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Easy Way To Power Any Gate
"I've seen other gate openers made from garage door openers in FARM SHOW, but I think mine is the simplest and easiest to make," says Edwin Egli, New Salem, N. Dak., who was tired of opening and closing gates while tending cattle.
The first step in adding power to a gate is making sure the gate itself is in good
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Easy Way To Power Any Gate FENCING Gates 26-5-28 "I've seen other gate openers made from garage door openers in FARM SHOW, but I think mine is the simplest and easiest to make," says Edwin Egli, New Salem, N. Dak., who was tired of opening and closing gates while tending cattle.
The first step in adding power to a gate is making sure the gate itself is in good shape and swings easily and freely.
To attach an opener to a gate, Egli mounts the motor and track on a pivoting bracket on a post set in the ground about 2 ft. away from the fence and 2 ft. behind the post holding the gate. "This post must be positioned so when the gate opens it swings toward it," he explains.
On the top rail of the gate, he adds a pivoting bracket and then attaches the carriage that pulls the door open to that. "The rail extends over the top of the gate a little, but since both the opener and the rail pivot as the gate opens, the opener rail is nearly parallel with the gate when it's wide open," he notes.
Egli says the newer garage door openers come with electric eyes as a safety feature. Since these have to be mounted properly for the opener to work, he takes the cover off the opener and mounts them inside the motor compartment.
He buries the electric lines to the posts that hold the openers.
To protect each opener from the weather, Egli mounts half of a 30-gal. plastic barrel over the top, with a slit cut in the side for the opener rail to fit through.
"The gate doesn't open or close quickly, but I've not had any problems with the cattle running through," he continues. "When I need to sort cattle or just move an animal from one pen to another, I can get behind the cow and move her toward the gate. When the cow is close enough, I open the gate a little, the animal goes through, and I close it again. I can sort cattle quicker and easier alone than I used to with a helper on the gate," he says. "Cattle are are more likely to try to get away when a person is standing by the gate."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Edwin Egli, 4825 County Road 139, New Salem, N. Dak. 58563 (ph 701 843-7380; E-mail: egli@westriv.com).
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