Wanted: Internal door slider/folding mechanism

[andysideas]

Just got back from a B&B.

They had a cupboard door that was a folding door.

It run on an internal sliding rail top and bottom.

Are these common place and easy to find ?

[Cicero]

====================== This is something like it:

[jim_in_sussex]

folding doors like this, with mechanism bits included in the pack, are std stock items at Wickes & also in several joinery manufacturer catalogs, eg Magnet. Try also Homebase & B&Q. No doubt you get the mechanism pieces separately by special order, if not via Wickes then try Magnet, or a specialist ironmongery/door/window fitting supplier, eg

(based in Chorley lancs)

Beware though, there are problems with these doors. OK if you just want a simple folding door for a walk-in bedroom cupborard. But for a room entry door there is far too much gap all around the door.

I fitted one of these (Wickes) as a space-saving kitchen door last year, & am still considering how to make it work as a proper door. Apart from the gap problem, the doors don't fold flat into the opening becasue of the top slider spring mechanism.

My thoughts are that probably the best method of fitting the doors is to use conventional hinges instead of the pins, and to rebate a channel into the top of the door lining along which the pin supplied for the outer fold would slide, discarding the sping-slide mechanism. The channel will have to be narrower than the one supplied.

BTW I also trimmed the door precisely as recommended to fit the opening & found I had too much gap.

Would recommend a mock-up & experiment before irrevocably committing to a fitting method.

Also if you have a Royal Bank of Scotland near you, some of their branches have automatic folding entry doors which work much more like what I'm after.

HTH