I am finalizing my overhead cabinets and most likely have three, about 5’ long, units with sliding doors. I compared 15 versus 10 series 80/20 profiles and different material for filling panels. As is in all 80/20 frames the strength of units is almost independent of panels’ material chosen.
In my current choice, which I copied from this forum, I am planning to use the corner joints which are heavy and expensive but elegant. On series 15 these corners cost about 1/2 of the total 80/20 bill and weight 8 lbs., wow. There are other ways to joint 3 extrusion corners but none are as good looking as these heavy chunks of aluminum, see attached picture.
I am leaning toward HDPE to match other cabinets and 10 series or 15 series without round corners.
George.
I am very picky regarding rattling and sliding doors on overhead cabinets could rattle, I will know for certain once my O/H cabinets are finished. HDPE would likely rattle less than lighter but more rigid double wall polycarbonate sliders. I like the simplicity of the sliding doors and begin to think what if they would rattle.
So here is my plan B. The 80/20 slide tracks are 0.275”/15 profile and 0.281”/10 profile so with 0.250” or 0.236” (6mm) slider material the gap could vary from 0.025” to 0.045”; perhaps sufficiently large for sliders to rattle. So potential solution is to reduce that gap by placing a low friction material between the sliding door and the track, for example:
1. Drill small holes (1/16” dia.) through the sliding doors 3/16” away from upper and lower edges every 2” to 3”. Countersink holes on both sides.
2. Thread a nylon or PTFE (lower friction) fishing line both direction on both sides of the slider and terminate it with a knot on one end. Thread a line on the top and the bottom.
3. Fishing lines are available in multiple diameters so fine tune is possible.
Well tune size of the nylon line could eliminate rattles and provide sufficient friction so cabinet doors would stay in place.
Did anyone used this concept?, thoughts?
George.