Sectional overhead door caclulator

Abstract

Sectional overhead doors have become the standard door type for garages and industrial drive-in doors. There is no complete software for small manufacturers to use for exact price calculations and manufacturing sheet creation given the type of door with all the optional components a customer wants. Python 3 with Tkinter was used to write an easy to use software with a user friendly graphical interface. The software calculates quantity and type of components, size of springs, price and writes out two csv files with the results. These two files are invoice with the information for the customer and manufacturing sheet for production. This software speeds up the price offer procedure significantly for the salesman. Mistakes from human error mostly due to input error is considerably less when moving information from invoice sent to customers to manufacturing sheet. Theoretical fatigue life of torsion springs were compared to tested data. For spring sizes 5mm to 7mm and fatigue life between 10.000 to 25.000 the results are within 30% of tested data. For higher fatigue life and spring sizes the error goes over 100% up to 400% in the most extreme case. This software can be modified to account for various hardware and panel manufacturers.