New Workshop Doors

[brianhabby]

Judas gate with the extra brace going the right way

Simon,

I'm not too concerned that I got the brace wrong, just meant that I had to spend time fixing it

This project will be painted as well.

I think the reason the wood for the stiles was too short is that I must have placed the rail that acts as the lintel too high, so much for making a plan :?

I've rebated the frame where the judas gate fits and now have to run a matching rebate on the judas gate itself so that it fits. When I ran the rebates in the frame I was going to square up the corners left by the router but have decided to leave them and round over the corners of the judas gate to match - should make an interesting detail which will only be seen from the inside.

regards

Brian

 

[brianhabby]

Time for an update me thinks.

The judas gate fitted to the large door (no ply or cladding yet.

I mentioned previously about the rounded corners on the judas gate and I've taken a couple of photos that might help to explain what I'm on about.

This photo shows the top of the judas gate as it will appear from the outside.

This next photo shows how it will appear from the inside.

And this photo is an attempt to show the detail.

I've started fitting the cladding and plywood, done the judas gate. I put some spacers between the pieces of cladding as I didn't want to butt the pieces up tight as the wood might swell when it gets outside. This stuff has been indoors for several years and is bone dry.

Each spacer is about 2mm thick, I hope that's enough :?

One thing about the cladding that I bought. As you can probably surmise from the picture above, it is reclaimed timber. I didn't notice at the time but there are two different profiles :roll:

The profiles will look the same when fitted but I can't really mix them. I just hope the lengths work out so I can avoid mixing them on the same section.

I had a bit of a hiccup when trimming some of the ply. This is the setup I used for trimming a piece to length.

And this is what I did to my table saw because I was too bl**dy close

It's time I started thinking about what I'm going to use to hang these doors hinge wise. The heaviest of the two doors (the one with the judas gate) will weigh about 75 kilos when complete so I will need some pretty sturdy hinges.

That's all for now folks,

regards

Brian

 

[Cegidfa]

Hi Brian,
You are not alone! I used my Veritas steel router table, as it is easy to clamp to. I now have a 2mm deep cut all the way across it, having forgotten to measure the overhang :shock:
It is certainly a testament to the quality of saw blade we both used. But why didn't we see the sparks? :wink:

The doors are coming along nicely. Thanks for the WIP.

Regards...Dick.

 

[brianhabby]

This is the second time this particular table saw has been attacked by a portable circular saw. The last time was by the previous owner and he went through a corner of the cast iron top...!!!.

regards

Brian

 

[Kev]

Brian,

Have been watching this thread with great interest, both out of general interest in how you have tackled this project but also from a point of view that I need to do the same to my workshop. This winter has made me realise how much heat I am losing through very I'll fitting doors, even with the wood burning stove going full blast.

Has made me think of a few things that I would not have thought about.

Have you given thought to the type of hinges you will use in terms of type and size. Planning to make mine out Sapele (doors, not hinges :wink: ) so dread to think how heavy duty the hinges will have to be, the doors being 12' wide and 7'6" high.

Keep up the good work.

 

[brianhabby]

Hi Kev,

You've made a very good point about the hinges. I put a question on the General Woodworking forum to ask what people thought regarding heavy duty hinges. My thoughts are to go with 'T' hinges although I did consider butt hinges for a short while.

I have decided to stay with 'T' hinges for a couple of reasons.

They will be easier to fit, especially if I get the lift off type. I suspect my doors will need some fine tuning when fitting to the frame and lift off hinges will make this task a lot easier.

I believe they will be easier to maintain should I have a problem. I can also bolt them on right through the door making them very sturdy.

I plan to use 3 hinges per door and if I get suitable ones they should hold these doors with no problem. The heaviest of my two doors will weigh about 75 kilos when complete.

ginsters kindly checked out a local supplier for me the other day and I plan to go and have a look on Saturday to see what they've got. I'll post details of what I finish up with.

The other thing about fitting the doors is that with them being lined on both sides, outside with cladding & inside with 3/8 plywood, I will hang the doors with the minimum of lining and then finnish them off. That way they will be lighter while hanging.

Those are my thoughts about hinges and hanging at the moment but of course there's still time to re-think things.

I hope those watching this thread with a view to doing something similar on their own workshop create a WIP post so we can compare notes.

regards

Brian

 

[ginsters]

If you require a lift I work mainly out out the west end so I'm always about if need a hand

 

[brianhabby]

Might just take you up on that offer mate, cheers.

regards

Brian

 

[brianhabby]

I got these yesterday:

They came from Richard Williams in Deganwy as recommended by ginsters, total cost about £48 for six. They're not the largest hinges they had in stock but at 18 inches I reckon they are more than adequate for the job in hand.

