Show me your "flipper doors"...

[DaveO]

Specifically cabinets or entertainment centers with shelves that use them. "Flipper doors" are the type that open to 90º and then retract back into the carcass. My parents have been looking for a small stereo cabinet with those type of doors and are having a hard time finding something to fit their specific needs. So I have agreed to make them one. I have a basic design in mind, but would love some inspiration and/or advice to further enhance my conceptual ideas.
TIA,
Dave

 

[McRabbet]

Dave,

Here are some pocket doors I made for a built in cabinet unit I made a few years ago -- doors are 33" high by 23-3/4" wide. The door hardware for them was from Lee Valley Tools, where they call them Concealed Door Slides ... not expensive at all

 

[DaveO]

Thanks Rob, I am really looking for inspiration as to how to work shelves with that type of door system. I know I will have to create a carcass within a carcass to allow clearance for the doors to slide back. I am having problem visualizing that in an aesthetic nature :icon_scra

Did you find the hardware difficult to mount or any racking issues not using the hardware with anti-racking features??

Lee Valley does have some good pricing on the hardware especially compared to Rockler..thanks!

Dave

 

[McRabbet]

Dave,

I'd suggest you mount the door slides on the inside of the main carcass (they have a cross stabilizer to keep them from racking) and then mount a pair of interior vertical partitions that create true pockets for the doors, leaving enough clearance. I'd mount these in stopped dadoes or dovetails. The interior sides of those partitions could have either parallel shelf standards mounted flush in shallow dadoes, or 1/4" shelf pin holes for adjustable shelves for your interior components. If you were clever about it, you might even devise a narrow cover that hinged on the inner partition to cover the pocket holes while the doors are closed. HTH.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Dave, you really don't need interior partitions. The TV recess above my FP doesn't have them- just small rollers at the top and bottom of the cabinet keeps the doors from hitting the sides of the TV.

My cabinet had only one shelf- a three-sided box on under the TV that was big enough for a VCR and DVD player. The doors have already been removed in this pic.

I eventually removed the doors and sliding hinge mechanism since we never closed them, plus I am going to rework that area of the living room anyway. Want to buy my setup- 24" slides and hinges (no doors)- real cheap?

 

[peteb301]

Dave
There are a few pictures in my album of an Armoire i did sometime ago, start here www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/575/medium/shelf.JPG
www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/575/medium/PocketDoor.JPG This is a closeup of the pocket door assembly installed.
I think I purchased the slides from Rockler (not sure), and had the same request about putting a shelf to hold the cable box within the cabinet.
It would be easy enough to add more shelves with support coming from the top or the back panel. Or like was mentioned builing a carcas within.

 

[JimD]

I do not have pictures with me at the moment but I will comment. I have done these type doors three times. The first two I bought slides but tried using "normal" European hinges. I had to allow more clearance around the edges than I liked. The last time I bought the hinges with the slides - a package - and it worked much better. I could get a nice tight clearance around the doors. I have extensive shelves within this cabinet so it has 3/4 oak plywood verticals on the inside of the doors which support the shelves. If I did this again, I would make that part a slide in. I have put dividers in drawers using a little moulding with quarter rounds on the outside and a dado in the center. It seems like you could make the partitions on the inside the same way which would simplify assembly and allow easier future changes. My TV space is too small for a widescreen, for instance, which would be easily changed if it slides in but hard the way I did it with plugged screws locking the partitions to the cabinets.

Jim

 

[Keye]

Dave, been waiting for someone to post a picture but since no one has I will try to tell you what I have. I really do need to learn how to post a picture.

The doors are pretty straight forward as you have seen. All you need to do is make a "box" to sit inside the carcass. The box in the one I have has a slide out shelve for a DVD player. The TV sits on top of the box. The TV actually sits on a slide out shelve also. It also rotates so you can angle the TV one way or the other a little. The hardware for these slide out trays are available from a lot of different places.

Just make your carcass wide enough to allow clearance for everything.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Dave- another suggestion.

If I were to make a single unit, cabinet style, TV or entertainment cabinet without any structures on either side that will sit sit in a place with no walls or other cabinets close by, I would not use the sliding door assemblies like we have all been discussing.

I would use simpler-to-install, wrap-a-round, hinges that allow the door to fold back flat against the sides of the cabinet. They give you more cabinet space and don't get in the way of shelves or drawers. Rockler's Aximat wrap-a-round hinges pictured below have fully adjustable cup mounts.

 

[Glennbear]

I do not know your opening height vs cabinet depth ratio, but if you had enough depth I would consider a simple pins in grooves hinge/slide setup such is used on barrister type bookcases. You could substitute a solid door for the usual glass.

 

[DaveO]

Thanks for everyone's advice and suggestions. My Dad is mailing me the specific on what they are looking for. It definitely will need several shelves and partitions, so I think that an inner carcass will be needed to support them. This piece will fit in between other existing furniture so I can't "wrap around" the doors. What they have now sits with the doors open when they are using it, and they get in the way. Hence the interest in the "flipper" style doors. Hopefully I will be able to have my plan finalized soon, as my goal is to get this done for them by Thanksgiving when they are coming to visit and will have a car to haul it home in.
Dave