Please join me in welcoming Tim Suderman, Head of Sales & Marketing for Diamond Doors, our sponsor here at BCP.

He would like to opportunity to answer any questions our community has about Diamond Doors, any hangar doors, hangar construction, his cool PA-18, you name it. Please keep questions on topic and respectful.

We've never done an organized Q&A here at BCP, let's show Tim a good time.

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I'll help Tim out and post a shot of his cool Super Cub:

You had me at "cool PA-18". Details/Pictures?

Hey Tim,

I hope to be starting on a hangar next year, and would like to know what I need to know about the building. Obviously there is more to it than having a hangar door sized opening on one end. Does the building need to be built to support the weight of the door? Or does the door come with some sort of frame that's installed?

Walk me through the process of ordering a steal building and what I need to do to get a door installed?

Also, if I have a welder and know how to use it, can I build the door myself and use Diamond for the lift/mounts/hinges/etc?

Thanks,
schu

Welcome Tim,
I have built 3 hangars and used Schweiss Doors on all. I have the auto-latch system on them and was never really impressed with the mechanics. There seemed to be lots of room for improvement, which Schweiss has now addressed and is now available. I’m curious about your doors auto-latching system. The other question is cable vs strap. Cables just don’t seem as safe anyway I look at it.
Thanks for taking time to answer questions

Welcome Tim! Thanks for being here.

I’m wondering how you seal a hangar door so it as airtight as possible. I own an old T-hangar hangar with a completely unsealed door and am hoping to purchase the adjoining hangar which has no door at all.

I’m also wondering about door safety. My current door is home made and is lifted with a couple cables. My kids are frequently at the hangar with me an I’m paranoid about them passing under the open door. How do you guys address potential cable failure/prevent sudden door closure.

Hey! it is a 1958 PA-18A. We had just finished a complete restore (which took nearly 3 years). Has the O-320 with basic pro mods like Hi-Flow exhaust, Grove 8x6 wheels etc. The plane was originally a spray plane on floats. was a pretty sweet "barn find".

whee wrote:I’m wondering how you seal a hangar door so it as airtight as possible.

Brush seals work great. They come in all different configurations and adapt to needs. Sorry for responding Tim

These are great questions! We have a pretty unique auto-lock system which has proven to be bullet proof. I know, everyone says that about their systems. But the proof is in the pudding. our auto-lock system has less then a .3% warranty claim history. And looking at the actual claims, they are typically self-inflicted and not really a warranty issue. I have a video link below showing our auto-lock system.

https://youtu.be/fQwVJ07FB3Q

We have done a lot of R & D on straps systems. At Diamond Doors we have more Engineers (and pilots) on staff then we do sales people. The issues we found with straps is that you can never have a consistent opening speed. Because the strap raps up on a drum the door starts off very slow and speeds up as it opens. Now if you would stop the door say 3/4 way open and try to start opening it the rest of the way, you would have to bring the door down first and then open it. This is due to the lack of HP the lift motor has to turn the (now large) drum. So if you have enough HP to stop and start again from 3/4 way open, that would mean that you are not using the lift motor to it capability for the first 3/4 opening. Further that, straps tend to continuously stretch. I'm sure some companies have designed a auto-tension system by now but that still sounds like more maintenance.

I have a link below that shows our system and also the specialized cable (wired rope) we use. The wire rope kind of has the best of both worlds. The core of the cable is actually a fiber rope which gives the cable the flexibility (like a strap) and is jacketed in a fine braid (18x7) which gives it the rigidity. 18x7 means there is 18 braids of 7 strands compared to a aviation cable which is 7x19 or 7 braids of 19 strands.

https://youtu.be/VHsaGd2xQrU

I would love to discuss even more comparisons with you! Give me a call when you have a few minutes (866-325-7600)

Hey, thanks for the welcoming! To seal the door air-tight to the building we offer a closed cell neoprene foam tape that goes around the perimeter of the door and the center hinge. This foam kit comes with all our insulation package or can also be ordered separately if you want to seal a non-insulated door.

Safety is always #1! to start, our lift system has a 10x safety factor. by that i mean that on a 40' wide door, you could cut all cables but one and it would still have the strength to lift 2 of those doors. On our lift system we have electric brakes that will lock the door into place so it does not creep down or give it opportunity to free wheel. so when you press stop, the electric brake will automatically engage locking the door in place. one more big one is photo electric sensors. Every residential garage door has these by code so why should't bi-fold doors too? I know there is a loop-hole in building code that if you have your up/ down/ stop switch set to constant pressure you don't require these photo-eyes. for the couple bucks they are, they are definitely worth having the peace-of-mind knowing that if anything passes underneath the door as it is closing the door will stop and reverse back open.

I've used a few diamond doors with auto locks and they work great.
Thanks for the strap recap Tim. I've never thought about the HP required to start the big drum from partially open.
I really like your doors and would like to put one on my hangar. Unfortunately to much had space is required and I need my door to open further. Maybe on hangar #2! I will still recommend your doors to others who dont need as much opening though.

David

Thanks David. Yes one of the restrictions with the bi-fold is they do require additional head room to accommodate the wedge of the door. That is were the 1 piece hydraulic door really shines. Although we do offer the self-supporting frame that allows you to go past your roof line on a gable wall, on a side wall it doesn't work that good as where the hydraulic door will stay below the roof line. A customer of ours designed his building with a false gable on a sidewall which allowed him to utilize the truss for the snow loads and for the door loads. I'm hoping to build a hangar in spring with a layout like that. Picture below of the building.