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My home made frameless shower door...

Konrad___far_north

16 years ago

Just showing off, and ideas to others.

I couldn't see myself paying $750 for a glass door, after tiling the shower for $250 on material.

So I cam up with a cheap plastic Door, I think it's Acrylic, had some pieces in the machine shop laying around for years, figured I could experiment a little.

The door is sandwiched with round flat stainless pieces I machined, could not find the same matching screws, it will do for now until I find some.

The door thickness is too thin, 1/4", 3/8 or 1/2" would be better, I knew before cutting it but figured for a test piece it will do and I could still stiffen it up a little with some Aluminium square or round tubing.

Overall I'm happy with the outcome, have allot more light in the shower now then before with a framed door.

The nice thing about going plastic I.M.O... allot lighter and very safe material, especially with the mounting future I have come up with, bottom and top swivel, no screws needed, [hate to put screws into tiles] just a little silicone to hold the base down from sliding sideways.

Konrad

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Comments (4)

oruboris
16 years ago
It sure looks good!

Hope it holds up, too: keep us posted...
mahatmacat1
16 years ago
That's great, konrad--how thick is the piece? And do you mean that you *made* the hanging hardware? I don't have tools to make hardware--that's a whole new level :). What tools did you use?

When I was at the stage of getting glass I was wondering about using polycarbonate or plexiglass. Since you have the piece already, and can DIY a replacement, the possible problems are far less important...what I was told was that it scratches far more easily than glass...but on the other hand, many of them are clearer than glass to start with and I'm not using a lot of scratchy things in the shower, so I don't know how important the scratchy part is. But you had this piece lying around, so the initial investment is nil.

Please report back in the future and share any improvements/problems/etc. I bet it would be a great help to many folks around here. Thanks again for posting it!
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When I had the shower door guy out to measure, he made a point of checking how high the shower head was. Ours is on a sliding bar, so it can go up pretty high. We have a 6" curb and a 6' shower wall/door height, and it is fine with our standard 8' ceiling. Our "gap" is 18". Remember also that this "gap" benefits the air circulation in your shower to help dry it out so that you don't get moldy grout. Unless you have a very high shower head (very tall shower user) you should be fine.
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I just did a quick web search. The two most common answers were (1) everyone knows you can't drill tempered glass, and (2) drilling requires a special diamond bit and more. Drilling a Hole in Tempered Glass I hope your guys don't shatter your door. Of course, I assume they will be replacing it free of charge, with the towel bar installed, if they do. Let us know! Drilling into tempered glass requires special diamond drill bits in order to cut through the dense glass. Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6813902_drill
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Enduring- thanks for responding. I had seen your shower- it turned out just beautiful. I wasn't sure if in your research you'd explored a sliding glass door or not. To answer your questions. One end of the shower is on an exterior brick wall. The other is flanked by a custom linen closet surrounded by tile with the edges grouted. It's not coming out. If I had no other choice but to do doors, I'm pretty sure I'd have to remove tile on one or both ends and add the blocking- not something I'd like to do if I can avoid it. Likely I'd just have one door and a fixed panel on the other- I'm pretty sure the toilet clearance wouldn't let me do two doors like you have. Though I see your point about having a fixed panel- I can't drill into the shower pan so that wouldn't work either. Hopefully some of the glass guys can give me their opinion about using epoxy to secure clips on the bottom. Thanks again for your help- much appreciated. Lisa
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sweeby
16 years ago
Looks great! I just love seeing the creative money-saving things other people have come up with --
Konrad___far_north
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you all!

>>how thick is the piece?Have mentioned above, 1/4".. it would be better using 3/8 or 1/2". Yes, it's too flimsy using 1/4". When I take a long hot shower, [I like to do that] the door slightly warps a little and when stepping out of the shower, in a couple of minutes it's straight again.
I will stiffen it up a little, got some round alum. tubing, couldn't find any square, it would be easier to mount but round will do, will post pictures when done.

>>And do you mean that you *made* the hanging hardware?Yes, I'm a machinist, some of you perhaps have a home shop with lathe, otherwise you could get it done in a machine shop. Have cut 6 pieces from a 3" round stock into equal length about 1/4" long then turned one side flat, rough for good silicone bond, top and bottom and inside plastic, door grip, the other side smooth, a slight taper for water to run off easily, [bottom only] drilled about a 3/16 hole thru, where the turned down end of a 3/8" diameter shaft, [welded to the back plate, door] fits into the hole for swivel, [bottom] the top is basically the same, except the end of the 3/8" shaft has a 3/4" sleeve, about 1 1/2" long over it, so I can push the sleeve up, into the hole, the end of the 3/4" sleeve, which is also turned down will fit the hole. Make it nice and loose, about 1/64" top and about 1/32 the bottom base, because the tiles, [bottom] are slightly tilted inward for drainage, this way, heaving it nice and loose, the door will not bind.

I'm not too concerned about scratches, as you have mentioned, there is not a whole lot what can scratch, the only time is when you clean it perhaps. But I don't intend to this too often because after heaving a shower, the door will be open to the inside of the shower until the next shower takes place, for good air flow and drying up.
Water stains on the door can be hardly seen from the outside. It will be a "lazy", care free shower LOL.

A better picture with flash, seeing the true color.

bottom mount

...
..

Top mount...
As mentioned, using 3/8 stainless steel rod with 3/4" sleeve
on top. This shaft is on thin side, It all depends how long you will have this rod, on how much opening your door has on top, this works for me with a light door like this, perhaps a little too much flex, next time I would use 1/2" diameter.

..
Konrad

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