Hydraulic-Powered Door Opens In One Piece

Hydraulic-Powered Door Opens In One Piece BUILDINGS New Techniques 28-2-2 ero headroom loss when open, self supporting, no moving parts and no exposed joints are some of the reasons Rick Peterson has built and sold more than 50 PowerLift Hydraulic Doors over the past year. Demand for the one piece, any-size doors has been growing since he made the first one for himself 11 years ago. "I did a few for neighbors and other local people, but it really started taking off about a year ago," says Peterson of Lake Benton, Minn. "Once you've seen one in operation, you'll never go back to anything else. When they are open, they even create shade and shelter for working outside the building." Peterson custom designs each door with prices ranging from $4,000 for smaller doors and up to $6,000. For the price, a buyer gets a personal visit from Peterson to measure and assess the building. Then he designs the door, builds and installs it. "Every building is different," he says. "If a new building is going in, we will dig holes, set the vertical square steel tubing posts and the building's frame posts next to each other and pour cement around both." If he is adapting his door to an existing building, he will anchor a bolt plate to existing cement and weld posts to the plate. The posts will also be anchored into the structure. In both cases, a rectangular header creates the frame for the door hinges. The door itself is constructed from 3 by 5-in. rectangular tubing for the frame and 3 by 2-in. tubing for the skeleton. Hydraulic cylinders mounted on the vertical posts simply push the hung door up and out. "It's just one big panel, and it doesn't hang from the building like overhead or bifold doors do," explains Peterson. "It takes 35 seconds to open and 35 to close. There are lock valves and restrictors on the cylinders so it won't close faster than 30 seconds even if the system fails." Peterson only builds the door skeleton. Buyers are then free to insulate and cover with whatever material they prefer. "We screw wooden 2 by 4's to the skeleton so the buyer can attach tin," he says. When the doors are open, they are unaffected by the wind, explains Peterson. As a resident of the Buffalo Ridge area, with reportedly the strongest winds in Minnesota, he has had ample opportunity to see the affect of high winds. "I have only shut them down twice for wind in more than 10 years and that's because I heard storm sirens blow in town," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Rick Peterson, 115 E Benton, Lake Benton, Minn. 56149 (ph 507 368-9500; email: rickweld@itctel.com).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.