Motorised Hatch basement door

A motorised hatch door I built to access my basement from my garage. I used a motorised actuator from an old hospital bed. The 110VAC motor /actuator assy had forward and revers windings and built in limit switches on both ends of the travel. I just used a normal residential 3 way switch to send AC to one winding or the other, depending whether I want to open or close the door. The limit switches cut the AC when the actuator reaches max travel in that direction. I fused the unit at 10 Amps in case of malfunction and also have a quick disconnect in case of power outage/fire escape rout.
The frame was built out of 1" square tubing and welded using my little 110VAC mig welder, then just covered with 1/2" plywood (not too heavy).

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• basement door
• hatch
• actuator
• hospital bed

[mani1147]

HI, I salvaged the actuator from an old hospital bed that we had at the shop.

[captainphoton1]

Where/how did you buy the motor/actuator?