The Shed – September-October 2019

To check that the self-closing

mechanism would operate as intended

I made a panel from scrap MDF the

height of the glass and about 300mm

wide. I attached the top and bottom

hinge brackets to it and set it in place. It

turned to the closed position as soon as

I let it go, which was encouraging. With

more weight, the door would certainly

swing closed.

I didn’t want the bottom hinge to have

to take any dynamic loads from the

closing door suddenly stopping when

the hinge bottomed out, so I installed

a 1700mm length of 40x40x1.6mm

aluminium angle on the left-hand side,

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any closing forces.

Just like a bought one

Then all that remained was to set

the glass in place. A friend helped me

carry it in its frame from the garage to

the upstairs en suite, where I removed

the frame and positioned the glass in the

shower. I bolted the top hinge bracket to

the glass, positioned the bottom hinge

in the 90-degree open position and

then gently slid the glass forward until

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hinge bracket and the glass and secure it

in position. A front support ensured that

the glass stayed vertical until the bolts

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to hide the bolts and make it look like a

proper job.

Then the moment of truth — I

removed the front support and let the

door go. It swung closed, bounced

lightly against the rubber buffer and

stopped in the closed position. The right-

hand side clearance is 5mm from top to

bottom and the varying clearance on

the left side (5–20mm) masked by the

aluminium strip. It was very satisfying.

I had a celebration shower to test the

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and as it should.

Then the moment of

truth — I removed the

front support and let

the door go

The top hinge fitting installed with covers

masking the bolt

The bottom hinge fitting installed with
covers masking the bolt

Upgrade shower - done and dusted