Good idea is not so good.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

Winner!

[ErVikingo]

Hey! I have Blum Servo Drives on various cabinets at home and they have been bulletproof. Have a look at their offerings. Sounds much simper than adapting a liftgate motor. Good luck!

https://www.blum.com/us/en/products/motion-technologies/servo-drive/servo-drive-aventos/programme/

[Por_sha911]

How well will the Blum servo drives hold up to out door weather?

[blucille]

google Linear Actuator, it's a device that will extend to almost double it's original length, with some pivots at either end, like a gate operator. They are simple to install, a simple toggle switch will drive it up or down. Piece of cake.

[ErVikingo]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

How well will the Blum servo drives hold up to out door weather?

They are not weather proof. Are you expecting water coming into the enclosure?

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by look 171

A bit or an eye sore but a very simple solution. Hook a rope through a pulley mounted to the rafter of that pergola and pull the door up when you need it open. Tie a metal ring at the end of the rope and hook it somewhere to keep door from falling down.

Same if you want to get complicated but it can be done with a small winch or motor. Leave a cheap Harborfreight winch on top of the pergola near the gutter, cover up the bottom with a couple sticks of the same lumber to match the wood of the pergola. Install pulley near the front edge of the pergola. Use a 3/16" cable. A power source is needed. no need for a hook to keep door up.

My first thought as well

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by blucille

Linear Actuator...

Good idea, if there's power available nearby. One with built-in limit switches would be ideal.

Before heading in that direction though...how heavy is that cover, and will it tend to warp if supported only on one side while up?

Gas springs are also a good idea. They can support quite a bit of weight and using two would balance out the load on the cover. If there's room, they could even be mounted on the inside and be hidden when the cover's closed.

[stomachmonkey]

Been busy today so will sum up a few things.

Just lifting a box over the TV to cover it then uncover when used is not really going to work. The TV will be mounted about 7 ft up the wall. It's built to fit a 70" TV. Not something my wife or even I could do alone, that's a 2 person job and a pain in the ass frankly.

Lift and support with pole similar to car hood. That's already part of the unit, was built that way. In practical application it doesn't work. I thought it would but it just doesn't.

Its a 5x4ft slab of cedar planks that start 5 ft off the ground. It's entirely different body mechanics from lifting a hood. You are lifting something that hinges 5 ft above your head versus something that hinges from waste height. Fully open it'll be 10 ft in the air.

A car hood is rigid, this flexes and you are lifting from one side not the middle. I guess you could raise it from the middle then pop rods in sides but that's even less ideal.

I thought about a winch, I do like that idea.

Something like the Blum servo drives above are exactly what I'd like to source.

I guess part of my problem is the right terminology for the type of spring loaded hinges or motorized units I should be searching for.

Thanks for all the great advice so far. Really appreciate it.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Looks, my sankara stone skull encrusted chain run has held up for all time... TO LAVA!!!!!!!

(take that liftmaster, genie, et al...)

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I'd like to see drones employed in opening and closing it.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Been busy today so will sum up a few things.

Just lifting a box over the TV to cover it then uncover when used is not really going to work. The TV will be mounted about 7 ft up the wall. It's built to fit a 70" TV. Not something my wife or even I could do alone, that's a 2 person job and a pain in the ass frankly.

Lift and support with pole similar to car hood. That's already part of the unit, was built that way. In practical application it doesn't work. I thought it would but it just doesn't.

Its a 5x4ft slab of cedar planks that start 5 ft off the ground. It's entirely different body mechanics from lifting a hood. You are lifting something that hinges 5 ft above your head versus something that hinges from waste height. Fully open it'll be 10 ft in the air.

A car hood is rigid, this flexes and you are lifting from one side not the middle. I guess you could raise it from the middle then pop rods in sides but that's even less ideal.

I thought about a winch, I do like that idea.

Something like the Blum servo drives above are exactly what I'd like to source.

I guess part of my problem is the right terminology for the type of spring loaded hinges or motorized units I should be searching for.

Thanks for all the great advice so far. Really appreciate it.

Ok, thanks for the additional info.

