Spraying rack for passage doors

[Sam Layton]

I have just finished building a new front door. I have many more interior doors to build. I wanted a way to spray both sides without handling the door. I had some steel tubing that someone gave me so I fabricated a door spraying rack. The tubing had a few holes, but it worked out anyway. The rack allows me to spray one side of the door, let the finish level out, flip the door, and spray the other side. When finished, I will plug the holes, and seal them.

243702

Sam

[Tim Janssen]

Nice job, and on rollers as well. Very handy.
Is the pivot "locked" to the door so that if you accidently pull on the stand, the door doesn't do a tumble?

Tim

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Sam
Great job and idea. And as Tim said does the stand have a pivot lock? You might need more then one rack for more interior doors. Tom

[Jim Neeley]

Great idea, Sam.. They look like they'd be a straightforward engine stand conversion.. and at least here engine stands are on CL fairly cheap all of the time.

Hmm.... That idea sounds like it'd also be helpful for detailing out a thick heavy glued-up bench top...

[johnny means]

Nice job, I would like to have one of those for doing finishes on complex 3-dimensional forms that require multiple sides and angles all be sprayed at once.

For doing larger numbers of doors or large panels, I use small dollies and spray vertically. My dollies are simply 18"x18" squares of plywood with 4 cheap casters. I screw the dolly to the bottom of the door, and stand them up. I can then wheel them into my spray area, spray one side, spin the door, spray the other side and wheel it out of my spray area to make room for the next door. This works great for me because it allows me fit 6 doors in the foot print of a single one laid flat. Also, I can spray both sides at once, cutting drying time in half. Plus, the vertical orientation makes them super easy to wheel around the shop if I really need to move a lot of parts through the booth, and seems to minimize foreign objects and dust in the finish. The downside is that spraying vertically can be unforgiving of less than perfect technique and sanding between coats is a bit more of a workout.

[Ed Edwards]

Hello Sam,
That is one great looking door!!
What a great idea! It's sooo much easier to lay on the finish with the work piece horizontal.
I only have one question, why would you wait until after you finish the door to then fill the holes?
Ed

[Todd Burch]

Hello Sam,
That is one great looking door!!
What a great idea! It's sooo much easier to lay on the finish with the work piece horizontal.
I only have one question, why would you wait until after you finish the door to then fill the holes?
Ed

I'm pretty sure he talking about the screw holes created on the top and bottom edges of the door where the stand attaches to the door.

Todd

[Mike Goetzke]

Nice looking door Sam. How did you get the door on the stand? These solid wood doors are quite heavy. I came close to dropping mine a couple of times while moving it across the shop.

We talked several months ago about door construction (I was working on my first entrance door). I put an eye-bolt in the top of mine and sprayed it vertically - would have been nice to spray horizontally. Plus after spraying you can turn the door vertical to reduce dust etc. falling on the surface.

Mike

[Sam Layton]

Thanks everyone.

Tim, I used a 1/4" lag screw to secure the door to the stand. The lag screw I used is a, Spax brand. It has a head 3/4" in dia. The stand has a large hole on the side you can see, and about a 5/16" hole on the other side. So, the door is secured to the stand really well.

Thomas, regarding the pivot lock. The door is locked to the rack with the lag screw. However, if the screws are not centered, the door wants to turn. So I have to add a lock to keep the door flat. One rack set will do. I am trying to figure out where I will store these when I am finished.

Jim, I think you are right, engine stands would work just fine I think with a little modification. Now you tell me... However, I had everything on hand except for the casters.

Johnny, I like your idea as well. It sounds like you have a lot of doors to finish at one time. The dollies screwed to the bottom is a good idea. It sounds like you are much more proficient at spraying than I am. Thats why I wanted my door flat. Much easer for me. Sanding between coats is also much easer for me. You have a much better method for production work.

Ed, and Todd, Todd is right, I am talking about the screw holes on the top and bottom of the door to attach the stand. I will just dowel them and apply some finish. The top and bottom will not be seen.

Sam

[Sam Layton]

Hi Mike, how have you been?

I built, and assembled my door on my work bench. I have a, "shop cart" that hydraulically raises and lowers. So, I moved my shop cart up to my bench, raise the shop cart to the right height, slid the door onto the shop cart, and rolled it to where the stands are. Then it is just a matter of raising, or lowering the shop cart to where the door lines up with the stand. It makes it nice, because I do not have t lift the door. The door is 2 1/4" thick, and is heavy.

I remember when you did your door Mike. Your door turned out really nice. I am having a stained glass insert made for the top of the door. I will post when it is finished.

Sam

[Larry Fox]

Sam, great idea and nice execution. One possible modification I see that I would want to make to accommodate MY particular spraying technique would be to provide more room between the end of the door and the upright of the rack. When spraying things like this I like to spray from end to end as opposed to side to side. I also like to start the spray before the gun starts its travel over the item and end it after it exists. Having the uprights so close to the items being sprayed would frustrate that and would force me to change my technique and tilt the gun for that particular pass. I would add about 6" of spacer to either end. Again this would be to adapt it to MY technique - YMMV.

