Automatic chicken coop door kit cracked#

You can see in the pictures I’ve also rubbed a bar of soap over the edges all moving parts to ensure that they will move freely. I gave myself enough room for 1/4″ of play. =( I cut 1/2 inch grooves into the backsides of the 2x2s so the door could slide easily.

Automatic chicken coop door kit cracked#

Note: I have since swapped out the acrylic with more 1/8 inch birch because I cracked the acrylic… being too rough with all the testing. The door itself is a 1/8 inch birch, sandwiching in OSB plywood door locks ~and in the pictures (below)~ is the 1/8th inch acrylic. I began framing out the door with 2 x 2s, capped with 2x4s and screwed everything together with 1/2 inch galvanized deck screws.

Note: for a nicer view of the images, parts, diagrams and code, please visit:Īs you can see, the door construction is fairly straightforward. then I simply drilled a hole above the coop door monitor, and finished the outside with a brass grommet. I filled the casing with silicone and capped the very tip with clear plexiglass to project the photocell from the elements.

Photocell application and installation I first soldered the photocell to my cable, applied heat shrink tubing and encased the connection within a 1/4 inch plastic audio connector case. I’m actually glad I did since chickens come home to roost based on light, (not time) and with a photocell I won’t have to worry about a real time clock resetting due to power outages or battery failure, I think it will be less prone to problems. When I first started this coop project I wanted to use a real-time clock and an Arduino library called Time Lord, but since I was a newbie to Arduino and struggled with the implementation of Time Lord I decided to go with using a photocell resistor instead. Note: for a nicer view of the images, parts, diagrams and code, please visit: