This being a Do it yourselves group. I plan to use a garage door opener on my driveway gate to roll my gate open and shut. Any ideas or opinions?
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My opinion is unless your gate’s only seven feet wide a residential garage door opener won’t work. The standard garage door is seven feet high. Also consider: garage door openers are built to pull‹the action they need to use to open the door. They don’t push; to close the door they rely on gravity. A sliding-gate opener has to both push and pull. To do what you want you will need a sliding gate opener, and they’re really expensive.
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Actually a correctly installed pivot hardware garage door should balance, “at rest” at chest level, regardless of the “rise” the hardware is set at. At low rise the operator will need to work harder in both the opening and closing functions, to overcome the flat spot in the arc which this rise creates. Since this is a DIY project the OP could use just a 3/4hp chain-drive operator and dispense with the track, allowing a greater range of motion.
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Then how would she get the gate shut?
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If a chain or a “rack” is attached to the gate, a gear on the opener drive can position the gate anywhere along the rack or chain travel. You would need some limit switches either on the gate itself or on the drive unit.
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Could a sprocket be used to allow the chain to run either direction? the end stop switches could most likely be used at the correct place on the chain to stop the drive motor, just like on a garage door that is chain driven. just a thought… Let’s get those creative juices flowing!
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I question whether the Garage opener is powerful enough to operate a gate. A garage door has strong springs to counter the weight where a gate does not. I assume we are talking about a wrought iron gate.