When fitting the cladding to the left hand door, and carefully measuring (or so I thought) I found I had a small gap of about half an inch at the end, thus:

So i glued in a thin fillet, when sanded and painted you'll never tell, good job I've got a couple of clamps

Well, I'm slowly getting there, all that's really left now is to fit the locks to the judas gate and I think I will be ready to hang these doors. Will let you know how I get on.

regards

Brian

 

[brianhabby]

Well I've finally got the doors hung.

If truth were known I was apprehensive to say the least. Making the doors in the privacy of the workshop was one thing, but what would I do if I'd screwed up and they wouldn't fit after removing the old ones? There would be no going back!

Nothing for it but to just dive in which is what I did yesterday (Well me and my grandson, Dale).

Turns out not to be too bad at all and I'm really pleased with the outcome. It's a wonder the old doors stayed put for as long as they did. They were each held on with two hinges. The top one on the right only had two screws into the frame, and the frame was rotten at the bottom on both sides so the bottom hinges weren't really gripping into much if anything.

This is the rot at the bottom of the left hand door frame:

I dug out as much as I could with an old chisel and gave it a good soaking with creosote before using a two part car body filler on it. I was to put a new upright on top of it anyway. Did this on both sides and this is the finished result:

With a smug looking Brian in his Judas gate

Dale took great delight in smashing up the old doors which are going for firewood:

It's been a marathon journey but we got there in the end. I've just got a bit of finishing & painting to do but I'm genuinely pleased and proud with the way the job turned out. No creaking or scrapping - just nice smooth working doors

Would I do the same again? Probably, although I've had my doubts during this project, it's very satisfying now the job is complete and it's all come together so well at the end.

Well that's all for now folks.

regards

Brian

 

[Qwibble]

Good WIP Brian. When I tackle my workshop doors I'll hope I do as good a job.
Q

 

[ginsters]

looking good brian

 

[Benchwayze]

Nice Job Brian. Those hooks and bands are really the only choice to hinge double-wooden doors. Should last quite a while now.

:Thumbsup

Regards
John

 

[brianhabby]

I appreciate the comments guys, hope to get the painting finished this week

regards

Brian

 

[Tierney]

Hi,

Just spotted your link to this on another thread; lovely job, I need to do something similar at some point. One question, please can you tell me how you attached the hook or frame side of the hinge, they look like holes for normal wood screws?

Regards,

David

 

[brianhabby]

You're right, they are just countersunk holes for normal wood screws. When the photo was taken I had fitted them using some 3" No. 12 screws but am in the process of replacing them with coach bolts so they will be much stronger and impossible to open from the outside. It means that each hinge pin has to be removed and the holes squared off with a small file - quite a time consuming task which I must admit to not really enjoying, although it is a must.

I also plan to do the same with the strap part of the hinge as there is currently only one coach bolt in each, the rest being regular screws.

regards

Brian

 

[Benchwayze]

Brian,


Why not buy the appropriate thickness all-thread 'set-screws', with hex-heads. Grind the heads down to circles first. Easier than squaring off round holes. Then when you put the nuts on the bolts inside, use lock washers, and burr over the ends of the threads, to prevent them being unscrewed.
You could also file away the square section under the heads of coach bolts if that seems easier.

Simplest solution would be to slightly enlarge the holes, so the square section of the coach-bolt will just go through. By the time you tighten up the bolts, they will bite into the timber and should hold.


Just a suggestion.

HTH
John

 

[No skills]

Johns last suggestion is pretty good, just needs a little tweek. Rather than drill out the hole in the hinge to the correct size (so that the square fits in easily) use a bit 0.5mm or 1mm smaller. Use a small club or large ball pein hammer (32oz does me) and whack the bolt on the head hard, this should drive the bolt head flush and the square piece will bite into the hole. This gives a very positive fitting with no slip/spin on bolting up.

I've fitted several thousand coach bolts this way, bolting bits of timber onto 3mm (and in some places 5mm) steel panels - after the first few hundred I was knocking the bolts into the 5mm panels first strike (hammer)

hth

 

[Tierney]

Thanks for the replies.

David

 

[Benchwayze]

Johns last suggestion is pretty good, just needs a little tweek. Rather than drill out the hole in the hinge to the correct size (so that the square fits in easily) use a bit 0.5mm or 1mm smaller. Use a small club or large ball pein hammer (32oz does me) and whack the bolt on the head hard, this should drive the bolt head flush and the square piece will bite into the hole. This gives a very positive fitting with no slip/spin on bolting up.

I've fitted several thousand coach bolts this way, bolting bits of timber onto 3mm (and in some places 5mm) steel panels - after the first few hundred I was knocking the bolts into the 5mm panels first strike (hammer)

hth

Yep.... Agree. That should work! Hammers are vastly under-rated!

John