Older slider closet door hardware
Customer has older slider closet doors. Each door has two metal plates that slip into a mortise in the top of the door and appear to be locked in with a screw from the back of the door. The plates each have four studs that metal rollers slip over (eight rollers per door). The track has a slot for the metal plate to pass through and four rollers roll on each side of the slot.
The doors make a LOT of noise as the metal rollers move accross the metal track (an application of grease had no impact on the noise).
So we are going to rehang the doors with new hardware.
But I can’t figure out how to remove the metal plates from the doors. I removed the screw that looked like it locked the plates in, but they still do not budge.
Photos are of the screw hole. Door is on it’s side.
Anyone know the trick to getting the plate out?
Thanks,
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Replies
Good gawd rich, looks like glow in the dark boobs.
You got a flash on that camera?
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
LOL!!Without the flash it would've just been black.I realize the pic doesn't show much. I'm hoping someone will recognize the mechanism without needing to see too many details (although it's not like there are lots of details to be seen that are not in the pic!).Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
I think these pics need to be posted in the Pretty Pictures thread. I particularly like the first one - nice composition, nice forms, nice colors. No Photoshop tweeking required. Rich, I think you've got another career here!
You're right.
It comes naturally to liberals.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Rich,
Is that a T-nut?
Could be the roller plate pivots on the shoulder of the T-nut and you have to take out the screw and then knock out the nut to free the plate.
Ralph,I'm not sure what a T-nut is!Note that the hole does not go through to the front of the door.How would I knock the T-nut out (assuming it is one!)?Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
A T-nut looks like a washer perched on top of a short hollow tube. The tube has internal threads and the washer portion has two sharp prongs on its outer circumference bent down in the direction of the tube.
The normal use of this item would have the tube inserted into a snug, predrilled hole on one side of your door with the screw coming from the opposite side. The prongs are set with a hammer and prevent the nut from turning as you tighten the screw. The washer head keeps the nut from pulling through the work piece.
Your photo is just blurry enough <G> to give the impression on this end that I am viewing the washer head of the nut. To remove a T-nut the screw is partially backed out and then tapped with a hammer to free the prongs and make the washer head easy to grab. I guess what I'm really seeing is the impression made by the screw head that you have removed.
If it's not a T-nut, can you see if a sleeve has been inserted in the hole to act as a pivot for the roller plate and the screw is there to keep the sleeve from working out? If you can't grab the plate with Vise-grips and pull it out that would seem to me to indicate a metal pivot is still in place.
Well, I got a longer screw with the same threads and threaded it in and then I pulled out on it with the hammer claw and the bracket fell right out.Now that I think about it, I might have managed the same effect by simply tightening the screw.The central feature in the pics is a metal "disc" shaped so the screw countersinks into it. There is a metal sleeve around this "disc". Looking into the hole through the disc one can see the threads, but there appears to be a separation between the threads and the "disc".This makes me wonder if tightening the screw would've pulled the threaded piece forward, disengaging the plate.I would've removed the pieces to get a better view (and pic) but they didn't seem to want to come out without damaging the door.Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
Edited 11/1/2005 9:17 pm ET by RichBeckman