Any leads on stout hardware for a big ol’ round door. Something on the order of these dimensions.
The surrounding structure will most likely be shotcrete, but can change if that matters. Also, not concerned about how air-tight the door is, because it’s a vestibule door (for wont of a more accurate description) that leads to an appropriately air-tight door.
Thanks. Jim
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Replies
A top and bottom pivot you can make work along the lines of those in a commercial aluminum tube / glass entry door. Might work.
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Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
All hobbit houses have round doors. You might study the set design of Bilbo's house in Lord of the Rings.
But that means I'd have to actually go out to a movie!!! Haven't done that in probably 7+ years. And now I'd have to hire a babysitter, and I don't trust anyone w/ my daughter, and....
Shoot, it'd be easier to talk the client into a square door.
Purple --
There's a much easier way. You need to change movies. Lose the pivot pins, lose the flat place on the bottom, and make it one piece. Make the whole door roll to one side. This could be kinda like a pocket door with a very deep track on the bottom. See the first Indiana Jones movie for details of the door in action. ;-)
-- J.S.
youse guys have gotta wronga moofie
evah seeah dah Stah Trak wid Capt James T Kirk????????
Excellence is its own reward!
From the diagram, my working assumption is that this is 2 doors that meet in the centre - right ?
Weight, material, thickness of doors ?
Independent swing, or astragal ?
Lockable, latchable, or open ? Security parameter ?
What are the bounds of styles ? (e.g. brass ? wrought iron ? modern ? midieval ? Edwardian ? La-La mission ?)
High-usage commercial or residential ?
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
The owner is a "rustic artist" who does beautiful carved work, and benches out of locust, and tree trunk carvings, etc.
So, probably wood. Independent swing. Not much of a security need, so latching only to keep the racoons out. Rustic style. Residential.
How about some simple gate hardware? A pair of 3/8" lags with a 90 degree turn where the head would be threaded into the jamb and eyes on the door. The eyes could be surface mounted like a big strap hinge, or through bolted, depending on the customer's preference. Me, I like exposed hardware, but I know lots of people don't.
Now that we have a better definition, I'm right with Jim on this: big over-sized gate hardware. But I'd go with a pin in the floor with a plate and a small "lazy-susan" type ball race on it to allow the door to turn easier, straight bronze/brass bushing at the the top.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
I would favor a timkin tapered roller bearing,top and bottom .
Yes, tapered roller bearings -- you could just get some old wheel bearings from a late VW or most any car. They're much better than you need, and smaller than the lazy susan bearing. You could get ones than are marginal and have been replaced on the car for free.
-- J.S.
Well, you can get a ball race with the balls exposed on both sides in some fairly small sizes (I call them "lazy susan" type bearings, but they're a lot smaller, maybe 1.25" OD). Without looking into it in depth, a double-faced race only needs two flat faces, not much more than 2 big flat washers, while a tapered bearing requires a fairly precise cone as a bearing surface. .
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
The cone comes with the tapered bearing.
Another thought on the Indiana Jones pocket door: You could use stainless cable to keep it from going out of alignment, the cable would be anchored at both ends of the bottom track, pulled tight, with one wrap around the door. A "U"bolt would secure the cable to the door. That way you could have some kind of lock or latch, and it would always line up correctly.
As for the Star Trek doors, alas they're not practical. The thing that made them open and close so perfectly was two grips standing behind the set wall moving them by hand.
-- J.S.
That's a job for a blacksmith! Oh man, I can just see it; me and the blacksmith coming up with all kinds of cool stuff.
I want to build a big round door too.
Tom
>just throwing some ideas up against the wall and seeing if any of them stick
They're all gonna stick......right to an email I send to the homeowner. Thanks! I have the easy part--I'm just designing the look of the door and the homeowner's agreed that figuring out how to make it work is on his shoulders. Sometimes I'll tell 'em how to do something, but only if I've done it myself first. This one is a stretch for me, so I appreciate all the ideas from everyone.
We'll have an Appalachian Mini-Fest and make this guy's place a field trip. The building site alone is worth the drive from OH.