I'm stuck in sliding door Hell

[TomS]

I'm in the process of builing the upper galley face frame assembly for my Cubby. The major differances between my set-up and the Kuffel Creep plans is that I'm going with three sets of sliding doors instead of two with a set of draws and I'm building for a 5 foot wide trailer instead of 4.

I assembled the maple face frame using glue and pocket screws. I got it nice and square. I fabricated the tracks out of maple. Following the Kuffel Creek plans I cut my dados 1/4 " wide by 5/32 deep. I clamped and glued the the tracks to the face frame and let it sit over night.

I started fabricating the doors this morning. For the doors, I'm using 1/4" maple veneer plywood. The Kuffel Creek plans don't specifically say how to insert the doors the tracks. I assumed that I could insert one end of the plywood door into the bottom track and bend just enough to insert it into the top track. However, it turns out that 1/4 inch plywood is not nearly as flexible as I thought it would be. So, I tried trimming the doors just a little bit. so that I could get insert them in the tracks. That didn't work either as they now have a tendency to jump out of the tracks when I open and close them. I'm finding it impossible to find the length where the doors can be inserted into the tracks AND operate reliably once they are in there.



Now, I'm wondering if I should have put the doors into the tracks BEFORE glueing the tracks into the face frame. But that would have made the clamping process next to impossible. I really don't want to rebuild that face frame if I can avoid it. Any ideas or suggestions would be VERY welcome at this point.

Thanks

[GeorgeT]

The only sliding doors I ever made I made the upper groove 1/4 to 3/8 inch deeper than the bottom groove. This allows the top of the door to slide up into the deeper upper groove and then back down into the lower shallower groove. Not sure if this applies in your case, hope it helps.

[teetom]

Thats exactly how sliders are done, but now that everything is glued, this presents a problem, I think what i would do is jig up so there are no slips with a router or lam trimmer and slot the upper tracks just deep and wide enough to accept the doors, gravity will do the rest. Hope this helps.
teetom

[TomS]

Thats exactly how sliders are done, but now that everything is glued, this presents a problem, I think what i would do is jig up so there are no slips with a router or lam trimmer and slot the upper tracks just deep and wide enough to accept the doors, gravity will do the rest. Hope this helps.
teetom

I don't know how I could do that as the tracks go right up to the stiles. I suppose I might be able to get in there with some kind of attachment on a flexible Dremel tool. But, I don't own one of those. At this point I think it would be far more cost effective and less time consuming to scrap that frame and build another. All that work and it's going to the scrap pile for my Son to break it up and burn it in the chimenea.

Some lessons we have to learn the hard way. But those are the ones we remember. It just sucks because I followed the Kuffel Creek plans explicitly when I made those tracks.

This time I'm going to cut the bottom track 1/4" deep and the top 1/2" deep. That should do it.

[TomS]

I forgot the most important thing.

THANKS. I really appreciate the advice.

[Mark Mckeeman]

you may have to bite the bullit and saw the upper track off the face frame. Then make a replacement with the grooves 1/4 inch deeper so you can fit the door in. Mother gravity will keep it in place. Mark

[Mark Mckeeman]

well look at that.... by the time I get my bright ideas into print you have solved the problem. good luck.

[Guest]

Tom,
Now that your tracks are already in place, you should be able to router out the top grooves.
You only need an area just a tick wider than your door panels, not the full length of the track to get them inserted into the track.
I would also recommend feathering the depth out at the ends of the "door insert location."
I'm surprised that the plans didn't recommend going just a tick wider than 1/4" on the track grooves.
(Sounds to me like those are going to be some hard to slide doors with a 1/4" door in a 1/4" groove)

[TomS]

Tom,
Now that your tracks are already in place, you should be able to router out the top grooves.
You only need an area just a tick wider than your door panels, not the full length of the track to get them inserted into the track.
I would also recommend feathering the depth out at the ends of the "door insert location."
I'm surprised that the plans didn't recommend going just a tick wider than 1/4" on the track grooves.
(Sounds to me like those are going to be some hard to slide doors with a 1/4" door in a 1/4" groove)

That's not a bad idea. My son has a router. But I've never used it. Most of my carpentry experience has been limited to building, 2x4 walls, hanging mouldings, that sort of thing. This cabinetry stuff is all new to me.

Its' a moot point now anyway. I've already assembled a new face frame. Thanks to the Pocket Screws, that part of the process goes quick. I got some stock cut out for the new tracks. I figured I'd pop upstairs and check this thread I start running the dados for the new tracks.

I'm using one of those adjustable dado blades. I've got it set to just a hair over 1/4". I think the plywood is a little thinner than 1/4". Probably something like 7/32. Gotta love those lumber companies. Anything to save a buck and cheat the public. The thickness wasn't a problem the last time around. But, I'll check it again this time just to be on the safe side.

Thanks again guys for the excellent advice. I really appreciate it.

[TonyCooper]

I am working on mine right now. I planned (and have glued) the top track in.
I'm attaching the bottom one with screws. This way I can remove it if the doors or track breaks. I can slide the doors to one side and tighten the screws, then slide them to the other side to finish the job. I have already predrilled the pilot holes in both the top and bottom.

[Guy]

Dear Tom,

Cut the tops of the sliding doors about an 1/8" and put a 45 degree chamfer on the top back vertical part of the doors. That way it will now swing into the channel and slide perfectly.

[TomS]

As you can see from my updated Avatar, I now have working sliding doors on my upper galley face frame.



Updated progress pix are available on my web siite at
http://www.tomswenson.com/teardrop/uppergalley/index.shtml

Thanks again to everyone for your helpful advice.