The Big Hangar

Some folks have inquired about the door on my 60x40 hangar.  The door is one piece that measures 48' wide by 10 1/2 feet tall.

The door is constructed entirely of 2x4 and 1x4 wood.  The 2 ends, and each of the 6 verticals that have a lifting frame bolted to them are 2x4.  
Everything else is 1x4.  The top and bottom plates are doubled up 1x4 laminated together with Liquid Nails and drywall screws.  Every other
vertical in the structure (the non-lifitng ones) are 1x4.  Each of the cross pieces is also 1x4.  The winch cable and counterweight cables are 3/16"
cable while the 6 individual lifting cables are 1/8".   Each door section has 1/8" crossing cables that are adjustable to tension the door and make
it reasonably rigid.  Each corner and each of the 2x4 verticals is anchored in using a 1/8" aluminum plate and 1/4" lag screws.  The plates also
anchor all of the "X" cables.  There is a vertical rail at either end of the door to keep the sides properly aligned and 6 overhead garage door rails
to guide the door as it tips over.  You can see that the garage door rails only have very light mounts as they are only guides and carry very little
weight.  The door is lifted by 6 cables along the center of the door.  All the rollers only act as guides and serve to hold the door in place when it
is in the down position.  There are also 4 pins that I drop into the floor to stiffen the door when it is in the down position.  All this description will
make much more sense after you view the photos below.

(Sorry SC guys, the Cub is in the other hangar, so I can't show you how it fits)


























Door Details

Overhead guide rails (Standard Garage Door rails).


Floor Anchor when the door is down.  Also note aluminum gusset with 1/2" lags holding tensioning "X" cables.


"X" cable bracing with tension adjusters.


Vertical roller anchoring the side of the door.

Door Lifting Details

Bidirectional Winch (bought from Northern Tool)


Cable roller directly above the winch.  Second cable goes to the back corner of the hangar to the door counterweight.


Corner pulley.  The cable off to the right goes through a pulley and down to the winch.  The second cable going off to
the right goes to the counterweight.  The cable heading off to the left goes behind the 2x8 header and divides into 6 separate
cables using swivels and a removable link to connect them.   Each of the 6 cables goes across a pulley, then down through
the header above the door to the lifting frames bolted to the door.  (See Below)


Header and upper guide rails.


Header and upper guide rails.


Lifting frame bolted to door and cable adjuster.


280# of counterweight in the back corner of the hangar.