Wooden gliders for sliding glass cabinet doors must be able to hold the the doors securely in place while giving them enough space to slide freely, and they must include a method for removal of the doors. All of these features can be achieved by using the right kind of wood and milling it carefully. A hardwood like oak or maple is preferable to a softwood, which splinters more easily. If you carefully gauge the depth and width of the grooves, the doors won't wobble and you'll be able to lift them out easily.
Mill two identical strips of hardwood for the guides on a table saw. They should be three-quarters of an inch wider than the combined widths of the sliding doors and thick enough so that the edges of the doors overlap each guide by a half-inch when installed.
Use a ruler to precisely measure the width of the door opening and cut the strips to that width with a chop saw. If you don't plan to trim the front of the cabinet, the tolerance should be one-sixteenth of an inch or less.
Measure the width of the doors with a caliper so you can cut grooves in the guide that are one-eighth of an inch wider. If the glass is unframed, the width of the grooves will probably be about three-sixteenths of an inch, and you can form these with a table saw blade. If the glass is framed, you'll need wider grooves. You can make them by fitting a dado blade onto your table saw or using a router table and fitting a straight cutting bit onto the router.
Set the height of the table saw blade, dado blade or router a quarter-inch above the table, using the caliper to set the blade height. Adjust the fence so it is a quarter-inch from the near edge of the blade. Turn on the saw or router and push the bottom guide through the blade. Use a push stick to keep it flat against the table while you do so.
Move the fence away from the blade a distance equal to the width of the groove you just cut plus a quarter-inch and push the guide through again to make a second groove.
Return the fence to its original position -- a quarter-inch from the near side of the blade -- and increase the height of the blade to five-eighths of an inch above the table. Push the top guide through the blade.
Move the fence the same distance away from the blade that you moved it when cutting the bottom guide and make a second groove in the top guide.
Sand both guides with a palm sander and 120-grit sandpaper. Use a rotary tool with an abrasive brush accessory to sand inside the groove. It's important to smooth nicks and gouges left by the saw if you want the doors to slide smoothly. Coat the insides of the grooves with paraffin wax or soap to optimize glide.
Attach each glide by spreading carpenter's glue on the back and clamping it in place with C-clamps. When you remove the clamps after the glue dries, you can add further reinforcement by driving 1-inch brads into the the section of each guide between the grooves. Don't drive the brads into the grooves. They will interfere with the movement of the doors.
Things You Will Need
- Table saw
- Chop saw
- Dado blade
- Router table
- Straight cutting bit
- Push stick
- Palm sander
- 120-grit sandpaper
- Rotary tool
- Abrasive brush accessory
- Paraffin wax or soap
- Carpenter's glue
- 1-inch brads
- Because you cut the top grooves deeper than the bottom, you can install and remove a door by angling it and pushing it into one of the top grooves. When the bottom edge clears the bottom guide, straighten the door and allow it to rest in the corresponding bottom groove.
- Never use your hand to push wood through a table saw or router. Even though it might appear safe to do so because the blade doesn't cut all the way through the wood, it is extremely dangerous, and you can easily lose a finger.
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