The pivots were at least as big a talking point as the door construction. Based on the ideas given us by the highly talented engineer (Peter Boardman, Structure Design, none better) who coped with all the serious design problems on this job, we mulled them over during smokos for months (it seemed) before the design finally crystallized after countless scrawls on bits of scrap timber. The fabricating engineer (the guy who welded them up) then added simplifications of his own. The result was worth the wait. The bottom plate is a section of 10mm stainless steel ('cos a bit shows out the end of the door). The white disc is a space- age plastic bush which deals with the vertical load. A crude hole was made in the concrete, then the bottom bush and bush housing epoxied into place...and it had to be within 1mm!!!! We had to make up separate jigs for each one to hold it in place while the epoxy set.
	Then more epoxy was poured to make a perfectly level bed for the "plastic" load bearing washer to lie on. The part which gets stuck to the door just drops in. The "foot" to the right is where the door "sits", the vertical face (obviously) is what gets screwed to the door.
	The top pivot is basically the same, but with a hole bored down the middle to take the electrical cable. The shaft is also stainless steel (for strength)
	Each top pivot (fixed section) was quite different. This particular one just happened to come up directly under a steel beam, which gave us something nice and solid to screw to, BUT made getting the wire out the top a bit of a mission! Most of what you can see here disappears into the ceiling space, apart from a little of the cylindrical bush. Each had to be fitted with fanatical accuracy over the already epoxied mate in the floor. Amazing how nothing beats an old fashioned plumb-bob in some situations.
	Just to show how they varied: this one come up onto a beam. The pivot point on this door is further away too. This was quite time consuming; figuring out the precise pivot point for each door; as the walls had to line up in two different positions (in line with one wall in "closed" position, and an entirely different wall in the "open" position). There was only ONE point that would achieve this, but each one is different. On one of the doors (my favorite) the pivots are completely hidden (under the door), so you really don't get any clues that that section can move. Note the many layers of ply at the end of this door, to take the load where the top pivot is fixed. Possibly the biggest challenge was the negative detail that runs all through these things: they create a very weak point in the structure, which took a bit of cunning to get around.
	It was all worth while! The display cases now have "Japanese" style lift out flush doors which (when polyurathened to match the doors) will blend right in. The wall in the foreground actually has four doors in it!
	On to next page or Start / return (takes you back to the beginning of this house series)