myself. The idea wouldn’t go away,
and I spent several enjoyable evenings
doodling and contemplating how to
make a glass door for a shower. There
are fancy stainless-steel hinges you can
buy, but I liked the idea of a pivoting
door that would swing closed by itself.
This requires either gravity or springs.
Oh for a pivoting door
The shower enclosure is 880x880mm,
DQG,ÀJXUHGDSLYRWLQJGRRUZLWKWKH
pivot line about 600mm in from one edge
would provide the necessary opening
for access in and out of the shower, and
allow the door to open 90 degrees.
A 10mm thick toughened glass panel
weighs about 40kg, so there are also
structural issues that need to be taken
into account. The centre of gravity of
the glass is about 150mm offset from
the hinge line, and the top and bottom
supports need to counter that offset
load. The top and bottom hinges are
about 1.7m apart, so the side loads to
counter the offset door weight are only
about 3.5kg (40x150/1700) top and
bottom. The bottom hinge has to also
carry the full weight of the door.
The shower wall on the left-hand
(low) side was 15mm out of true, which
I found out when I measured up for the
glass panel. Initially I went for 10mm
toughened glass, but reduced this to
8mm after a discussion with the glass
supplier. I triple checked the dimensions
to make sure that I ended up with a
panel that was neither too wide nor too
narrow but just right (like Goldilocks).
The panel ended up 860mm wide
by 1720 high, with a 100x100mm
triangular cut at the top left corner to
“I triple checked
the dimensions to
make sure I ended
up with a panel that
was neither too wide
nor too narrow,
but just right (like
Goldilocks)”The glass panel in its transport frame,
sitting in the shower enclosureThe glass positioned and ready to be moved
forwardUsing a piece of scrap timber to check that
the hinge would operate as designed. It did