Based on the new information, string and pulleys is now my favorite plan. It could be setup so the pull is off to the side, and pulls equally on both corners and based on the physics of pulleys, could be made to cut the weight in half or more.

hood supports wouldn't be a good solution because you'd have to pull it down from 10' up against the force of the hood supports, so ideally, you'd need to be able to pull down evenly from both sides so to me that's a no go.

I think your option is going to be some sort of servo setup.

I'm sure it would be too expensive and complicated, but the setup from a power convertible top would probably work really well. It would be designed to be OK with being in the elements, and should be more than sturdy enough.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I'd like to see drones employed in opening and closing it.

Considering his name, I think this is the obvious solution.



Or, IIRC, I think many moons ago, there was a "couchmonkey" or was it a "basementmonkey?" Maybe you could re-enlist that one.

[herr_oberst]

The thing I would do if it was me would be to make it fold like a horizontal hangar door. It would require rebuilding the door.
I would start with the hardware kit to hang lightweight bifold closet doors, and some pulleys and parachute cord. I believe it could be engineered in a way that you could pull a single rope down, tie it around a cleat and when the festivities have ended for the evening, unwrap the cord from the cleat and gravity would close it. A simple latching mechanism would keep it windproof.

[stomachmonkey]

Just walked the wife through the winch concept and she approves of the idea so that's the path.

Came in and started googling AC winches.

One of my earlier reluctance's with a winch is they are a bit overkill. I only need to lift maybe 15 lbs not 1,500.

Then I thought, well, it's just a motor with pulley and I only need 10 or so ft of cable, why not just make one using an old corded drill? It's got all the components, AC power, motor, chuck to rig a pully into, forward and reverse trigger.

I have a whole drawer of old semi busted power tools like, drills, sanders, grinders, etc....

I'm sure I can find something.

[rrental]

I used a heavy duty awning motor when building a TV that folds into the roof of the motorhome. In your case the TV is stationary but it would work the same.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

J

I have a whole drawer of old semi busted power tools like, drills, sanders, grinders, etc....

I'm sure I can find something.

Have you got a cake batter mixer?

[Por_sha911]

If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
And always keep your stick on the ice.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Big stick

Simple is good.

Mop handle would be perfect, sand and stain it to match the door, make a little niche on the inside of the door for the end of it. Pulley setup would also work, but I already have a mop handle.

How humid is the environment, does it freeze there?

Big D is not as bad as Houston, still imagine it damp enough it would not have a salubrious effect on electronics. I had a friend who bought a condo in Houston, TV outside by the hot tub in a big box, not sure how his held up. There was a TV in the master bath, mirror in the corner so you could see it from the tub or the throne.

[zakthor]

You could keep the current build using pulleys. cable and a cam, then equalize with weight. It is possible to build it so it moves with a pound of force and won't slam down when you release it.

You need a cam because the force needed to lift the door increases as the door goes higher. And it needs to compensate for the changing angle from the cable to where it attaches at bottom of the door.

But you gotta find someone to draw the cam for you...

It is neat that math can work around such a stupid design - how did you think it would work?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Simple is good.

Mop handle would be perfect, sand and stain it to match the door, make a little niche on the inside of the door for the end of it. Pulley setup would also work, but I already have a mop handle.

How humid is the environment, does it freeze there?

Big D is not as bad as Houston, still imagine it damp enough it would not have a salubrious effect on electronics. I had a friend who bought a condo in Houston, TV outside by the hot tub in a big box, not sure how his held up. There was a TV in the master bath, mirror in the corner so you could see it from the tub or the throne.

The stick works but not really. Because of it's size It has to be lifted from the middle first. If it's lifted only from the side it's going to slowly pull itself apart over time. To keep it light enough to lift it's going to flex. Make it rigid it becomes too heavy to lift.

Dallas is not nearly as humid as Houston and it does get to freezing often enough.

But I've had regular TV's outside the whole 15 years I've been here and never had an issue.

And with the prices of TV's today, ~$0.50 per inch of screen it's not really a big deal if you have to replace it every 5 years.

I picked up a 60" for that spot last Black Friday, $250.00 at Wally. At that price if it only lasts 2 years who cares.

But that's part of the reason for the fully enclosed robust box. Try and protect it as much as possible from the elements is only sensible.