Hi everyone,
I'm new to the group and an aspiring hobbyist cabinet maker.
I'll be building an installed bookcase wall in July with one segment
being a hidden door to the garage. I'll be using a pivot hinge for
this design and want to make sure I'm not missing something simple
regarding my choice of hinge.
I'm looking at center and offset pivots capable of holding 1000lbs+
(they won't need to hold more than a ~300lbs but I prefer to err
towards overkill on the hardware). The offset pivot is $150 less than
the center pivot and I can install either one easily. Rough dimensions
of the bookcase door are 36 x 11 x ~90. The pivot point of the hinge
will sit roughly 5" from the front and 5" from the side. Is there any
reason to use a center pivot hinge rather than an offset pivot?
Thanks,
-Ben
I've actually got something similar in my house. About a 6 foot high
bookcase in a built in wall that swings out revealing another door behind it
(goes into our cedar closet and upstairs mechanical room). Uses a continuous
length of piano hinge. It's actually fairly well hidden even with the piano
hinge and you wouldn't notice it unless looking for it.
Also uses a roller on the extreme edge of the door bottom to eliminate (or
minimize) the torque on the door hinge. Think that's really the key - you
have to either build the heck out of your pivot hinges and anchoring points
or just eliminate the torque on the door with rollers underneath it.
Gary in KC
"Ben" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:237a698f-2128-448c-afb6-7c9da865bb03@f16g2000vbf.googlegroups.com...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm new to the group and an aspiring hobbyist cabinet maker.
>
> I'll be building an installed bookcase wall in July with one segment
> being a hidden door to the garage. I'll be using a pivot hinge for
> this design and want to make sure I'm not missing something simple
> regarding my choice of hinge.
>
> I'm looking at center and offset pivots capable of holding 1000lbs+
> (they won't need to hold more than a ~300lbs but I prefer to err
> towards overkill on the hardware). The offset pivot is $150 less than
> the center pivot and I can install either one easily. Rough dimensions
> of the bookcase door are 36 x 11 x ~90. The pivot point of the hinge
> will sit roughly 5" from the front and 5" from the side. Is there any
> reason to use a center pivot hinge rather than an offset pivot?
>
> Thanks,
> -Ben
On Jun 7, 7:42=A0pm, "HeyBub" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Ben wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
>
> > I'm new to the group and an aspiring hobbyist cabinet maker.
>
> > I'll be building an installed bookcase wall in July with one segment
> > being a hidden door to the garage. I'll be using a pivot hinge for
> > this design and want to make sure I'm not missing something simple
> > regarding my choice of hinge.
>
> > I'm looking at center and offset pivots capable of holding 1000lbs+
> > (they won't need to hold more than a ~300lbs but I prefer to err
> > towards overkill on the hardware). The offset pivot is $150 less than
> > the center pivot and I can install either one easily. Rough dimensions
> > of the bookcase door are 36 x 11 x ~90. The pivot point of the hinge
> > will sit roughly 5" from the front and 5" from the side. Is there any
> > reason to use a center pivot hinge rather than an offset pivot?
>
> You know, of course, that the torque on that bookcase/door is going to be
> MASSIVE, don't you? The the hinge should be attached to a steel I-beam,
> anchored in the concrete and braced on its upper dimension in the extreme=
.
> The physics can be overcome somewhat by rollers or wheels at the bottom.T=
hat
> means the door should swing outward from the room into the garage to avoi=
d
> marring the library's floor.
>
> Of course if a car is snuggled up to the door, then you can't get it open=
.
>
> When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember you were
> only trying to drain the swamp.
I appreciate the advice to be prudent with this type of project. It
would be very easy to build a bidden doorway that doesn't last, fails
or worse. Fortunately I'm fairly prudent and am more likely to build
something that lasts a lifetime... rather than the alternative.
There are a *lot* of good designs out there for hidden bookcase doors.
I think I've only seen one design that calls for a caster--and that
was from a first time builder of these things that didn't appear to be
looking at what others had already done. There also a lot of
interesting hardware options (from steel frames to these Reversica
Hyde systems that look really neat-- http://www.reversica.com/products.html
).
