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Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:37 pm
by Silly Car
My google foo is failing me here and I’ve run out of search terms to try and find what I’m looking for…
I saw a TikTok / instagram / Facebook short where a joiner had devised a “hinge” mechanism which allowed a bookcase door within a row of bookcases to open like a normal door then fold back in front of the adjoining bookcase much in the same way a sliding door on a car / van but without the tracks just operating off hinges.
I probably haven’t explained myself very well but hopefully the below will kinda help:

- 991178F9-D805-433A-93DD-41F3B1AC86BE.jpeg (256.66 KiB) Viewed 772 times
Fingers crossed someone can find the short video clip / find something similar / etc
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:52 pm
by Mussels
The hinge would need to be above the book cases and pivot half way* along the left hand case to make that work.
* Variable depending on how far back it is attached to each.
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:53 pm
by MrLongbeard
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:06 pm
by Silly Car
Mussels wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:52 pm
The hinge would need to be above the book cases and pivot half way* along the left hand case to make that work.
* Variable depending on how far back it is attached to each.
I completely understand where you are coming from but in this missing clip, the hinge appeared to be mounted on the side of each bookcase rather than the top.
I found that video and it is the closest to what I previously found, and would work in the space so thanks for linking it.
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 2:36 pm
by Silly Car
[media] [/media]
I finally found the video clip.
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 3:58 pm
by Rockburner
There's a third piece of wood in that list video. So you have 2 sets of hinges, either side of a "filler" that will be the half the width as your desired "offset" from the original position (or, more likely, the same width as the depth of the "door")
(Or something)
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 5:35 pm
by Silly Car
I have managed to draw it up in sketchup whilst wasting the last afternoon at current employer’s expense, I’ll upload a picture of it later, but essentially RB has got it nailed.
L shaped piece which offsets for depth and width of moving bookcase with hinge at either end.
A ‘packer’ on the side of fixed bookcase and another on the back of the moving bookcase to account for thickness of the L shaped piece
I’m pretty sure the entire mechanism could be fabricated out of steel for added strength/ reduced thickness which may work better than just using wood.
Re: Murphy door / overlapping door / kind of sliding door…
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 6:31 pm
by Silly Car
I haven't got a clue how to animate within Sketchup 2017 but hopefully the attached images make sense, there is an alignment issue I need to resolve as part of the L shaped piece gets embedded into the sidewall.

- 2025-03-11.png (58.2 KiB) Viewed 487 times