I need to build a 9″ deep bookshelf approx. 27″ wide and 41″ tall. It needs to swing out for access to a safe behind it. I am figuring that there will be approx. 25 – 30lbs. in addition to the weight of the material. I need to know if anybody can give me a suggestion for some hinges that I may use. I can design the project around the hinges. I really only need to have it swing out 90 degrees. I want this to end up being an invisible access door for the safe. Thanks in advance for your help.
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Not sure if you mean recessed (built in) or 'free standing', Did something similar a while back. Mostly concealed ordinary bitt hinges with molding and placed a non swiveling castor under the swinging side to carry the weight.
Paul
Timken tapered roller bearings. Wheel bearings for a small boat trailer . make or buy the spindles . or go to a farm store and buy a wagon/implement hub/spindle that should hold the door with one hub on the bottom, most of them are rated for 5 ton or more.
Go to this site and enter Soss Hinges on the search menu.
http://shop.woodcraft.com
Yeah, put a caster under the free end, so the hinges don't have to carry so much weight. Then you can use whatever type of hinge fits best.
If you put a caster under the free end, it won't be a concealed door for very long, because there'll be a track on the floor. The roller bearing and axle is the way to go if you're really serious about concealement.
Edited 2/14/2004 12:27:59 AM ET by Uncle Dunc
Friend has one in his house and the caster has left a quarter circle track on the hardwood floor. I suspect a soft rubber caster might work, or the spindle type, or a carpeted floor, or a rug in the area that will get wear.
Library shelving may have as much as 25 lbs per SF with a typical mix of paperbacks and hardbacks, more if it's solid law books. If you've got some thickness to work with you can mortise in the really large Soss hinges. I've hung 1-3/4" solid core doors (100 lbs?) on sets of 3 of those and they hold the weight fine. If you find a really good hardware place they'll be able to supply heavy duty piano hinge, but that will show.
I just installed a set of swinging bookcases this week. They are 12"x38"x92". Custom built with 3/8" allthread running through solid oak blocks top and bottom of cabinets. Above cabinets is 3/4" oak plywood with 3/8" ID metal tubes in holes in the ply to hold top of allthread. At the bottom is an acorn nut on the allthread that rests in a tapered hole in a piece of metal screwed to the concrete floor. It looked very low tech and I didn't think the acorn nut would stay in the bottom pivot but that hasn't been a problem.
The top had an 1/8" clearance and after the customer filled the shelves about 80% I'm seeing a little sag, maybe 1/16" on one cabinet, less on the other. I told her I'd like them to set for the weekend before I do any adjustment. I think these would hold your size cabinets easily but of course the gap at the top and bottom would show. Where these cabinets meet I put a 2" rail on one cabinet to conceal that gap and you could do the same top and bottom.
I will post pictures next week.
Smile. It could be worse. You could be me working for you.
thanks for the reply. how far from the front of the cabinet was the all thread. i need to have the shelf unit swing out of an opening so the pivot point needs to be at the very front. this unit is being retrofitted into an fire box (for fire wood storage) next to the fireplace with moss rock on the front of everything. basically i have a wood cabinet box that i can put face frames on and build the shelf unit into it. Rocklers show a piano hinge that one side of the hinge is "L" shaped. i'm thinking of putting it on so when the hinge is closed it would be parallel to the face of the cabinet front . the "L" shaped part would fasten to the stile of the box. the bookshelf stile would over lap the box stile (about 1"). The book shelf stile wood hang over the book shelf box about 1". I could mortise the hinge into both pieces and the door would be able to open 90 degrees. I would be using the hinge as an overlay method instead of an inset door method where the door fronts normally line up with each other. If you can understand this i did a pretty good job or maybe you are just really intelligent.
thanks the "Doctor"
Did a job like this recently......hidden door which was loaded on the outside with pots hanging from coat hooks( it was in a kitchen storage area). Originally had used Soss hinges which worked pretty well for about the first 5 years but recently upgraded the door by using Rixson top and bottom mount pivot hinges. Works great.Lambeth Restoration and Building
I pretty much followed what you plan with the piano hinges(I'm not that intelligent.) I think your way will work better in your application.
To tell the truth I got excited when I saw the title of your thread so I had to pipe up with the cool job I just did. In fact the plans for the cabinets belong to the cabinet maker, not me, so I don't feel I should get any more detailed than I already have. I will post pictures though.
Good luck and welcome to breaktime. Smile. It could be worse. You could be me working for you.
The smaller the door, the easier it will swing. If the safe is floor mount, swing out the bottom half. I have also found it is much easier to hide a safe behind a panel or a rolling filecase than what you are proposing.
Another way is a section swinging into a secret room or closet behind the bookcase. The hinges are all on the back side of the unit and it is much easier to conceal. A customer could use a setup like this regularly with no visible signs of wear.
One housing company I worked for sold alot of these. A cool one was the flip up headboard in the childrens room. If the house was ever burglarized the kids had a place to hide.
Edit: I forgot to answer the question, IMO a pivot will operate longer and be less visible than hinges on an outswing bookcase.
Edited 2/14/2004 9:17:28 AM ET by Turtleneck
I can't say as to the hinges, But if it was off the floor I would use a wheel to hold the weight while the door was closed. I would also sloop the area the wheel would rest slightly back so the door would be forced back to the wall and would be less likely to open. One other thing if it is 9" deep and is hinged on the outside edge and it only opens 90 degrees you're opening that was 27" becomes 18" at the face of the wall, and the safe might not open.