I am making 2 sets of swing garage doors that will look like my barn doors.   I’m using re-milled 2x Douglas Fir – the doors will weigh about 175 lbs each and will have ball bearing commercial hinges. 

What I want to do is install electric door openers for both sets of doors.  I’ve looked at gate openers and openers made specifically for swing doors.  But they are quite expensive ($500 plus each) .  So I would like to modify a traditional overhead door opener to open the swing doors.

I know there are folks out there who have done this – and there are some old posts in the Breaktime archives.  Has anyone ever done this recently?  I just need some of the details – particularly how to set it up so one door closes just before the other.

Thanks!

Ed