At any rate, I've not seen anyone discussing the pro's and con's of
different pivot hinges. I'm only interested in knowing if there is any
functional different (other than the obvious) between center and
offset pivot hinges.
Thanks!
"Ben" <[email protected]> wrote in message
There are a *lot* of good designs out there for hidden bookcase doors.
I think I've only seen one design that calls for a caster--and that
was from a first time builder of these things that didn't appear to be
looking at what others had already done. There also a lot of
interesting hardware options (from steel frames to these Reversica
Hyde systems that look really neat-- http://www.reversica.com/products.html
).
Can't offer you any advice on a suitable pivot hinge, but a discussion here
a while ago was about using a sliding door and skateboard castors as the
vehicle to move it. I'd hazard a guess that you'd get much more life out of
something like that than a pivot hinge of some type holding a massive amount
of weight.
Ben wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm new to the group and an aspiring hobbyist cabinet maker.
>
> I'll be building an installed bookcase wall in July with one segment
> being a hidden door to the garage. I'll be using a pivot hinge for
> this design and want to make sure I'm not missing something simple
> regarding my choice of hinge.
>
> I'm looking at center and offset pivots capable of holding 1000lbs+
> (they won't need to hold more than a ~300lbs but I prefer to err
> towards overkill on the hardware). The offset pivot is $150 less than
> the center pivot and I can install either one easily. Rough dimensions
> of the bookcase door are 36 x 11 x ~90. The pivot point of the hinge
> will sit roughly 5" from the front and 5" from the side. Is there any
> reason to use a center pivot hinge rather than an offset pivot?
>
You know, of course, that the torque on that bookcase/door is going to be
MASSIVE, don't you? The the hinge should be attached to a steel I-beam,
anchored in the concrete and braced on its upper dimension in the extreme.
The physics can be overcome somewhat by rollers or wheels at the bottom.That
means the door should swing outward from the room into the garage to avoid
marring the library's floor.
Of course if a car is snuggled up to the door, then you can't get it open.
When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember you were
only trying to drain the swamp.
On Mon, 8 Jun 2009 08:01:04 -0500, "Gary A in KC"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I've actually got something similar in my house. About a 6 foot high
>bookcase in a built in wall that swings out revealing another door behind it
>(goes into our cedar closet and upstairs mechanical room). Uses a continuous
>length of piano hinge. It's actually fairly well hidden even with the piano
>hinge and you wouldn't notice it unless looking for it.
>Also uses a roller on the extreme edge of the door bottom to eliminate (or
>minimize) the torque on the door hinge. Think that's really the key - you
>have to either build the heck out of your pivot hinges and anchoring points
>or just eliminate the torque on the door with rollers underneath it.
>
>Gary in KC
>
>
>"Ben" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:237a698f-2128-448c-afb6-7c9da865bb03@f16g2000vbf.googlegroups.com...
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm new to the group and an aspiring hobbyist cabinet maker.
>>
>> I'll be building an installed bookcase wall in July with one segment
>> being a hidden door to the garage. I'll be using a pivot hinge for
>> this design and want to make sure I'm not missing something simple
>> regarding my choice of hinge.
>>
>> I'm looking at center and offset pivots capable of holding 1000lbs+
>> (they won't need to hold more than a ~300lbs but I prefer to err
>> towards overkill on the hardware). The offset pivot is $150 less than
>> the center pivot and I can install either one easily. Rough dimensions
>> of the bookcase door are 36 x 11 x ~90. The pivot point of the hinge
>> will sit roughly 5" from the front and 5" from the side. Is there any
>> reason to use a center pivot hinge rather than an offset pivot?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Ben
...I tore out and rebuilt a 1920's Murphy bed awhile back and was
amazed at the simplicity, *and* complexity in design, of the hardware.
It was really in great shape and worked well after 8 decades; we took
it apart and had it powder-coated and no parts needed replacemet. Key
to the design was balance, it all pivoted on a center point, springs
and gravity doing the remainder of the work. It makes sense for the
*weight* part of the equation to equalize in some way...
cg