Bifold door for my shop

[Frank S]

all that is needed now is to install the sheet metal
The East door of my shop has been closed in by a roll up tarp door for quite some time now it was a quick and easy way to block the wind but a royal pain to open and close due to the requirement of having to have 4 inch loading straps strung inside and out side to prevent the tarp from being destroyed I always knew it was a temporary fix so for the past week I have been constructing a suitable replacement.
As always I try to use scrap materials whenever possible, and in this build many of the pieces of pipe for the frame were no longer than 2 feet. a lot of beveling of the ends and many welds to make them 15 feet long but hey the pipes were otherwise mostly too short to be of much use for many things anyway. some of the pipes were 10 to 12 feet though so it saved me some welding

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Bifold Door to our Miscellaneous category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Bifold Door by Frank S

tags: shop

[bruce.desertrat]

Now we see the impetus for your pipe welding jig the other day.

[Frank S]

Now we see the impetus for your pipe welding jig the other day.

Hey there were so many of them I was giving some serious consideration to stop[ping everything and build a replacement the powered rotary welding lathe I once had. It is still on my list to do especially if I go back into manufacturing hyd cylinders again

[sossol]

It would be a shame for that latticework to be hidden behind sheet metal. It looks very cool.

Neil

[Frank S]

It would be a shame for that latticework to be hidden behind sheet metal. It looks very cool.

Neil

Well yes but it won't block much wind like it now will it. At least I will still be able to see it from the inside

[bob47907]

FrankS, I hope you post some details of the top track design. That looks to be an interesting challenge!

[Frank S]

FrankS, I hope you post some details of the top track design. That looks to be an interesting challenge!

The top track is just the bottom flange of the 12" beam the door hangs and swivels from the 3/4" bolt a 3" long 1" pipe is welded vertically in the door frame with a loose sleeve bushing inside to take up space between the bolt and the pipe 2 hardened washers act as thrust bearings. the Head of the 3/4" bolt was turned down to a tapered flange so it would be flush with the top of the hanger plate which had a tapered hole I put a couple of tack welds just to prevent the bolt from turning making it serve as a fixed spindle. the door is held up with double nuts locked together on the spindle with the bottom nut being a nyloc nut as well. the top of the door hangs less than an inch and a quarter below the bottom of the Beams flange about as low profile as I could manage without welding the trolly sides together and doing away with the 5 bolts holding the 1 side on

[Improvised DIY]

Did you have the weight of the frame? It looks heavy!

[Frank S]

Did you have the weight of the frame? It looks heavy!

there is about 420 feet of 1" sch 40 pipe in the frame and 1"pipe weighs1.679 pounds per foot so a little over 700 pounds it will be clad with 26ga corrugated galvanized sheet metal and with the seam overlaps that can be figured at about 1 lb. per sq. foot actual weight @ .88 lbf per sheet the door is 17 x 22 feet so another 375 pounds there abouts. I'm guessing when complete just under 1100 pounds if I don't decide to cut a walk through door in it. If I do that add another 100 pounds, actually about half the weight I figured I would wind up with for a door of that size, which is why I made the trolly like I did