[Larry Edgerton]

I use a system something like that. I drill one 1/4" hole in the center on one end, about 2" deep, and two about 8" off center on the other end. I thread in 6" lags till they just start to bite. I then can set them on horses and spray one side, flip using the two lags on the one end pivoting off of the one in the center, and spray the other.

I have stacks of sawhorses, so this works well for me. When the doors are dry I leave in the lags and stand them up against the wall supported by the two lags on the bottom and resting on the one lag in the top. I had plans for a hanging rack using the two lags kind of like a bar rack, but its way down on my list.

Larry

[Sam Layton]

Larry Fox,

"Having the uprights so close to the items being sprayed would frustrate that and would force me to change my technique and tilt the gun for that particular pass. I would add about 6" of spacer to either end."

A spacer would be a good idea. It would be a little easer to spray if the door was not so close to the rack. When I remove the door, I will plug and seal everything with a brush

Larry Edgerton,

You have a good technique as well. I just wanted a way that I would not have to handle the door. Between, my shop cart, and my spraying rack, there is not much lifting the door. After I take it off the rack, and put it on the shop cart, I just wheel it to where it is going, and slide it off.

Sam

[lowell holmes]

"I came close to dropping mine a couple of times while moving it across the shop."

That's why I have two grown son's that I will get one to lift and hang a new door. :)

[Peter Quinn]

That looks great Sam. I seem to recall seeing something similar from a commercial drying rack place though I can't seem to find it now. IIR it had some sort of a sleeve in sleeve thing so you could rotate it, some way to secure the door to the ends, a decent projection from horizontal support bar to the pipe/sleeves that do the rotating, and a spring pin system to lock the rotation at 180 degree or 90 degree intervals. I really like the portability of your set up and the horizontal aspect should avoid runs, except on edges? If you had a sleeve with 4 holes and a spring pin you could stop, spray the edges, then do the faces in one continuous session with just enough time to let it set up. What are you spraying? Door looks great too BTW!

[Sam Layton]

Hi Peter,

The rack worked out great. I do need to devise a system to lock it in place. I like your rotating sleeve idea. I need to figure out something. For me, having the door horizonal made it very easy to spray without worrying about runs. As for the edges, I hit them first, while the door is horizonal, then spray the door. I let it set long enough to set up, flip, spray the edges again, then the top. That way the edges get sprayed twice. No problems with runs.

For this door I used General Finishes oil base stain. I let that dry a few days, and then finished with General Finishes, Exterior 450, it is water base. That is the first time I used the Exterior 450. I sprayed the door, and brushed the jamb. The finish turned out great. There are no brush marks on the jamb. It looks like it was sprayed. I have had good luck with other General finishes as well.

[julian abram]

Sam, your door looks great. Was wondering what materials you used for constructing the door? I have double steel doors for our entry that were installed during construction 20 years ago. I've never built an entry or passage door but hope to get up the courage someday to build a couple nice wood & glass panel doors.

[Sam Layton]

Julian, my door is red oak, the panel is riff sawn red oak. The door is 2 1/4" thick. The stiles and rails are laminated with three boards each, and the panel consists of two floating panels placed back to back. The lamination makes it very stable. The door is constructed with loose tenons. I am having a stained Glass made for the window. I should be finished toward the end of next week. The glass place is taking forever making the glass, about 2 months now. We are also having a pantry door glass made, and I will build the door for that. I will post photo's of the completed door and jamb when I install the glass.

Don't be afraid to give it a try. This is the second door I have built, and I really enjoy it. I am going to be building the remaining doors in my house.

[julian abram]

Sam, thanks for the great info on materials and the construction process. Previously I've thought I would need to purchase some exotic weather resistant lumber for constructing new doors but red oak is readily available here and think it would work fine for my application. My doors face north and are set back under an 8' porch so they never see direct sunlight or rain. I've got a few projects on my short list but may give this a try in a few months. Again thanks!

[Larry Edgerton]

Julian, white oak would be a better choice fo an exterior door. Not that there is anything wrong with Red Oak, but white oak weathers better. Should be lots of white oak in your area as well. About the same price. I have made a lot of doors out of it, and no callbacks, finish holds up well.

Larry

[Sam Layton]

You are welcome Julian. For your area, and weather conditions, I agree with Larry. I think white oak would be a better choice. I like red oak, and California weather is mild, so red oak is fine. My door is like yours under a porch, and never sees sunlight or rain. Make sure you use riff, or quarter sawn white oak. I think riff sawn looks the best, and both riff and quarter will be more stable than flat sawn. I have only built two doors, but if you have any questions please ask.

Sam

[julian abram]

Yes, white oak is easy for me to get. We are covered in White Oak trees here in the Ozarks, makes for inexpensive lumber. Rough sawn can be purchased for $1.00-1.50 bd ft. It will cost a little more to get rift or qs custom sawn. Again, thanks for the good info, a couple new entry doors are on the "to do" list.