This may seem like a very broad question but here goes. I'm trying to select a servo motor that pushes a reflow oven's door open to aid the cooling process. Can anybody help me understand how much torque would be needed to tip the door open.

 

My crystal ball has misted over.
How heavy is the door? What dimensions? Top-hinged or side-hinged? Latching mechanism? Spring-loaded? Power supply?

 

You can measure it with a spring scale for e.g.
If you want precise positioning for temp. control using a servo motor you would need feedback via PID loop.
Depends how precise you need it.
Max.

 

My crystal ball has misted over.
How heavy is the door? What dimensions? Top-hinged or side-hinged? Latching mechanism? Spring-loaded? Power supply?

Ah well! Lets see... Door is about 12" x 7", bottom hinged (on the long edge), spring loaded. Power supply is a 5V 2A wall wart.

You can measure it with a spring scale for e.g.
If you want precise positioning for temp. control using a servo motor you would need feedback via PID loop.
Depends how precise you need it.
Max.

Don't really need much precision actually. The servo just opens the door to cool the oven a little faster and once the temp reaches a certain point it releases and the 'ajar' door shuts back. The software monitors the temp and controls the servo. I'm wondering if I should just open the door manually to cool it

 

You could set up one or more positions using min. limit switches etc?
Max.

 

Look your making this harder then it need to be ...
Check out these guys
http://www.whizoo.com/
They use a servo and program controls how far, where to start and end..