I started another thread regarding my travails with automating my shutter. It was getting rather long and I think it might be worthwhile to specifically alert users to some issues with the new plastic shutter tracks that may cause them troubles with shutter movement and automation. The tracks are extruded from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and CNC machined with pre-drilled holes and machined counter-sinks. Potential issues include:
The pre-drilled holes may not align with the pre-drilled holes on your dome. On the first set of tracks I received this was the case. Only one hole out of 8 came close to aligning with the holes on my dome. I drilled some holes of my own, either in the dome or in the tracks.
The machined counter-sinks are sharp edged and can easily catch the wheel hubs. This is especially true if you've drilled your own holes and have not used the pre-drilled holes and counter-sinks. It's difficult to address this issue by filling the extra holes and counter-sinks with epoxy, because HDPE is notoriously difficult to glue. However, I have had some luck with 3M Bondo body filler.
The quality control on my first set of tracks was poor and one end of one of the tracks that abutted with another section of track was deformed, narrowing the vertical dimension of the track. Even in a good set of tracks, the vertical clearance of the plastic wheels is small. If the channel is narrowed top-to-bottom, you will have a problem.
Another quality control issue with my first set of tracks was that the back wall of the tracks had an inconsistent thickness (see photo). This inconsistent thickness can serve as an obstruction to the wheel hub, in at least one direction, as it crosses the junction of the two tracks.
I have a second set of plastic tracks that Babak sent me. So far most of the issues seem to be getting better.
CS, Rod Michael
I 100% agree with wrl5774. I am a quality control professional with over 50 years experiance in all types of QC. There is no quality control at Nexdome. My 3 yr old dome is so jerry rigged just to make it operable that it's almost unrecognizable. Form design to manufacturing to shipping to customer service Nexdome gets an "F". I wish I had stayed with a roll off roof. If I can find somebody to take this piece of junk off my hands I will build a fully automated roll off roof . See my post in the General Topics forum for more examples. I don't see any sense in throwing good money away so Nexdome will never see another penny from me.