Proposal: Wood shop door improvements

I probably (inadvertently) changed the adjustment of the hanger brackets when I was messing with it. Sorry. I think we should try flipping the other bracket around, and then the angle can be adjusted to whatever it needs to be when the brackets are reinstalled.

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@TomKeddie I checked out one of the pulley wheels on Monday. It has a plastic bushing thatā€™s almost completely gone. The replacement I got from Princess Auto has a brass bushing which has too much friction though, and I got the wrong size anyway.

Maybe someone with machine shop experience could drill out and press a bearing into the existing pulleys?

In any case, the door is still getting hung up somewhere else. Perhaps on the other hanger bracket. Or perhaps the new hanger brackets trolleys run too close to the track and are rubbing. I am running out of ideasā€¦

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Thank you to whoever installed the new board on the door frame! It appears to have completely stopped the slamming at the end of the travel.

Going back to the top of this thread, I am not sure ā€œProblem Aā€ is fully solved, but itā€™s at least greatly improved.

Time to tackle Problem B.

As a starting point for discussion, Iā€™m going to suggest we install the following, or similar:

  1. 3 x Tight-Seal Strip Brush with Nylon Bristles
    5/16" Wide x 5/16" High Backing, 2" Overall Height, 0.014" Diameter, 8ft long ($24.48USD each, 74405T13)
  2. 3 x Holder for Tight-Seal Strip Brushes
    Bolt on, Aluminum, 7/16" Wide x 1-1/4" High ($22.96USD each, 8813T53)

Thatā€™s a total of $142.32USD, not including shipping costs. This also assumes that someone else has a McMaster-Carr account, because I donā€™t. I checked Grainger briefly and they appear to be about 2-3x the cost for equivalent parts.

I measured the door gaps at the ends of each side of the door frame, and they vary from 0.5" to 1.25", so I think the 2" brush length would be good to cover all the possibilities, provide some more flexibility in mounting, and compensate for door movement and wear over time. The door frame itself is about 94" tall and 96" wide and needs this type of sealing on three sides.

Does anyone out there have experience with these types of things, or know a better/less annoying source for them?

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I went googling for something like this and found this rubber one advertised for use in sliding doors. I am not necessarily saying to get this one, but I am wondering if it is implying something: is a brush seal adequate to stop dust movement? It would definitely discourage air movement more than nothing at all, but I just donā€™t know how to find out how much sealing is required.

Another thought: is this an air pressure problem where perhaps thereā€™s positive pressure from the woodshop relative to the rest of the space?

I think you are probably right that those rubber ones would seal better. I donā€™t really have any knowledge or experience to draw on other than (potentially wildly incorrect) intuition/hunches. However, there are two issues I see with using the rubber seal:

  1. They might add too much friction to the door, preventing it from closing automatically as we want. The best seal in the world isnā€™t going to help if the door is half open all the time.

  2. I am not sure how well they would stand up to sideways forces (i.e., in line with the longest axis of the sweep). I can imagine that wearing them out pretty quickly.

Theyā€™re also quite a bit more expensive per unit of length.

As for the pressure differential, I donā€™t know. That is a question for an HVAC engineer, or anyone who wants to play one on the internet. :slightly_smiling_face:

Iā€™ve been generally talking about putting a centrifugal blower fan somewhere near the front, to push cooler outside air into the space. Itā€™s already getting really hot.

Generally speaking, the cleaner area wants to have higher pressure, so the airflow through any cracks flows out. But our building is ancient, so we wonā€™t be able to maintain any significant pressure differential.

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