A Project for you to ponder on

[philmitres]

My job next week is to build a long and tall book shelf for a customer , its about 3 mtrs high and 4 mts long and she as just told me she wants me to make an oak ladder that will slide along the shelves , abit like the old fashioned ones you see in old grand librarys.
My question is , does anybody out there have any ideas what i can use for the top track that will make the ladder slide, ie similar to the tracks you use when constructing slidding wardrobe doors, but the ladder will be on an angle this makes those sort of tracks no good . As anyone made such a thing or have any ideas for me.
Thanks Phil.

 

[Ironballs]

My guess is that you'll want a sliding track across the top and the ladder will lie flush when not in use, but will pull out to a fixed angle when in use and will extend with castors on the bottom. Overall not tricky to do, the interesting bit will be how you lock the mechanism out to a fixed angle and then release it when you want to. You might not even need a lock out, if your extension can be locked with a pin on the ladder (sliding part) then that should do the trick. Sounds like fun

Probably lots of info on the web, when I come across a sticky problem I draw it out over a cuppa, consult web/reference documents and as you've done ask here

 

[jasonB]

I have a similar project in the new year but likely to be 5.0m high

Here is a place to start.

Jason

 

[devonwoody]

perhaps a visit to a museum/library that has one of these contraptions already insitu, again try the web for one of these places.