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Vertical lift door mechanism


ejparrott

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I need to make a large cupboard door open vertically instead of side or bottom hung.  Space is at a premuim and hinged doors just will not work.  Can anyone assist in the design, or point me in the right direction?  Google has thrown up a number of images of kitchen cupboards but the mechanisms all look too flimsy for my needs.  The crux of it appears to be a parallel mechanism, can't quite figure out what establishes the pivot points and link lengths though.

 

Cheers

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For things like that, "in context" editing in OnShape is invaluable. Skip to 26:30 for a good explanation:

https://www.onshape.com/videos/managed-in-context-design-in-onshape-08-29-17

You can get a free account as a hobbyist, but if you'd like to roughly sketch something out with some measurements I'm happy to see what I can come up with for you.

Edited by lo-fi
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It's worth putting in some time to learn, even if you just use it to draw up gasket templates to print out. It does so much more, of course, and being cloud based there's no need to install anything; runs straight in the browser. There's a pretty comprehensive archive of video tutorials to get you going. 

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4 hours ago, lo-fi said:

For things like that, "in context" editing in OnShape is invaluable. Skip to 26:30 for a good explanation:

https://www.onshape.com/videos/managed-in-context-design-in-onshape-08-29-17

You can get a free account as a hobbyist, but if you'd like to roughly sketch something out with some measurements I'm happy to see what I can come up with for you.

Thanks lo-fi, I'll have a measure and do a doodle and let you know

18 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

I came across that in several searches, but they all appeared to be a bit on the small and lightweight side.  I don't expect to find a commercial offering for what I want to do, I expect to have to make something.  Problem is, I don't know what the criteria for design are for this motion

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13 hours ago, zardos said:

How about a roller door, you can get them for metal filling cabinets or kitchens or garages.
e.g.
https://www.hafele.co.uk/en/products/sliding-folding-door-gear/tambour-door-fittings/2324e9476424f26b467d664f7362705a/

Unfortunately not suitable for this instance, would normally be the nice easy solution though!

1 hour ago, muddy said:

Two hinges two gas rams and some 20mm flat bar to make a frame screwed to the cupboard and door?

That's what I'm thinking, but it's designing the pivot points and spec' for the rams that I'm at a loss with.

 

Didn't have to chance to measure today, will try to do it tomorrow.

 

Cheers

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I have put gas struts on a few things and normally just wing it regarding bracketery, having too many variables seems to cause havoc so I normally start with what struts I have to hand and work from there.

 

Will.

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Ok, so this is what I'm trying to do.  I have a cupboard that has an opening of 1090mm.  What I would like is a vertically opening door that comes up to leave a minimum clearance under of 1085mm, preferably the full 1090mm, to clear the contents of the cupboard sliding in and out.  By having a vertically opening door I hope I can use more of the works floor space, instead of having to keep space clear as I would for normal side opening doors.

 

Gas struts would be nice, make lifting a bit easier, but for now at any rate the thing I can't work out is the mechanism!

 

Cheers

015.jpg

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5mm is very little for any hardware at the top so any mounting would have to be on the sides (if enough space).
A parallelogram type side pivot would give you the required lift but will push the door out by a minimum of half the door height before bringing it back in (so you would need a minimum of around 545mm clear in front of the door to open)

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But the simplest would be some U channel down the side that a panel would slide out of (no hinge at all), the panel would then separate to be stored elsewhere.
Space required to open would be panel thickness plus a few mm

Edit:
You might be able do something with a telescopic gas strut like http://www.eckold.co.uk/product.php?id=76&cat=1&sub_cat=25

To life a slide mechanism as you would not get the required lift from a single stage.

Edited by zardos
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6 hours ago, mickeyw said:

This YouTuber has modelled some ingenious mechanisms on CAD. You might find something useful in his video collection.

https://www.youtube.com/user/thang010146

Couldn't find anything which exactly replicated what I am hoping to achieve, although he has a table which opens out almost exactly in the way I think I need to create.

 

What he did have was this....intreguing....

 

 

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On 3/25/2019 at 4:50 PM, zardos said:

5mm is very little for any hardware at the top so any mounting would have to be on the sides (if enough space).
A parallelogram type side pivot would give you the required lift but will push the door out by a minimum of half the door height before bringing it back in (so you would need a minimum of around 545mm clear in front of the door to open)

You are not wrong, its a tall order, but mounting on the sides is no problem at all within reason.

 

Keeping clearance of 550mm in front of it is probably not an issue..keeping 1500 for a pair of side hung doors, can't see that happening!  Bi fold doors...not sure if I can get everything all tied in nice...lots of things to thing about, and also still looking at having 750mm clear in front.

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Vertical sliding channels with some sort of hold function would be the easiest solution. With mechanisms like for the table shown above you'll struggle to get the required opening height.

Filip

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I've been thinking about this, need to sketch some things. 

To make it work at all I think I will need to employ some L shaped links, so it can reach out in front of the pivot and the front of the cupboard when open.  I think there needs to be a pair to get it to open parallel, and I think the upper most link must be pivoted to the door at a point just below middle.  Then, when the door is raised, the door will be lifted above the opening, because the pviot is below centre....I think!  I believe it it were central it would be in line with, and if it were above then it wouldn't lift high enough.

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