Wood Sliding Bypass Doors?

Allen Bookout

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902
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Punta Gorda, Florida
I was going to build a cabinet with normal frame and panel doors but then it was suggested to me that it might be better to use sliding doors due to space requirements. If I used sliding doors they would be approximately two feet by three and a third feet. I looked for sliding door hardware and the only thing that I could find was for sliding bypass glass doors. Now I am starting to wonder if there is a problem using wood since I do not see any hardware for this application. Is there a problem with warpage or something that would make this impractical?
 
Allen,
No, there isn't a problem per se with wood sliding doors. There is a nice article on FWW.com about making them - if you are a member:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/FWNPDF/011172058.pdf

If not, the gist of it is to use dados top and bottom for the doors to run in - no hardware necessary. The top dados are 1/2" wide by 3/8" deep - the bottom are 1/2" wide by 1/8" deep. The doors are rabbeted and actually slide on the bottom of the rabbet, not in the bottom of the dado. The extra depth in the top dado is to allow the doors to be lifted out of the bottom dado for installation and removal.

Any of this make sense?

Wes
 
I have a question that has to do with wood sliding on/in a wood track. Wouldnt he need to put in some kind of lube to let it slide? Just wondering as it would seem to couse drag.
 
Al, I was wondering about that myself. I have a bench that I bought that has the wood to wood sliding door setup and it works just fine with no lube but the doors are very light. It would be interesting to hear some other comments. Someone steered me toward this solution which looks like that it would work very well but it might not be any better that the other idea. http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FULLPRES.exe?PARTNUM=937-362&LARGEVIEW=ON
 
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I don't remember the exact name/initials of the material but couldn't one use the slippy/slidy material that you folks talk about putting on your jigs? UMMV or something like that? You could put it on the bottom of the track.

I recently did a remodel in a 60 years old (or so) home that had full-size (60" tall and 30" wide each) closet doors that were bypass. They just ran in the wood channel but over the years had worn very badly however they still worked albeit roughly. I though about fixing the doors and channel up a bit and putting some of the slippy UMMV (?) material in the channel but they didn't want to spend the money.

Just a thought.............
 
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Allen

When we first moved to FL and were living in a condo (read NO SHOP) I had a cabinet place build me a unity with sliding bypass doors. They used fittings very similar to those shown. They work great.
 
I don't remember the exact name/initials of the material but couldn't one use the slippy/slidy material that you folks talk about putting on your jigs? UMMV or something like that? You could put it on the bottom of the track.

Mark, I know what you are talking about and I can never remember the initials either. I had thought of that but I built a drawer and used plexiglass for the runners due to size restraints and it workerd OK but not as good as rollers so I was looking for a better alternative.

Allen

When we first moved to FL and were living in a condo (read NO SHOP) I had a cabinet place build me a unity with sliding bypass doors. They used fittings very similar to those shown. They work great.

That is good to know. Sometimes things look good but do not work as well as they would seem to. Thanks Jay!
 
Mark, et.al. - UtlraHighWeightMolecular or UHWM plastic is that white slippery stuff. I have a tuff time remembering the accromyms if I don't know the words behind them.
YMMV :)

I'd go with the style Wes linked to in FWW. Use a stable wood (QS white Oak, Mahagony) lubed with paste wax or parafin.
 
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