stuck tambour door

[airbrushgal]

The door below my kitchen sink is a horizontal sliding tambour door.Anyone know how to get it to open all the way or completely remove it and reassemble it? My manual does'nt explain how to do it.
Thanks, Cheryl

[SafeHarbor]

Hi, Cheryl,

What I found works best is to get a helper. One person gently pushes from the end with the handle, and the other person uses their fingernails to try to feed the other end in into the labyrinthlike doohickey it goes into.

Then some exercise helps it become flexible again.

I guess if you really want to get rid of it, you could open the cabinet, take out all the drawers, and get to the back side of it.

Good luck.

Lamar

[Pick]

Sometimes my credenza tambour sticks. I have to push up on the end that rolls up, by sticking my hand into the end as I am trying to push the door open, with the other.

[GlenCoombe]

Cheryl, welcome to the Forums first off. Good to see another SC Airstreamer.
Tambours aren't the beasts so many think them to be. You've got a track and a rollup chamber at the end. If the tambour will open part way try a little lubrication of the track.
Also if you can access the back of it you can possibly unscrew the chamber back to get to the rolled up remains. Once you've got it apart you'll see how simple it really is.
Let us know how you make out.

[GlenCoombe]

opps, software didn't want to let me edit....

If I recall... removal was done by unscrewing the bottom track and the "rollup chamber." Pulling back from the bottom will move it out of the top track.
IF you can get your hand on the back side of the tambour door try lifting from both sides as you push gently to open fully. It will be much easier to remove the whole thing once it's in the open position... however once open you could then just use a motel sized bar of soap to lube the tracks to see if that will work the problem out.

[Smokin Camel]

I had the same problem with mine, in fact it does not slide like the ones that I removed & re-backed with duck canvas. Another subject-sort of!

You have some good advice in the previous messages. There are two sections of doors on that face. If youdan, try to rock it back & forth and use silicone spray on the upper & lower track contact area, with the dirction tube inserted so you don't have it everywhere.

I had so many stick that I removed most of mine and broke the individual pieces out and re-backed them. GlenCoombe's advice on removing the piece is good. You may have a bent track gate, where the roll lides onto the track.

If it is hanging up that way do not force it. Get a couple of small pic tools. They look like minature awls (or ice picks). Make sure one is a 90' bend. You may be able to free the stuck area.

I may yet take mine out. Since next years project just became plumbing it will be a small project to fix the door! I agree that Tambour is not as bad as it is made out to be. Good luck.

[26.982 amu]

I hate tambour and want it gone. I removed all of mine under the counter and replaced it with a bamboo mat held with magnets. Looks great to me, and I'll never have to deal with jammed tambour again--in that region, at least, which usually breaks first.

[airbrushgal]

Lots of good info here. I will try the suggestions. Thanks for all your help.
Cheryl

[krazeekalvin]

Had the same problem. Sprayed it down with a silicone spray, and slowly worked it back and forth. A little at a time. I have repaired on that fell apart. However it is not holding as well as I hoped. I am looking for the ones on top of the stove and sink, and the two above the refer. Good luck, and don't rush it.

[krazeekalvin]

26.9825amu, do you have picture's? I was thinking of using the spring loaded curtain rods and make little curtains. Only on the ones that are straight.

[Lumatic]

I think if it is really stuck in a closed position and you want to save it you might have to dissassemble the cabinet to get at the "labarinthlike doohickeys" that Safe Harbor so creatively, if not poetically, described.

I have had good luck rebuilding smaller tambours using aluminum tape across the tambour and covering the back with nylon packcloth glued on with contact cement, but I have yet to try to repair the large tambours in the sink and credenza.

[Silver Threads]

well I also had the same problem when we got ours. It was open just enough to get my arm in there. I sprayed some wd-40 in the track, reached in with one hand and gently wound it while I pushed with the other hand. Once I got it all wound up and sprayed the entire track, it opens and closes with ease now. Good luck, they do require a lot of patience. I agree with 26, I think the devil created it!

[rrpranch]

I had a seriously stuck bathroom sink vinyl tambour door on my 71 Safari. It appeared to have been stuck for some time. As evidenced by the bad kinks in the door from being repeated forced open over the years.

I first tried simply cleaning and clearing the track and coil. But it didn't help much.

So then I removed the door completely from the track to inspect it. I found several places on both the top and bottom edges (where the tambour slides in the grooves) where the fabric backing had pulled away slightly. So I decided to score the fabric with a utility knife along the top and bottom edges about 1/2 inch from each edge along the entire length. Then I simply peeled the fabric strip off. Now the tambour works well. Especially in light of fact that it withstood years of abuse.

Hope this helps those of you out there with thoroughly stuck bathroom tambour doors.

Pete

[gtijewlr]

Most of the tambour doors in our 72 Tradewind were stuck, broken,or partially missing when we aquired the trailer;I've removed most and installed sliding doors cut from wall board called antique linen which matches the original wall coverings almost perfectly;simple, inexpensive and fast. Happy travels; Garth & Joanne Ingham