Surplus opener

[PassnThru]

So - I have a 15 or so year old Craftsman opener that died a few weeks ago. It was on the attached garage - I bought a new one to get things back up and running without waiting for parts. Many of you will place this event at the same time as my post about giving myself a fat lip by simply installing a garage door opener. Yep - the same opener. Anyhow - I've disassembled it and know what the problem is - the part is $35. I haven't thrown it away yet because I am trying to think of any other use it might have that would be worth fixing it for. I don't need it for it's intended purpose. Let's get creative - what can I use an old garage door opener for that would be worth spending $35 to fix it?

 

[HemiRambler]

an automatic gate opener?

 

[PassnThru]

an automatic gate opener?

But then I'd have to build a gate....
And a gate is useless without a fence.....

 

[gorilla]

Do you remember the movie 9 to 5?

 

[PassnThru]

Do you remember the movie 9 to 5?

Vaguely - Dolly Parton right?
Definitely don't get the inferred reference

 

[porschedude996TT]

Opening Skylight?

 

[stltikn]

Make a verticle lift, like a dumb waiter. Not my idea, I saw it somewhere, just can't remember. I have CRS.

 

[PassnThru]

OK - keep em coming. It's a .5 horse Chamberlain motor....

 

[slowmo5o]

Did the part that broke happen to be a plastic worm gear. Thats what wore out on mine. I also didn't throw it away hoping for a use.

 

[BioHazard]

You could string up a ****** and use it to winch her up to the ceiling.

 

[mdbeck1]

Put it in the attic, connect some wire rope and use it for a lift to get things upstairs. The remote means that you can be downstairs as it goes up.

 

[azotto]

Make a verticle lift, like a dumb waiter. Not my idea, I saw it somewhere, just can't remember. I have CRS.

I thought the same thing. Looked in my copy of Shop Savvy to see if it was there but no such luck.

 

[Gary S]

You could toss the worn out opener in the trash and spend that $35 on beer. Then sit back and have a wonderful summer.

 

[Mr_fixit]

$35.00 sounds too high. Usually the teeth strip off the white plastic wheel and you can get those for about $15.00 bucks..

 

[onewaydave]

Come on!!!

This is the Garage Journal forum. Build another garage for it. You'll need 2 doors at least, so you need to keep your eye out for a matching opener for the other door.

Dave.

 

[Kevin54]

Vaguely - Dolly Parton right?
Definitely don't get the inferred reference

Check it at 1:53 into the clip

 

[NUTTSGT]

Do you remember the movie 9 to 5?

Check it at 1:53 into the clip

A day late and 2 dollars short. I was thinking the same thing and was going to do a search on yotube.

 

[PassnThru]

$35.00 sounds too high. Usually the teeth strip off the white plastic wheel and you can get those for about $15.00 bucks..

Gears are fine. There is what I think is a sleeve at the top of the gear assembly that centers the shaft in the housing. Half of that sleeve is gone causing the shaft to lean/wobble. The drive gear itself is bent because I kept tightening the chain not knowing the the sleeve was going out of me. So I have to order the whole assembly.

 

[PassnThru]

Opening Skylight?

Interesting - but no skylights

Make a verticle lift, like a dumb waiter. Not my idea, I saw it somewhere, just can't remember. I have CRS.

I'm not sure how much a half horse motor could lift. It would have to be spring assisted like the garage door I would guess...

You could string up a ****** and use it to winch her up to the ceiling.

Hookers are kept in the attic. My wife would notice them if I stored them on the ceiling.

Put it in the attic, connect some wire rope and use it for a lift to get things upstairs. The remote means that you can be downstairs as it goes up.

Again - interesting but I don't think the lift capacity would be very much.

You could toss the worn out opener in the trash and spend that $35 on beer. Then sit back and have a wonderful summer.

Don't you mean a wonderful week?

 

[PassnThru]

Check it at 1:53 into the clip

Got it now - thanks for the link. I think this goes along with the previous idea of storing the hookers at the ceiling. Which would be - uh - awkward for me to say the least

 

[knucklebusted]

Got it now - thanks for the link. I think this goes along with the previous idea of storing the hookers at the ceiling. Which would be - uh - awkward for me to say the least

Auto retrieval mechanism for the youngins! You just need a length of cable/rope/leash. Then when you can't find them, just push the button. All of them magically appear in front of you!

 

[PassnThru]

Auto retrieval mechanism for the youngins! You just need a length of cable/rope/leash. Then when you can't find them, just push the button. All of them magically appear in front of you!

Auto dispersal mechanism for the youngins! You just need a length of cable/rope/leash. Then when you can't get rid of them, just push the button. All of them magically disappear in front of you!

This is what you meant right

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Hey, I started a thread like this a year or two ago. My idea was to raise and lower a flat screen TV into a box that would hide it when not in use. I also eventually plan on making another outside bar that would utilized an opener to raise and lower the roof and the flatscreen TV.

Oh yeah, how about another that would raise and lower the floor at the front entrance to my house to lower Jehovah's witnesses and other people and shoot them back to the street.

 

[knucklebusted]

This is what you meant right

Yeah, typo on my part.

I know you don't have the room but it would make a good shooting range target retrieval.

 

[mdbeck1]

I had a guy several years ago that suggest using one to raise/lower a bicycle rack. He was going to mount it vertical along the wall and connect the bicycles to a 2X4 hanging from cables up to the ceiling. The garage door would "open" and the bicycles would go up... When he "lowered" the dooor the bicycles would go down...

 

[caropepe]

I was thinking about that thread a couple of weeks ago talking about getting the shop vac up off the floor.

At the time I was thinking of some kind of cantilevered shelf that would lift the vac up about 3 feet and get it off the floor - kinda like the way a city bus lifts wheelchairs. Now, I'm thinking of using a garage door opener to accomplish the same thing...

Gotta love over-engineered and complex solutions to no real problem!

Joe

 

[Huyzel]

Ok.. you have a garage door but you dont have a garage screen.. rig the motor to lower a screen to keep out **** while your working. afix a tension at the base that is wire driven.. have the screen run on a track.. you can make it out of wood or something.. and then have the motor wind up the screen on a spool of some kind.. or use the same design as a motorized projection screen..

 

[porschedude996TT]

Toss it, you'll never use it...

 

[PassnThru]

Ok.. you have a garage door but you dont have a garage screen.. rig the motor to lower a screen to keep out **** while your working. afix a tension at the base that is wire driven.. have the screen run on a track.. you can make it out of wood or something.. and then have the motor wind up the screen on a spool of some kind.. or use the same design as a motorized projection screen..

You are on to something there - I have given this considerable thought. I want something a little more rigid than a roll down - I have considered making a screen that goes above the current door and goes down when the door is up. But that requires more track - and I would want a door in it - and there isn't much room there when the door is up - etc etc etc. Yeah - I have thought about that one a lot.

 

[Huyzel]

I would of course make it able to function only when the solid garage door is up.. a simple switch can take care of that.. then when the garage door is up you will have a gap for the screen to come down. And forget the door.. if you need to go out just roll it up part way and then close the screen. and the track is to just guide it. section off the screen with a thin piece of round metal to keep it rigid but still able to roll up..

 

[PassnThru]

I would of course make it able to function only when the solid garage door is up.. a simple switch can take care of that.. then when the garage door is up you will have a gap for the screen to come down. And forget the door.. if you need to go out just roll it up part way and then close the screen. and the track is to just guide it. section off the screen with a thin piece of round metal to keep it rigid but still able to roll up..

I have three kids - it would go up and down at least a gazillion times in a 1 hour period - just not a fight I want to get into if you know what I mean.