Garage door ideas for a mini shop

[jdkenyon]

I have a 3 yr old nephew that only wants a "shop" just like daddy's for his birthday in a couple of months. It will be big enough for his toy trucks and tractors. Maybe like an oversized doll house. I think I have the overall construction ideas figured out including a hinged roof so he can get inside but I am at a loss for the doors. I would really like to make some form of rollup doors so it is just like the real thing but I don't know where to start. Is there miniature hinges and tracks for projects like this? Any direction would be helpful.

[LinuxRandal]

It seems to me that your asking for trouble! I would consider two opening doors for the front (like the old model T and A garages, built around my neighborhood), or look at the posts on wooden tambors. If you tried to get as fancy as a real garage door, with tracks, I think that , since he is three, at some point in time, curiousity will get the better of him, and he will get his fingers pinched. I have a friend who is a retired installer, and I am sure it could be done, just not sure wether it would be worth the time and hassle considering that chance.

I am thinking you mean vehicles, like battery operated trucks and cars, not matchbox size.

[scorrpio]

Rockler has tambour door kit in its Kitchen section. See if this is something you can work with.

Here's a quick'n' dirty to make your own:
1. Cut out L'shaped pieces of 3/4" ply or MDF
2. Rout channels in them, about 5/16" wide, 1/2" deep, L shaped, with a 2-3" radius at L's elbow.
3. Cut some planks of 1/2 or 3/4" ply, drill 1/4" holes in centers of their ends, glue in 1/4" dowels, cut to stick out about 3/8".
4. Lay these planks next to each other, and run duct tape across them in a couple places. For better hold, staple the tape to planks.
5. Install assembly so that glued-in dowels ride in the L channels of the side pieces. Some wax in channels and on dowels should make for smoother action.

[Jon The Buddha]

How about something like on kitchen cabinets with built-it breadboxes? They usually have some kind of roll-up door. Might be able to fab something like that pretty easy. I didn't check, but that might be like what Scorrpio was talking about.

[just4funsies]

Yes, that's what a tambour door is.

How about one of those doggie doors? There's no way he'll get stuck inside, or fingers pinched. Some have a magnet in the bottom to keep them closed.

[jdkenyon]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I hadn't thought of a breadbox lid and even if I did I wouldn't have know what it was called. That looks like the route I will try. I will put some pictures up in a month or two if it isn't a total failure.

[LCHIEN]

I have a 3 yr old nephew that only wants a "shop" just like daddy's for his birthday in a couple of months. It will be big enough for his toy trucks and tractors. Maybe like an oversized doll house. I think I have the overall construction ideas figured out including a hinged roof so he can get inside but I am at a loss for the doors. I would really like to make some form of rollup doors so it is just like the real thing but I don't know where to start. Is there miniature hinges and tracks for projects like this? Any direction would be helpful.

I'm not sure exactly what scale you are looking at but it appears that something with a door smaller than 2' x 3' is in the range.

Since not a lot of weight is involved, you can make a single piece door of 1/4" plywood. Attach some blocks in the back and have four 1/4" dowel pins (pointing sideways), two at the bottom and two at the top.

In order to make a traveling door, you need two straight vertical running 1/4" tracks for the bottom pins to ride in and two 1/4" tracks at the top that start out vertical and curve to a horizontal position.

If you space the top and bottom dowel pins equidistant from the front surface then the tracks can be continuous. If you space the top dowels farther back then you can have two independent track pieces.

In real life the non-folding door may cause some problems but in the kids garage it won't make much difference and/or you can just make it (the garage) deeper.

A detent in the tracks can be made to help support the door in the open position. Put a little handle on the front to help open it.

Since the door will be light, no need for rollers or wheels.

I hope i described it, if you don't understand maybe i can do a sketch or something and e-mail it.