OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Garage Door Pull Strap / Handle - Elegant Solution

Hi Guys

I know this isn't remotely outdoor equipment related but I know the blokes on here are very handy so hoping you might be able to offer some advice.

I'm looking for a sturdy solution for an internal pull handle strap for my lever garage door.

Photos below.

I have one of those older fashioned garage lever doors. It pulls open to the inside. With a bit of WD40 it actually pulls quite smoothly.

It has a metal frame and its got BHP colourbond sheeting marked with 1994 but still looks good and I can't see the point of getting a new garage door so just trying to make it a bit better.

The only thing is after driving your car in to pull shut the door from the inside you have to pull on the frame and hard do get any good pulling purchase for my wife to use.

I want to put some sort of strap attached to the metal frame as marked in red below and have a fixing point as marked in purple.

What should I use for the strap and fixing ? I was thinking almost something a short picture frame wire with nice eyelets that I could then put a screw and washer through the metal frame ( ideally without putting a whole right through the colourbond) then just putting a length of garden hose over the wire to make it nice on the hand to pull.

Any better solutions ?

Thanks as always for any help

What I'd do would depend on what is in the shed haha

I'd use 3 ish mm braided cable, drill 2 holes in frame, securing the ends of cable with these as shown on the box https://www.bunnings.com.au/zenith-3mm-stainless-steel-wire-rope-grip-12-pack_p4220459

Before securing, would slide the hose over the wire.

If you want to be really nice to the missus, put this around the hose https://www.bunnings.com.au/k-flex-...-pipe-insulation-suits-3-4-pipe_p4920351

comes in different sizes so you would have to check

Great ideas, I laughed when you said about feeding the hose first as that's the sort of thing I'd do only rembering after I'd threaded it.

That's a good solution I think as if I feed the wire through a hole drilled right through the frame it will be the strongest.

If I'm going to loop the braided cable through the hole drilled in the frame and then tie off with those wire rope grips would I need to worry about insulating the cable loop with something so it didn't fray rubbing metal on metal in the hole ?

Thanks

If it were rope, I'd say yes, but the wire should take years to start eroding.

I stated ' thread through first ' because I always do the same thing haha - put a new plug on the vacuum, forgot the retainer ring.

By far worse was when I was soldering and forgot the retainer ring for a press switch, put soldering iron down on floor (as it would roll of table - only me around) took my dirty shoes off, stormed inside got it walked back out and sat back down, moved my foot and holy bloody f**k, stepped straight on it. Took days to walk again.

My soldering attempts often end badly, the other time thats memorable I was wearing shorts and some how a bit daub of solder flicked down onto my shin, a several inches below my knee.

Now I had surgery to remove a golf ball sized bone tumour and they went through some nerve ending (apparently commonly cut in knee replacements) so I either get no feeling in a region of my leg, great feeling or delayed feeling (I'm weird). Anyway I saw something reflect on my leg that night and sure enough a big blob of it was melted there. Got the tweezers and pulled it off.

Anyway about midnight I wake up and get the shooting pain; a good 6 hrs after the solder must have hit.


Got a shooting pain 3 weeks ago as well - I went to bed thinking about an engine problem, had a disturbed sleep and ended up rolling half off the bed, sat up (half asleep) to move back over a bit, misjudged where I was and smashed my head into a chest of draws

I can laugh about it now - not yet laughing about misjudging the way a palm frond would fall and getting a chunk taken out of my forearm though

Hasn't been a good month haha

On second thought, you could put a eyelet around the hole, that way the wire wouldn't rub on a sharp drilled hole so much

That's if you can get one of those eyelet punches into the right position with that lip on the frame

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32840116164.html

Regards
Tyler

Hi Tyler

Yes when I was a kid I did the [Censored] smith kits with soldering and it was bloody hard. I used to always get mums friend to finish it for me.

That's a funny story about your foot on the soldering iron. Although not funny for you, a bit of a Homer Simpson moment.

Just an update on the job.

I pretty much followed your advice and it came out well and it's really comfortable for pulling down the door especially with two hands. I couldn't get a metal grommet and even if I could I don't see how I could have crimped it in the hole. I just used the rubber one so thats probably the weak one so let's see how long it lasts. I used the 3mm plastic coated cable. I used the 5mm cable tie backs you referenced in the 3mm. Then a clear pvc pipe and the insulation tubing you mentioned.

The insulation you mentioned does make it nice and thick and soft.

Photos below

I also changed the locking spindle and it opens and closes fairly easily.

Thanks again Tyler.

Great to see it went so well

I think the plastic coating will work very well - and will help from chafing through the rubber grommet

A friend always uses the pipe lagging on his victa handles - less vibration as he uses easy mows for long periods - 1.5-2 tanks per mow (big lawn)

Apparently, silicone spray is better on garage doors (and mower pull starts) as it doesn't attract dust

It's on clearance at SCA - I think I paid $10 for the WD40 silicone - has a folding tube

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p...paign=au-sca-2020-wk38-thurs&start=1

Hi Ted12 and Tyler,
First, it's nice to see a quick resolution resulted in this thread.
Secondly are there any more pictures showing how thus handle was made? I can't learn much from the pictures shown thus far.

Hi

I followed Tyler's instruction to a tee, except for the rubber grommet. I had to drill a fairly big hole, 7 mm from memory. You can then see I just rubbed it a bit with a file as it had some burrs.

I just used the 5mm wire rope grip instead of the 3mm Tyler linked to above

https://www.bunnings.com.au/zenith-5mm-stainless-steel-wire-rope-grip-2-pack_p4220127

I bought this pvc coated metal cable

https://www.bunnings.com.au/pinnacle-3mm-x-10m-galvanised-pvc-coated-wire-rope_p4310810

Essentially you just make a loop, tie off the loop with the wire rope grip and tuck thr loose end of the cable back in to the 19mm pvc clear rubbing you see in the bench grinder photo.

You just can't see the tie off with the wire rope grip as its tucked under the insulation sheath in the photo. You just tighten the grip with a 4mm ring spanner and it seems to bite really hard on the cable

It's just like the photo below I found online

I just layered the plastic coated wire in to the pvc clear tube and then over the top the insulation tubing that Tyler recommend.

That insulation stuff Tyler is a nice touch and really plush to handle.

Three cheers for Tyler's he's the man !

Thanks

You are most welcome Ted, thanks for the kind words

Hopefully it will last a long time

Regards
Tyler

Tyler, you are definitely on top of things hardware.
A wealth of tips.

Ted12 I appreciate the in depth explanation. I've pretty much conceptualized it now.