Issues and Improvements

Working Design

For our initial design of our automatic chicken coop door, we focused on determining how we were going to open the door and what measurements the structure would ideally have. We decided to use two pulley systems: one connected to a motor and the other connected to a counterweight. As we continue constructing and testing our chicken coop door, we will further develop and improve on this design.

Issues/Improvements

Wood Working

One of the difficulties we had wood working was figuring out how to measure and cut the groves in the two 2x2s that our door slides in. To solve this, we measured the width of the door and marked on the wood so that the width of the groves was only slightly bigger than the door. The woodworking shop had a machine that could cut a 1/8 inch groove with one slice. We tried just one cut but our door wouldn't fit, so we took a risk and cut another slice to nearly double the size of the groove. This payed off and our door fit perfectly.

Another difficulty we had wood working was cutting the slots for our stabilizing boards to go in. They had to be the perfect size so that the boards would connect with each other without using any nails and not slide around. We did our measurements and had both slots cut, however, one of them was the right size while the other was just shy of being large enough. In attempting to solve this, we took a piece of sandpaper and sanded down the slot to make it slightly larger. After trying this for a while, the boards still did not fit. One of our group members, Chase Verm, found a solution to use a dremel (a hand-held rotating power tool) to shave down the slots. This allowed us to make the slots the right size and the boards fit perfectly.

Motor

Initially, we planned to use one motor to raise the door, however, we found that although it could lift the door 12 inches, it was not always able to hold the door in place. To fix this issue, we incorporated an additional motor into our design. Now the door can easily be lifted and held in place.

If we had more time...

To improve the design further, we could incorporate the use of a steel door rather than a wooden one. A steel door would be more durable and, therefore, ideal for withstanding harsher weather conditions. In addition to this, with more time, we could incorporate a solar panel power system into our design, rather than using batteries. A solar energy component would provide a cleaner and more renewable source of power for our door. Lastly, if we had more time, we would add a remote control to power our door with in addition to the light sensor. This would be ideal for when the chicken owner wants to open or close the door at a time that is not sunrise or sunset but does not want to go outside and do it manually.

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