Thread: Sliding Mirror Doors in cabinet

I can see two problems.
If you need to replace the mirror i.e scratched or damaged you will have to pull the cabinet apart.
And running the glass in the timber grooves is sometimes O.K. if it is not going to be used much. But as is probably the case with bathroom cabinet it will get a lot of use and you will find it starts to wear away the track and you end up with loose and hard to slide doors. I'd be using a track even if it is one of the cheap plastic insert types.
Check out some cabinet suppliers like www.Hafele.com.au they have a hole section on sliding door tracks.
hope this helps.

Tracks are the safer way to go, it doesn't take much make your own. I've made 'em from lengths of corian which I've grooved on the table saw and sunk flush into the woodwork. Be warned: corian blunts saw teeth quickly! I only use it 'cos I've heaps of offcuts lying around, I'm sure you can find an alternative.

With the above tracks I cut the slots 2mm wider than the glass, in timber I'd probably go 3mm at the least to allow for moisture and paint but that's only a guess: for these things I don't actually measure, I cut what "looks & feels right."

As for removing the glass in case of damage, etc, that's simple provided you allow enough depth to the slots. Let's assume you want the bottom grooves to be 2mm deep, I'd then cut the top ones to be 6mm deep (working on the basis of 2x the bottom plus an extra few mm) but have the glass/mirrors cut so they only go 2mm in. To insert/remove the glass all you have to do is lift the glass up out of the bottom slot and pull the bottom forward enough to let you slip it out of the cabinet.

A lot easier done than said.

BTW, the top slots will need to be wider for this to work. Maybe 3-4mm wider than the glass... I'd suggest dry fitting everything together and tweaking it until you get it right. Then gluing it together and installing.

Ptrott, the problem is that from day 1 the condensation on the mirror will run down into the track in your timber and the process of destroying your cabinet has started, especially if it's made from MDF.
The advice in the posts above is absolutely correct and, if you go to your local glazier, they will sell (or give?) you some plastic track offcuts that have all of the dimensions that chidam suggests. That way, you simply rout the single groove in the timber and Bob's your uncle! Fletty

Yeh, I intended to make the top grooves deep enough to allow removal of the glass. My concern was that once assembled I can't widen the grooves later.
I am going to get the glass beveled and smoothed on the bottom and the bottom corners rounded slightly. The timber I am using for the bottom is very old and very hard jarrah, hence the idea of not putting in a track (just some talcum powder occasionally)
Do you recon 2mm is enough for the bottom Skew? I was thinking 3 or 4 so that the chances of accidentally knocking the glass out of the track is minimal.

Thanks,
Phill.

Originally Posted by ptrott

Yeh, I intended to make the top grooves deep enough to allow removal of the glass. My concern was that once assembled I can't widen the grooves later.

Hence the suggestion of dry-fitting; just clamping it all together to give it a test run before actually gluing.

very old and very hard jarrah, hence the idea of not putting in a track (just some talcum powder occasionally)
Do you recon 2mm is enough for the bottom Skew? I was thinking 3 or 4 so that the chances of accidentally knocking the glass out of the track is minimal.

No I don't, those figures were only in the way of an example. Sorry for any confusion! Personally I'd be happier with 4mm on the bottom and 10+mm at the top but I wasn't sure what thicknesses you're working with.

FWIW, when building 'em for someone else I use tracks 'cos it's lower maintenance. No complaints 6 months down the line about sticking glass. But for myself it's another story: timber all the way 'cos it looks better...