# A lonely door



## alekei (Aug 24, 2007)

Hello!

I need to build a door to be set onstage. A standing alone door. I've seen models that have 2 angled brackets behind the door. But I cant have that. I need to have the door as clean as possible (without drilling the stage floor.

What do you suggest?

Kindest Regards,

Alejandro.


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## Grog12 (Aug 24, 2007)

Two angled brackets behind the door frame is your best bet since you can't drill into the stage floor.


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## Timmyp (Aug 24, 2007)

Do you have flying equipment?

If you do, you could fly the door in when it's needed, maybe have a small lip behind it with a stageweight or two to make it steady when it's opened and closed (I assume it needs to be openable?). Also make sure you have some form of catch or lock so that you don't get it swinging open and knocking lanterns/other scenery when it's flown out.


If you don't have the necessary flying equipment, is it possible to use the brackets, but incorporate the brackets into the design somehow? Such as making a small porch. If you can turn the door 3D rather than 2D then it will stand up on it's own.

If I take the porch idea as an example. You could have two low walls coming out and a small roof (style depending on the show of course) coming out above the door. Then two posts going from the walls to the roof to provide support.



Is the stage on a rake? 

What do you actually need it for, and why does it have to be so 'slimline'?


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## Footer (Aug 24, 2007)

Do you have access to any type of metal working equipment/experience. My 2 c's would be to mount the whole thing to a 4x4 of ply that can float about the floor. Anchor some angle on it and weld vertical 1x2 to that. Your going to have to increase the footprint somehow or the whole works will fall over.


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## bcfcst4 (Aug 25, 2007)

When we had free standing doors for our production of The Crucible (we had 4 of them, one for each act) we built frames on small bases of ply and put two pieces of ply (cut decoratively to match the door) against the frame, so viewed from above it looked like this |--|. We then attached two wheels to one side and a handle, so you could tip the door back onto your shoulder and wheel it on, with one person on back shouldering it and one person on the front guiding it. It worked really well, the only hard part was making sure the the frames were perfectly square. This was for doors that opened, I'm not sure if that's what you wanted.


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## gafftaper (Aug 26, 2007)

So you just want the door there... it doesn't have to open right? Instead of braces, you are going to turn the door into a brace. The attached is a quick and not exact sketchup to give you the idea. I'm still learning to use Sketchup. The bottom is a 2X4, the angled piece is just 1x3 (it should reach about 60% of the way up the door.) Go to Home Depot and get one of those 40 or 50 pound cement blocks used in building decks that has the slot cut in it for stringers to fit in. Flip the block over on top of your 2X4 and you've got a very sturdy but portable door.


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## Van (Aug 27, 2007)

gafftaper said:


> So you just want the door there... it doesn't have to open right? Instead of braces, you are going to turn the door into a brace. The attached is a quick and not exact sketchup to give you the idea. I'm still learning to use Sketchup. The bottom is a 2X4, the angled piece is just 1x3 (it should reach about 60% of the way up the door.) Go to Home Depot and get one of those 40 or 50 pound cement blocks used in building decks that has the slot cut in it for stringers to fit in. Flip the block over on top of your 2X4 and you've got a very sturdy but portable door.


 

Hmm somebody's ben playing with Sketchup !


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## Charc (Aug 27, 2007)

gafftaper said:


> So you just want the door there... it doesn't have to open right? Instead of braces, you are going to turn the door into a brace. The attached is a quick and not exact sketchup to give you the idea. I'm still learning to use Sketchup. The bottom is a 2X4, the angled piece is just 1x3 (it should reach about 60% of the way up the door.) Go to Home Depot and get one of those 40 or 50 pound cement blocks used in building decks that has the slot cut in it for stringers to fit in. Flip the block over on top of your 2X4 and you've got a very sturdy but portable door.



Nice job Gaff. It looks good.


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## gafftaper (Aug 27, 2007)

Van said:


> Hmm somebody's ben playing with Sketchup !



I've been trying to play with Sketchup. So far I'm great with it as long as the drawings got 90 degree angles. I've got to set some time aside to watch some more tutorials and learn the protractor and techniques for angles... because I currently suck at them. I tried to do a house roof line with eves on it a few weeks ago... forget it... it was hopeless.


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## Van (Aug 27, 2007)

During a recent hard drive crash I lost ART's entire building. I had both theatres, all of the downstairs, most of the mezzanine floor, and three quaters of the top floor. I was going to put it up on google earth. I'm currently rebuilding it, and y'all will be able to walk through my office, sans the typical mess, and look at the sets onstage as the season progresses.


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## Charc (Aug 27, 2007)

Van said:


> During a recent hard drive crash I lost ART's entire building. I had both theatres, all of the downstairs, most of the mezzanine floor, and three quaters of the top floor. I was going to put it up on google earth. I'm currently rebuilding it, and y'all will be able to walk through my office, sans the typical mess, and look at the sets onstage as the season progresses.


 
Very cool, Van. I'm sorry to hear about the hard drive crash though. How is the rebuilding coming?


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## timokay (Sep 2, 2007)

I built a series of doors for a dance number, that were designed to be multipurpose, painted differently on either side, and opened both ways.

They were repositioned from many angles, so I did not want there to be any visible supports.

I built them onto 3' diameter circular bases made of 1/4" steel, with metal brackets welded at 90 degree angles that protruded up the sides of the door frames.

The bases were painted stage black, and I rounded the edges to create a cleaner transition from the floor to the base.

From the audience, the doors looked like they were just standing on their own. It worked really well.

(they were very heavy tho)

It could probably be done with plywood if you cannot fabricate steel. But they may be a little less substantial.


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