BARN DOOR PROJECT

Sometimes I wonder why I always seem to have multiple projects running at any one time, starting the next half way though the first, taking too much time, but ending up satisfied and I wouldn't have done any other way...this being one of them. Guess that's the joy of having limited budget and lots of ideas. So, the door leading to the hallway was practically falling off its rusty, screeching worn out sliding mechanism, so Renee and I decided we would convert it into a barn door. I couldn't find any kits local, so as usual I figured I could build something from scratch. I started out by cutting a solid steel double vee belt pulley in half by hand with a hack saw. It was a great relief to make it to the other side without straying since I had about 1mm of tolerance each side,plus my arms were dead.

Next I hammered some 40 x 3mm steel flat around a pipe and drilled it out for the bolts.

Hunted down the right diameter bearings. We wanted to keep it looking industrial, so I left the old paint on the pulley and clear coated the raw steel which turned out a nice slightly darker and satin finish.

We installed the new mechanism over the 50 x 5mm steel rail which is coach screwed to the framing through 25 x 25mm steel spacers welded to the backside.

I also added some 25 x 5mm steel angles to form stoppers at each end. We sanded back the existing door and painted the front face with blackboard paint. Job done. Now onto the other 15 projects....