Routing rails for sliding doors

ed110220

Does anyone know how to go about making rails for sliding cabinet/cupboard doors? I'm talking of the simple type that used to be popular at one time, often for glass doors, that were just wood with grooves cut in them.

I'm building a piece of furniture from an old DIY book that lists them as one of the components but no-one seems to sell them any more. They looked at me funny as if I was asking for something strange at Wickes.

I have the wood, 18x44mm and think they just need routing with two grooves, but does anyone know what sort of depth and how tightly the doors should fit in?

aggypanthus

All I can suggest is go to a secondhand furniture store or charity shop and look at the old style wall units. A lot of them have sliding glass panels at the top.
Or google furniture making techniques.

longtimelurkersam

I have used these on a long entertainment unit that I made from scaffold boards and then finished in a Lombok style.

I got my sliders from a local glazing company. You get a top and a bottom runner and the top one is deeper to allow you to push the glass into it and then drop it down into the bottom runner. Until you have the runners you will not know the depth that you are required to go down with the router. You will need to make sure your opening is truly “square” as otherwise the glass wont slide.

Once you have the runners in then I would make hardboard templates so you can get the exact size and ensure it moves freely and then get the glass cut. I had finger grooves ground into the glass to aid the opening and closing as I didn’t want it drilled or to use those screw metal handles that were on all those Amstrad cabinets in the 80’s. Candle wax on the bottom of glass helps reduce friction

ed110220

longtimelurkersam wrote: »

I have used these on a long entertainment unit that I made from scaffold boards and then finished in a Lombok style.

I got my sliders from a local glazing company. You get a top and a bottom runner and the top one is deeper to allow you to push the glass into it and then drop it down into the bottom runner. Until you have the runners you will not know the depth that you are required to go down with the router. You will need to make sure your opening is truly “square” as otherwise the glass wont slide.

Once you have the runners in then I would make hardboard templates so you can get the exact size and ensure it moves freely and then get the glass cut. I had finger grooves ground into the glass to aid the opening and closing as I didn’t want it drilled or to use those screw metal handles that were on all those Amstrad cabinets in the 80’s. Candle wax on the bottom of glass helps reduce friction

Thanks for your suggestions, they are very useful. The doors will actually be plywood but the principle is the same, I just mentioned the glass ones as they were more common so I thought people would recognise them. Funny how something that was so common and simple has pretty much disappeared.