Replies

1. 
   Elcoholic | Jan 26, 2007 03:08am | #1

   I once collaborated on a similar project, but the TV was 50".  The TV width vs the depth of the alcove allowed two doors.  Bifold doors are inherently flimsy and big pocket doors can be tough too.  I think the combo would be sketchy.  Instead I would make the wall unit oe at least the center TV section deep enough to use single leaf doors.  Rockler sells rack and pinion pocket door hardware made by Schock and they can custom order the racks to the length you'll need. 

   The customer wanted all in-wall speakers for 5.1 surround which was my end along with additional stereo pairs of speakers in the master bedroom, living room and some outdoor "rock" speakers for the pation.  That was my end of the project.  The house was preewired w/ CAT5 and I used Boston Acoustics speakers and Niles Audio volume controls and patch panels.  To accomodate the subwoofer and the customer's desire to be speaker free, one of the lower drawers has no sides and the sub is pulled out when it movie time.

   Credit where credit is due - Entertainment Center designed and built by Heart of Oak Workshop, Irvine, CA http://www.heartofoakworkshop.com 

   John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   The more things change ...

   We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.

   Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC

   
2. 
   joinerswork | Jan 26, 2007 04:46pm | #2

   jben,

   Just before Thanksgiving I delivered an entertainment center with two bi-fold pocket or flipper doors.  The 4 doors were about 14" x 46" each.  I hung them on the rack and pinion flipper door hardware sold by Rockler, and hinged the pairs together with common butt hinges.  The doors were southern long-leaf pine, with punched tin panels above flat wood panels, so they weren't as heavy as all wood doors.  I felt that the hardware was up to the job of supporting heavier doors than I used.  I used the version Rockler sells for long doors, item #31144.  It has 3 racks and pinion gears/door, and 3 slides and hinges.  Careful fitting of the doors (that's a bit of a pain), and accurate installation of the hardware is a must.  But the flipper hinges allow for some adjustment.  And you must allow for ample room in the "pocket", as the flipper hinge placement prevents the doors from folding flat together, and you need to allow for projection of any knobs or handles, etc.  Get the hardware, and make a mockup, before making up the interior partition that hides the flipperdoors when retracted.

   Regards,

   Ray Pine

3. 
   Ronaway | Jan 26, 2007 05:03pm | #3

   Jben a lot of cabinet makers are put thru making elaborate door configurations for entertainment pieces. The reality of the thing is that most people hardly ever close these doors. People by and large are T.V. addicted these days and just don't cut the T.V. off enough to warrant closing the doors. If this is a project for yourself you really need to consider how much you will actually close the doors. You may just decide to leave them off all together. If it's for a customer you may want to express your concerns for the justification of the additional expense for something they will probably not use. Making doors like these work properly takes a lot of shop hours and could be a call back waiting to happen. You may save yourself and the customer some money by not including them.

   Ron

1. 
   dougmeyer | Jan 26, 2007 05:43pm | #4

   Ok I saw something that was kind of an interesting idea the other day. I was at a cheap furniture store (I was looking for a cheep temporary piece of furniture, until I get around to building a good replacement) and I saw this entertainment center that had a different way of hiding the TV. I will try to explain it as best I can.

   What you had was a "standard" entertainment center. Left side had a tower about 24" wide or some such (did not take dimensions so these are only guesses) with a couple of doors on the top and drawers on the bottom. Same with the right side. The center part had storage for the electronics on the bottom and the TV on the upper part with a solid top across the whole thing.

   If you opened the doors to either side of the TV (the tower areas) you had a book case that was about 8" deep or so right up against the doors. Now being as the unit was about 20 to 24" deep this had space hidden behind the book cases.  So what happened is that the book cases where build on sliders and could slid sideways into the middle space. One from the left and one from the right. When they were both slid into the center the book case area hid the TV. Behind the book cases in the side towers were more shelves used to store CD and DVDs and such.  It was an interesting arrangement.  I would not have thought about making the shelving unit slide out of the way. What I like about it was that open or closed the unit look good. (well it was cheap, so it did not look good, but it was an interesting design) 

   If you have any questions about how this worked let me know and I will try to do a better job of explaining it or I can draw a sketch and upload it.  (But that could get me into the ethics of copying as I am not sure if the designer of this is dead or not :) )

   Doug Meyer