Recently @rod97301 shared his new chicken coop door on our CoopBoss forum and I thought others would enjoy seeing the install here on the SmartThings forum. Rod’s door is a vertically sliding door and I really like how clean it turned out. He used a poly cutting board for the actual door. I think that is a fantastic idea as I have seen some issues with plywood doors swelling up and causing issues when the door closes.
Repost from our CoopBoss forum:
John’s videos show how he set-up his CoopBoss, but my implementation was a little different in that my coop door was on a side wall rather than a floor. I live in the Pacific Northwest where there’s a lot of rain that can warp outside wood doors, exposed to the elements. So while my coop door is relatively protected from the elements, the moisture in the air alone is enough to cause plywood to warp and potential cause issues with the opening/closing mechanism. I’ve attached some pictures so folks can see how I built mine - the door is actually an $11 poly cutting board (1/2" thick) - so the sides are nice and rounded there’s no chance of warping. I used aluminum ‘h’ channel for the slide guides and the combination works perfectly. This should last as long as the CoopBoss…
Since his door is based on the CoopBoss he can fully control it with SmartThings. If Rod has some time maybe he can post a little about what actuator he is using and where he got the h channel he used to frame the door.
Nice set up! You definitely did a quality job on the design and materials. By the way, my CoopBoss is been working flawlessly - I’ve come to trust the reliability of the John’s product…
