Bill_H

Bill_H

Well Known Member
Patron
I built a metal arch building for a hangar. The hangar doors for such a building can be a difficult problem. You want to maximize the width and height both, and the arch interferes with that. Also, you cannot use the building itself for support. The last 12 pics in this album show the solution, including wheels and motorcycle shocks. This is a public link to the album. Plan is to land my RV12 here this week... Airstrip is 1260 feet... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.151245628228677.26907.100000297210697&type=1&l=a2b29e894a

Bill H N412BR "Sweetie"
 
Bill, is this on your property??

478548_441421669211070_48339414_o.jpg
 
Yes, that's me buzzing the strip before the hangar was raised. It now sits in that bare spot left side of the pic. The runway has some grass on it now. Could be better but enough to land. I want to do the annual here rather than at the airport thats 30 minutes away.
 
How's it standing up to the test of time?

I operated out of a field with hangar doors similar to that (without shock absorbers on the wheels, but close enough)

The doors had been built 15-20 years ago. Over time, the ground out front of the hangar had eroded, roughened, been graded, been washed away by runoff, rebuilt, etc, etc.

Every bit of discontinuity in the ground surface in front of the hangar stressed the hinges; and opening the doors in a wind stressed the hinges and the panels.

It was serviceable, but not pretty.

Your shock absorber idea is probably a good improvement, but I'd still suggest keeping a good eye on the surface and the door structure. If there's any sign of hinge cracking or fasteners trying to pop off the door cladding (indicating at to the doors have tried to change shape) get onto it real quick.

- mark
 
Door with wheel

Newt
Since the ground slopes away from my barn I overcame the problem of uneven ground by using a 2" or 50mm trailer hitch for the lower hinge and a 20" road trailer wheel at the end of the door to take the weight of the door. For the upper hinge I used a small top link off a tractor welded into a tube that slid inside another tube and this held the door upright. So as the door opens the trailer wheel runs over the ground and the top hinge slides inside the tube. It works very well indeed. The reason I did this is that I did not want to put any more steel into the barn when I knocked out the end to put the doors on. I have four doors. the two inner ones fold back onto the outer 1/4's and it is on the end of these 1/4's that I have the small 20" trailer wheels.

Rob
 
The bottom of the door frame is about 1 inch above the ground where the door swings open. The gap is filled by strips of sacrificial Home Depot rubber (plastic) floor mat screwed onto the bottom frame in a "U" shape. (I also use it as "wasp sealant" between the panels.) So it is the mat that rubs against the ground. You can see it best in the last picture (door-within-a-door) in the other thread.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=102000

The ground has gravel that frost heaves and some of the rocks are sharp. So a couple of holes have worn in the mat on one of the doors. Easy and cheap to replace. I rake the rocks there from time to time. I shoulda poured concrete and still could in a couple of arcs where the wheels roll...

The wheels seem to hold air really well and the shocks are still good. Thanks for the advice, Mark!
 
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