Now here is an idea that I never thought of, so it pays to listen to your father! Just don't tell him I said that!!!!!!!!!!!!
My dad builds and flies remote control airplanes(somtimes they crash).
My 71 Excella 500 had all the tambour doors. Some doors are in good shape and others are not. They split along the bend as they usually do!
Solution! It's called Ultra Coat. You can get it at hobby shops. It's what is used when building recomte control planes.
We lined up all the strips of tambour and then cut four strips of Ultra coat. Each piece ran the hight of the door. Make sure you put the tambour face down.
Two strips where applied just inside the edge of the handle on the door, two more strips place evenly spaced in the centre of the door. Then you just iron it on.
The other option is to cut a peice of unltra coat to cover the back of the door completely except for where the door runs in the guides on both ends. Then just iron it on.
The ultra coat is very srtongs and it stikes to the paper coating no problem! Worked like a charm!!!!
When I get some pics taken I'm going to repost this item including the pictures. Best of all its a simple and cost effective solution.
These tambour doors seem to be a large tedious problem in the Airstream comunity. I'm only picking up my '73 Ambassador tomorrow and have never owned one before, but when looking it over, I noticed that 4 or 5 of them (overheads, spice rack, under sink) need some attention. I didn't freak out or anything because I remember my dad repairing my mother's vintage roll-top desk. I plan to repair them in the same manor. Just glueing fabric on the back of them. The right glue, a tough fabric, and a little more than a little bit of time should take care of them.
Hey ! that sounds good . i was just tonight trying to remove mine for repairs, but i was going to try duct tape, and go right along the the breaks. maybe this ultra coat is better ? stronger ? can't be cheaper ,but cheap isn't always the way to go . I will check it out at the local hobby shop
Okay, I need some help with tambour doors. Oh, the doors are intact, that's not the problem! The strips are firmly together, they just don't roll very well. In fact, in some areas, like the overheads in the hall, I can only get them half way open. Some areas will open, but won't stay opn, closing at inopportune moments trapping my arm. (This usually happens when I am standing on my tippy-toes, reaching way into the back of the cubby.)
What do I do to fix the less than full functioning roll ups? And because I am a dummy, I need really simplified step by step help!
All help gratefully accepted!
Elizabeth in Iowa
__________________ The carpeting is gone! The carpeting is gone! Long live the cork floor!
Okay, I need some help with tambour doors. Oh, the doors are intact, that's not the problem! The strips are firmly together, they just don't roll very well. In fact, in some areas, like the overheads in the hall, I can only get them half way open. Some areas will open, but won't stay opn, closing at inopportune moments trapping my arm. (This usually happens when I am standing on my tippy-toes, reaching way into the back of the cubby.)
What do I do to fix the less than full functioning roll ups? And because I am a dummy, I need really simplified step by step help!
All help gratefully accepted!
Elizabeth in Iowa
Liz
I think the problem you are having is with the door guides. If you look at the left and right sides you will see plastic guides that end in of sprial. This guide can get damaged or dirty. First thing make sure it is clean or it will stick.
As for them dropping at inoportune times, the doors are held open by a little key on the door which goes into a notch in the side guide. Take a close look at the plastic guides and you can see how this works. The key on the door will snap off and the door will not hold open, or it wears out and will become disengauged at the slightest bump. The only fix I know of is replace the end guides.
I hear tell they are still available so you might check with some of the vintage suppliers. I was lucky and bought some spares from Ebay.
So keep looking they are out there.
Doors that don't open fully but appear to be properly adjusted are often just dirty in the roller spirals. If you can get the whole thing apart, cleaning is easy. If not, injecting a bit of soapy water in there with a syringe and running the door back and forth a few times may do the trick. Have some towels handy. Don't oil them -- that will cause more dirt to collect.
Doors that don't open fully but appear to be properly adjusted are often just dirty in the roller spirals. If you can get the whole thing apart, cleaning is easy. If not, injecting a bit of soapy water in there with a syringe and running the door back and forth a few times may do the trick. Have some towels handy. Don't oil them -- that will cause more dirt to collect.
Oil will attract the dirt for sure.
I have found that sometimes it is nearly impossible to tear the surrounding components apart withut spending the whole day doing it.
I like Rich's idea of squirting some soapy water into the tracks.
I have gotten to the undersink cabinet tambour from another door. I then used the wooden handled cotton swabs and soapy water to clean the tracks from behind.
Okay, I need some help with tambour doors. Oh, the doors are intact, that's not the problem! The strips are firmly together, they just don't roll very well. In fact, in some areas, like the overheads in the hall, I can only get them half way open. Some areas will open, but won't stay opn, closing at inopportune moments trapping my arm. (This usually happens when I am standing on my tippy-toes, reaching way into the back of the cubby.)
What do I do to fix the less than full functioning roll ups? And because I am a dummy, I need really simplified step by step help!
All help gratefully accepted!
Elizabeth in Iowa
The backing material on the early 70s coaches will get very stiff with age, not allowing the door to bend freely as it feeds into and out of the spiral track. In this case I see the only solution, which worked very well for me, to separate all the strips and reglue backing with a flexible material. What I used was aluminum tape across the strips every 6-8" and cover the whole back with nylon packcloth glued on with contact cement.
Someone above mentioned using duct tape. I think that may work as a temporary repair only, very temporary. Haven't tried it though.
__________________
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain- WoZ
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Tambour Doors Repair 
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