DIY - automatic gate opener

3/20/15 fb post

before i had to use my leg muscles, arm muscles and weight of my body to move this gate half a foot. after greasing the bearings i can use my pinky moday finger to open and close the gate.

gives me childhood nostalgia i made my own scooter out of wood and surplus bearings i stole from my grandma’s talier – whenever i greased the bearings my scooter goes much faster. i rode my scooter with my scooter gang all day. good times. my rich neighbor (PJ) got envious so his parents bought him a scooter that had rubber wheels. i made fun of his scooter because it does not make the cool screeching sound. he got envious again. so i offered to trade and he happily obliged. SUCKER !!! (although now i’m hesitant to call him a sucker because now my dear neices and nephews are one of those naive non street smart kids who don’t go out of the house to rough it out with poor mean kids. although the upside is they will grow up to be conformists who gets 100 likes every time they post something in facebook. nature always seeks equilibrium). so now i had the fasest scooter of my gang it was awsome the rubber wheels just swallows up the rough road. but the next day PJ’s parents came knocking on our door and i was back to my steel bearing scooter. it would be cool to search him in fb i just never knew his family name. his dad was a doctor. me and my friends had such a big crush on his mom one day we made PJ cry and his mom comes out, PJ hugs his mom while crying and his face was pressed against his mom’s vagina and me and my friends where just watching in awe wishing we were PJ.

anyway, use a crow bar to ligwatize the gate into a floor jack (or rock/brick). but if you use a jack put a secondary stand just in case the jack fails you don’t lose your hand. btw, you should own a floor jack it’s only $30 when they are on sale so start watching out for a sale in harbor freight. don’t wait until you need one and end up spending $100. use a vise grip to enkwentro the bearing bolt if no one is there to assist you. then a socket wrench on the other end. notice i used a corrugated cardboard cutout as a padding to my socket wrench set so the small sockets don’t get dislodged from their slot – little things like this makes life easier.

smear the entire housing and stuff the insides of the bearings with grease. notice one of the bearings has no more rollers this is because it’s bolt keeps hitting on the fence so instead of ordering a new one i swapped the bearing with the smaller gate anyway it won’t make a difference on the smaller gate because it’s much lighter.  i then shortened the bolt by cutting it.

and that’s our DIY lesson for the week. tune in next week for more. seacreast out.

3/25/15 fb post

the chorded drill was way better than the cordless but the chorded still took FOREVER. if you plan on drilling through hard concrete, don't even think about using an ordinary drill even with a masonry bit. borrow from your contractor friends or buy a hammer drill (check out this video - https://youtu.be/fMgCbXQ5t-Y )

4/7/15 fb post

making use of the surplus pvc pipes in the backyard. looks ugly but it's better than having to dig underground. at least it matches the color of mother mary (camoflauged on the rock so that the liberal nazi code inspectors won't see it and fine us for offending our neighbors who might not be christians. hehehe. next project is the junction box, then the stopper bracket, then base reinforcement of the control base. just realized after i got the automatic gate opener working i was only 1/4 done. also had to fix the post, the gate locks, adjusted the sprinklers and this conduit. none of them are really necessary to get the gate opener working and they are not mentioned in the installation manual, but i guess this is what separates successful business people and those who always fail in business - constantly anticipating potential problems and fixing them before it happens. as they say in silicon valley - only the paranoid survive.

4/10/15 fb post

LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER. cutting the post with my light saber so the automatic opener brackets and magenets won't sangyad then re-enforcing with larger sleeve anchors.

4/17/15 fb post 

not sure if this is ok. the installation manual suggests a separate line and breaker for the gate opener. i'm like screw that just use a regular extension chord and connect it to the nearest outdoor outlet. i did weatherize it by culking it. (we have 15 of these extension chords in the garage so might as well use it)

4/19/15 fb post

this is not in the installation manual but i was thinking if that magnet switch fails that chain bolt will get in the chain box and mess up all the gears or at least it will need to be dissasembled to get it out so i decided to put a stopper bracket. 1 sleeve anchor should suffice but i added 2 more so it can take the abuse and bumps from the lawn mower. the gap between the chain box and bracket feels like the "superheat" in refrigeration - which is insurance so liquid freon does not get into the compressor. so the stopper that i just put, is like the high pressure cut off switch. it's a coincidence both protection mechanisms are not standard or even recommended by the manufacturers. it just makes sense when the manufacturers make more money if these insurance protection features don't exist because these kinds of problems happen the unit is old and out of warranty and they make more money if you have to replace the whole unit instead of just a small cheap part.

sometimes the limit switch of my old garage door opener would not work causing the garage door to get stuck and require recalibrating the settings so i made use of the surplus brackets i found and now the problem can never happen. imagine if i'm in the philippines and my tenant emails me the garage door is stuck so i will have to contact a garage door expert to fix it which can easily cost me $250 and this could happen again and again.

4/21/15 fb post

almost had a heart attack when a lizard jumped  out of latch hole i was trying to enlarge. also took the lock to a locksmith to get keys made. one of the bolts had warped threads luckily i had one that fits - always makes my day when i don't have to go to home depot just to buy one bolt. these fixes are unnecessary but it's always a good habit to prevent any form of deterioration around a house - you may not know it but  these things subconsciouslyly affect your morale and self esteem. WD40 is your friend. tighten loose bolts and nuts, etc ..

(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)