Barrister bookcase doors

[Greg Crawford]

I have a client that just ordered, among other things :) a bookcase with barrister doors. The doors will be about 46" wide and about 14" tall. Would these work better with a fold-up hinge mechanism or just wooden guides? I'm really worried about racking and think a good mechanism would be best.

Thanks

[Jamie Buxton]

When you say "fold-up hinge mechanism", are you meaning the pocket door mechanisms intended for TV cabinets? If so, you probably don't have space for it. Typically, the runner goes all the way to the back of the cabinet, and the door hinge is on the front of the runner. If the runner is 4" wide or so, your door will stick a long way out of the cabinet when it is stowed.

The barristers bookcases I've seen just have a pivot at the top of the door, and it rides in a groove in the side of the bookcase. It is up to the operator to prevent racking -- which turns out to be easy.

[Charlie Plesums]

I also recommend the pivot at the top of the door that rides in a groove in the sides. Your door is awfully wide - I argue for no shelf longer than about 3 feet.

If you find racking is a problem with a door this wide, put a pulley (or an eye) near each pivot, and run a cable from the back left, across the door, to the right front, and a second cable fron the left front, across the door, then to the right back. This pair of cables will prevent racking.

[Rick Dohm]

If you are looking for a hardware solution, Rockler sells a glide system for $16/pair:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1874&filter=barrister&cookietest=1

Rick

[Gail O'Rourke]

Hi George - I recently made a media center with barrister doors, I used the pin in the groove method. My doors were 35 ish " wide. If you are worried about racking then you should use the glides. But I do think that it can be done by carefully aligning the box/groove/pins. I built a plywood prototype before I got started, it helped me understand what I was getting into.

Good luck.

[Greg Crawford]

Gail, it's kind of weird that you called me George, as that was my Dad's name (my Mom's name is Gayle, by the way). Thanks for all the replies. I know that 48" is very wide, which is one reason for my concern. I was hoping someone had experience with some of the Rockler type hardware. I think I'll try the pins and groove with the slick plastic liner in the groove.

Thanks for all the ideas.

Greg

[Gail O'Rourke]

OOps, sorry Greg! I must have read too quickly - I think I wrote that before I had my coffee. Good luck with the project.

[Greg Crawford]

Gail, people that have known me for months sometimes still call me Gary. George is a close second. I must strike people as a Gary (could be a lot worse), and George is not offensive at all. In fact, being called by me Dad's name is really quite a compliment, so no apologies necessary.

Geg