Revolving Door!

Mitch13

New Member
I need to make a revolving door, which is part of a permanent set piece. Does anyone know what hardware i would need to make a door revolve?
Thanks!
 
I need to make a revolving door, which is part of a permanent set piece. Does anyone know what hardware i would need to make a door revolve?
Thanks!
@Mitch13 While we're waiting for the rest of the world to wake up, how about fleshing this out a little more for us?
"Permanent set piece":
Permanent for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years?
Permanent but part of a touring, or repertory, set?
Permanent and works on a custom floor designed for this one specific set?
Subject to "normal" use or has to withstand the rigors of an 'in the doors, out the doors, wham, slam, thank you Ma'am comedy'?
Will you be working in steel, aluminum, wood with muslin or hardboard, glass or plexi-glass?
Is your door envisaged with 4 panels 90 degrees apart or 3 panels 120 degrees apart? (Surely more than two?)
How large a door are we talking / how many performers (Maximum) will need to be accommodated within any one segment of your door at any one instant?
In the scope of your production, is this an exterior door subject to rain, sleet and snow or?
Are you envisioning a door with small windows within each panel or does your designer envisage large window panels OR is the entire door to be fabricated from shatter-proof glass?
Are you planning to add drag to your door such that it will maintain any position it's left in?
Of course you'll have push plates and kick / scuff panels near the bottom?
Is the door intended to rotate only when leaned upon by a cast member or does your director anticipate seeing the door slowly revolve continuously as in some busy, downtown, hotel lobbies?
PLEASE @Mitch13 , do tell us more about your door?
 
Have you never seen a revolving door?

They are pretty easy to deconstruct to reconstruct.

Pipe over pipe with welded doors is the easiest solution.

You want an AIO solution and I know this sounds odd but buy a real stripper pole and then attach cheesebroughs to the doors and pole and whala.
 
Have you never seen a revolving door?

They are pretty easy to deconstruct to reconstruct.

Pipe over pipe with welded doors is the easiest solution.

You want an AIO solution and I know this sounds odd but buy a real stripper pole and then attach cheesebroughs to the doors and pole and whala.
@Amiers @Mich13 The bonus to @Amiers solution is you've got a useful stripper pole left over for the post performance parties which can also become a useful fundraiser too so long as you keep the scantily clad ladies away from the tainted shrimp in the salad bar on the edge of your stage gracing pervert's row. That was Las Vegas, wasn't it?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
@Mitch13 While we're waiting for the rest of the world to wake up, how about fleshing this out a little more for us?
"Permanent set piece":
Permanent for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years?
Permanent but part of a touring, or repertory, set?
Permanent and works on a custom floor designed for this one specific set?
Subject to "normal" use or has to withstand the rigors of an 'in the doors, out the doors, wham, slam, thank you Ma'am comedy'?
Will you be working in steel, aluminum, wood with muslin or hardboard, glass or plexi-glass?
Is your door envisaged with 4 panels 90 degrees apart or 3 panels 120 degrees apart? (Surely more than two?)
How large a door are we talking / how many performers (Maximum) will need to be accommodated within any one segment of your door at any one instant?
In the scope of your production, is this an exterior door subject to rain, sleet and snow or?
Are you envisioning a door with small windows within each panel or does your designer envisage large window panels OR is the entire door to be fabricated from shatter-proof glass?
Are you planning to add drag to your door such that it will maintain any position it's left in?
Of course you'll have push plates and kick / scuff panels near the bottom?
Is the door intended to rotate only when leaned upon by a cast member or does your director anticipate seeing the door slowly revolve continuously as in some busy, downtown, hotel lobbies?
PLEASE @Mitch13 , do tell us more about your door?

The door portion is already taken care of. I just need to figure out the mechanism to make it move. The door weighs about 60lbs. It needs to work like an actual revolvomg door... so it pushes and people walk through.
Making the door revolve is easy.. slowing it down and stopping it is hard without getting into motorized units or turnstile gears that make an awful clicking sound.
 
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The door portion is already taken care of. I just need to figure out the mechanism to make it move. The door weighs about 60lbs. It needs to work like an actual revolvomg door... so it pushes and people walk through.
Making the door revolve is easy.. slowing it down and stopping it is hard without getting into motorized units or turnstile gears that make an awful clicking sound.
@Mitch13 If your ONLY problem is adding drag to hold the door in any position, cheap, unused, paint brushes are the time honored traditional answer. Select a disposable, unused, straight-cut brush and install it bristles down / handle up at the bottom of your door panel or panels as desired. The bristles dragging across the floor's surface will add sufficient drag to near silently slow your door and hold its position. Granted, I'm a retired IATSE and IBEW electrician but I can attest to this working for carpenters for many, many, decades.
I won't try to tell you if you'll need a pine or ebony rod to weld your brush's handle to your door's panels.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
Paint brush is the way to go, especially for such a light door (really? only 60 pounds?) If you want to get slightly more technical, your shaft could extend through the bearing at the top and a stage hand could be behind the wall on a ladder and grab it to slow it down. Or get more technical and build a brake that grabs the shaft.


Ah but wait, I just re read your post, you said you want to make it move, not make it stop. So this is a motorized door that's always spinning? You see very few of these is the real world, for several reasons. safety is the big one, but also energy efficiency...

But then, manual revolving doors aren't immune to idiots either
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The door portion is already taken care of. I just need to figure out the mechanism to make it move. The door weighs about 60lbs. It needs to work like an actual revolvomg door... so it pushes and people walk through.
Making the door revolve is easy.. slowing it down and stopping it is hard without getting into motorized units or turnstile gears that make an awful clicking sound.

You want it to be able to slow down after you push it then put weather stripping on the bottom like they have on revolve doors.
 

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