Re: [A/S] Tambour Replacement

[Charlie or Betty Burke <cbburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Daisy,

Here are the methods that work for us:

1. For vertical opening doors (under couches, beds and overhead). The 
simple way to remove the door is to take the mounting screws in the 
plastic door mount (spiral) on either end. Some of them have rivets but 
most are screws. Measure the width/length of the door material and cut a 
new piece to match. If the material is missing, cut the new material 
1-2" taller and exactly 1" wider than the exposed opening size.

2. For horizontal opening doors (galley and credenza) you will have to 
disassemble the cabinet enough to spread the upper and lower tracks such 
that you can pull the old material out. With the galley cabinet the 
easiest method is to detach the lower track from the vertical support 
about midway in the cabinet. The lowest door must be removed before 
there is enough room to remove upper doors. We have found the track 
attached with either screws from the inside or a rivet from the outside. 
The rivet method is more common. To locate the rivet you must feel for 
in behind the decorative laminate in the horizontal metal extrusion. 
Once located you need to drill it out with a 1/8" drill bit. When you 
reassemble the cabinet just rerivet and touch up the new rivet with 
brown paint.

The credenza counter top must be loosened to remove that door. Screws 
that hold the credenza are accessed inside the cabinet. There is not a 
set pattern as some models anchor the refer through the same wall.

While you have the horizontal doors disassembled, inspect and clean the 
upper and lower tracks of all dirt and old lubricant. Inspect the black 
spiral shaped pieces that the material rolls into for cracks, nicks and 
insure that the small extension tab that "turns" the material off the 
metal track and on to the spiral  is there and in good shape. It is 
important that the lower tab is intact. Otherwise the door material will 
catch/hang up when being opened and tear the material in short order.

Airstream started out using a paper backed tambour and a "square" style. 
In about 1974 they redesigned and changed to cloth backed and a more 
rounded style. The tambour that we supply is not only cloth backed but 
nylon reinforced as well. While it works well in the newer round style 
track it is often to thick for the older style. The fix is to cut the 
backing off the 1/2" of the material that slides in the track.

As I said before the best lubricant we have found is clear silicone spray.

If  the original door handle extrusion is missing on the older square 
style a fix is to glue a strip of material on the bottom/side edge. The 
small plastic ends for the older style are still available through 
 Airstream. For the newer round style replacement handle material and 
the plastic track guides are still available through Airstream.

The price for this information, is, from you a hug the next time we see 
each other ;)

Charlie