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Sliding Door

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by kiffa, Feb 23, 2018.

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  1. kiffa, Feb 23, 2018
    #1
    kiffa

    kiffa New Member

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    Hi on my 1989 Buddy Davis 47' the door from the cockpit to the salon is a sliding door.
    It runs very smoothly, in fact too smoothly, it slams very easily and I'm fearful that someone gets hurt.
    It seems at some point it had a pulley and spring system, but it was all disconnected and I have no idea how it worked or if it worked.
    What would you recommend I do to buffer the opening and shutting of the door?
  2. YachtForums, Feb 23, 2018
    #2
    YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Can you post a pic of the door's slide mechanism? I haven't tried this, but maybe you could line the slides with a thin layer of adhesive foam or tape to offer resistance?
  3. Calvin Wagner, Feb 23, 2018
    #3
    Calvin Wagner

    Calvin Wagner New Member

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    Rotary dampers are pretty common for slowing down sliding glass doors in general, but they're a bit hard to implement in a DIY.

    I once saw somebody shave down a piece of delrin to shim the bottom side of their door, too. The delrin won't wear down or mar the metal frame of the door and it doesn't need to be lubricated.
  4. love2speed, Feb 23, 2018
    #4
    love2speed

    love2speed New Member

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    I have the same problem, I just use a rubber door stop when on the hook and keep it closed underway.
  5. Bill106, Feb 23, 2018
    #5
    Bill106

    Bill106 Senior Member

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    If it has the usual roller hangers on top and a track on the bottom you may be able to hide a gas cylinder style damper up under the valance. I've installed these on a few boats where people got tired of the door actuators failing, usually when you're outside! One of these has to be up near the roller track, down lower it will bind the door when opening or closing. Bansbach is one manufacturer I've used in the past and they have a stainless steel 1000 mm stroke version which should be more than long enough. Their US location is in Melbourne Fl;
    https://www.bansbach.com/index.php/en/products/damper
  6. kiffa, Feb 24, 2018
    #6
    kiffa

    kiffa New Member

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    I knew this would be the right place to get answers. Bill you are correct it's the roller hangers and track, I love the suggested Bansbach damper, I think I will order this and try it out. I will post results when mounted.
  7. 30West, Feb 25, 2018
    #7
    30West

    30West Member

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    McMaster carr has rollers with dampers, rollers with one-way dampers, look at those.
  8. Capt Ralph, Feb 25, 2018
    #8
    Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I can only guess there are members on top of this. I wish there were some pictures so to get in tune and maybe learn something my self.
  9. Bill106, Feb 26, 2018
    #9
    Bill106

    Bill106 Senior Member

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    Do you have a link to those 30West? I buy a ton of stuff from McMaster and would love to add these to that list but I can only find ones with a max stroke length of 11.8".
  10. kiffa, Feb 26, 2018
    #10
    kiffa

    kiffa New Member

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    I will get a picture of my set-up tomorrow when the boat is in. 30west those dampers do sound interesting as well.
  11. 30West, Feb 26, 2018
    #11
    30West

    30West Member

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    I'm looking for those dampers, don't see them at McMaster. I'll have to find out which engineer ordered them and from where. In the past I've added nylon washers on the sides of rollers to add friction, with wavy washers to put pressure on the nylon washers.

    My sliding door is stiff. I can see how it comes apart to clean the rollers and tracks, haven't gotten to that project yet. Maybe I'll need to figure out a braking mechanism as well.