough plan in my head, I drew a quick CAD model of the door and the brackets that would connect the pistons to the door halves. I was ready to start purchasing parts.
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Here are some of the parts I used:
- Craftsman 1 Gallon Air Compressor / Tank
- 32" wide, solid wood door from Home Depot (to be cut in half)
- Pocket Door Track from McMaster.com
- Two 16" stroke, 3/4" bore pneumatic pistons from McMaster.com
- A 5-way, 12V solenoid-operated valve from McMaster.com
- Various pneumatic hose, fittings, a regulator, push-on hose connectors, two valves for air supply and purge
Your parts will vary depending on your door size, your wall configuration, etc.
Start tearing out your wall with a hammer, crowbar, or any other destructive tools you can find laying around. This is the fun part of the project!
- Craftsman 1 Gallon Air Compressor / Tank
- 32" wide, solid wood door from Home Depot (to be cut in half)
- Pocket Door Track from McMaster.com
- Two 16" stroke, 3/4" bore pneumatic pistons from McMaster.com
- A 5-way, 12V solenoid-operated valve from McMaster.com
- Various pneumatic hose, fittings, a regulator, push-on hose connectors, two valves for air supply and purge
Your parts will vary depending on your door size, your wall configuration, etc.
Start tearing out your wall with a hammer, crowbar, or any other destructive tools you can find laying around. This is the fun part of the project!
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thank you so much for sharing this one!
P.S. don't mind Dr. who he was bugging me also
Hats off to all your work :)
*xkcd reference
The "return action" of the Star Trek Turbo-Lift doors didn't really have a sound to them (until much later in the series that is). So, perhaps the "return spring" method of closing isn't such a bad idea.
The thing I find dangerous is that you didn't incorporate any kind of "Manual Override" in your design. Since you're using compressed air as the actual power for the door pneumatics you wouldn't need electrical power in an emergency. Just a bypass valve in one of your access panels or add a new panel or two. One for both sides of the door, because you never know what side you're going to be on when power goes out and you need to get in (or out) of the room.
Also, if you're thinking that a battery backup will suffice to answer these issues, you're just begging for problems. Battery powered UPSs are notorious for having the battery go bad from non-use. Yes I said NON-use. Plus the power that compressor takes at start-up will just pop the weak little breaker on the UPS leaving you still stuck on one side or the other. So I wouldn't bet my life or my kids life on a $50 UPS you got at Best Buy.
This is a mechanical device and it should have a manual bypass. Seems to me that this is a no-brainer and all that's needed is a couple 1/4turn ball valves and a couple anti-reversing valves installed.
A "Neat Door" is not worth dying over because you cheaped out. In my opinion, there is never a "Good day to die".
This is very cool though. There are still other things that you could do to it. Like add an RFID system or Thumb-print scanner or freak out your friends with an Ocular or Handprint Scanner to open the door! How about Voice operated command system or just a simple contact pad (like in the grocery stores) or a short range motion detector to activate it.
Also, there is a "single ram" method to open both doors that goes hand-in-hand with the "spring return" closure, using a thin cable and a couple small pulley-type wheels. Super simple design uses only 1 air line to the ram! This would decrease the cost and complexity of the build by a factor of 4 (don't ask, it just sounds good). So, you could have done either 2 doors with the parts you now have or just saved youself from buying the second ram, the extra hosing and fittings and the time it took to install all that extra stuff.
If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you a drawing of the modification.
These are just some things to think about.
Good job with the instructable. I liked it and so did a bunch of other people!
2. So you actually made a drawing of a random modification to someone elses project, yet you decided to skip the video and go right to the instructions for fear of wasting time? lol
2. I didn't make a drawing. It says "PM me and I'll send you a drawing of the modification". Meaning I could draw it up, not that I drew a picture for him.
&
"These are just some things to think about." You must not have read that last line...
And I did watch the video, after I read threw it, but all the suggestions I made are based on first-hand experience with the different technologies involved with the controls and mechanics of automated doors.
And as I said, the video wasn't all that useful. it just showed the final product in action but it didn't show the build process. But he had a lot of nice pictures that did. So watching the video first wouldn't have given me the information I was looking for.
Just because something is at the top of a page, doesn't mean you HAVE to start there. It's just a suggestion.
So thanks for trolling.
Having two cylinders was the simplest option for me at the time, not having any fancy tools to fabricate a pulley system. I don't understand how adding two pulleys, a cable, and brackets would simplify things more. They are both equally good options in my opinion.
A battery backup is just a convenience. If the power goes out, the door will still function normally. It doesn't replace the manual override or the fact that you can just force the doors open by hand if you need to get in or out, which I have done before. I wouldn't be buying a UPS from best buy, I would design a PCB for battery management. That's what I do for a living now.
Nobody is dying because I "cheaped out". If the power goes out, there is a manual override. If the compressor doesn't run, the lines will eventually lose air pressure and the doors will be even easier to open by hand. And heaven forbid, if the door doesnt open and the room is on fire, just climb out the window that's two feet away, don't be stupid.
But seriously, there are always going to be more "nice to have" features. I built it to be practical and unnoticeable, which it is for the most part. I don't even live in the same city anymore, and the door still works great 4 years after I built it. It saves space, it is easy for ANYONE to operate, and it looks cool! There are plenty of other uses for it to, such as in homes of people with disabilities.
Thanks for the constructive criticism.
Get real, fires DO happen and kids die in them. When a child panics, they usually ball up in the fetal position.
I wasn't being glib or joking. I've run in to a burning building to drag people out then gone back in to find their child. I only did that 1 time. And I'll never do that again! The smoke almost got me.
And that's when it hit me that I could have been the one to die.
Go look at the doors again. Its a solid door with no hinges. Still think a small child could get it open? They couldn't even get near that power cut-off. It's 7ft off the ground.
Food for thought, anyway.
The reason I wrote so much was to make my point clearly understood. I'm glad to see it was, thanks for answering.
I just think it's kind of strange that you didn't mention these things as they would undoubtedly come in to question the first time someone else tried this and stuck in or out of the room. And I'm always looking at the safety of things in our everyday lives to see if I can improve on the original design. I'm a hobbyist inventor and I have a some experience with these types of doors. You see, I used to work on elevators. And the worst part about losing power to an elevator is that there is no manual release for the outer doors. They can be opened but I had to create the tool to do it. What a pain! But, it was part of my job and that's part what I do for a living.
So, not finding any info on releasing the door manually and your response to one commenter with the Worf quote, made me think that you totally overlooked these things. I know how these things work. You build first, then test, THEN put in safety devices. I do it all the time. it just would have been nice to have had that included in your instructions. That's all I was saying.
But you did this and took all the pictures over 4 years ago? When did you post this?
Have you ever worked on Ben Dover Elevators or ever worked on any type of elevator for that matter?
wait, the outside doors are usually opened by a motor on the elevator car, right?