sliding bookshelves to hide a murphy bed

[tom coleman]

Can anyone point me at a hardware source for heavy duty sliding door hardware. I am designing a pair of light weight bookcases that will slide on overhead tracks hidden by a valance. In the closed position, the bookcases will butt together and they will conceal a Murphy bed. Slide to the sides to open the bed.

These bookcaes will not be heavily loaded. Mostly art decor items and a few books.

Appreciate tips from anyone who has been there.

[Alan Turner]

Both Johnson and Haefla make good quality converging door (pocket door) hardware, and there are various weight ratings for different models. Some will handle a good deal of weight. Johnson will be less expensive, and I believe comes with a lifetime warranty.

[John Grossi]

Tom, my next project will be a murphy bed with bookcases on either end. I am doing this because of our small bedroom. Your idea is interesting but would take a lot of room. Also, if you do a search on "murphy beds" you will find some very interesting and informing threads on the subject.

[Craig Feuerzeig]

I've done this. I used http://outwaterhardware.com, and bought heavy duty sliding door hardware for the top and a aluminum u track for the bottom (set in flush) to accept a guide bushing.

I used Haefle for the murphy bed hardware and would recommend it highly over the competition, despite the much higher cost, well worth it (I've used others). It's the only one with automatic pop-out legs when the bed comes down. Every other design needs to incorporate some form of leg on the front of the panel.

Surprisingly Haefle wasn't that helpful with the sliding hardware... at least from their standard line. They would have been more than happy to engineer something from scratch, but that wasn't cost effective.

I'll try to find some pics.

[Jamie Buxton]

You might consider the hardware intended for sliding barn doors. It is sturdy, and not too expensive. http://hardware.hardwarestore.com/73-barn-door-hardware.aspx

[Brent Dowell]

I've been thinking about this same sort of a project. What I want is for the 'wall' to look like a exactly like wall of bookshelves when not in use.

What I've been thinking of doing is sort of a 4 section arrangement, with the center two bookshelves on casters.

This would probably require a hard floor in the room, and the cabinets might be a little wobbly, so would need some method of securing them when not in transit, but, I like the idea better than just a flat panel in the middle of the wall.

Something like this....

http://www.loneunknown.com/images/murphy%20bed.jpg

[luc gendron]

Something like this?

http://www.richelieu.com/docs/Application/8012010-1.jpg

If so, please contact me via my email at dustintheshop@yahoo.com I will give you my source.