Door Guides for the Rolling Doors

Some Thoughts on Material Selection:  Given a choice, use a dark plastic for these parts, so they are not too obvious when seen from the outside.  The dimensions are not critical; an explanation of the needs is given so substitute material may be selected.

• ¹/32 × ³/32 styrene for guide sides, about 6" per door.  These must be slightly thicker than the combined thickness of the door strips and the fabric backing, and wide enough so that the bottom half of the backs may be securely glued to them.
• ³/64 × ⁷/32 styrene for guide backs and door supports , about 8" per door.  These must be thin enough to bend, yet thick enough to return to the right shape after being pulled back to let the bottom of the door past during assembly.

• Modeling knife
• Small flat file
• Razor saw
• Miter Box
• Ruler

Make two 2¾" strips of ¹/32 × ³/32 styrene, to act as guide sides.  File a taper at the top on the edge that will face the door, to guide the ends of the strips as they come down from the roller.  Glue these to the inside of the building, ¹/8 inch away from each side of the doorframe.

Make two 2⁵/8" pieces of ³/64 × ⁷/32 styrene for the back of the door guides, with a ski-like edge to guide the door as it comes down off the roller.  Apply this strip over the other one, with one edge flush with the door frame.  Only glue the bottom half of the strip, leave the top half free to allow the angle bracket on the bottom panel of the door to push past it during assembly.  You may wish to bevel or taper the edge of these pieces, as shown in the drawing, to reduce their apparent thickness as viewed through the open door.  Paint these grimy black or your trim color.

Make two ⁵/8 inch long roller supports from the ³/64 × ⁷/32 styrene to project at roughly a 20 or 30° angle upward from the inside of the wall.  The angle is not critical; it must be steep enough to keep the roller near the wall as the door comes up, but not so steep that the roller binds as the door goes down.  The two supports must both project at the same angle.  It would not hurt to round all the edges that don't touch the wall.

Glue the supports to the wall above the door guide sides.  They must be far enough apart to let the door pass, but still allow room for the thread to wind up on the outside of the roller.  The closest clearance you will encounter is in the corners, where the steel column will compete for the space.  Most importantly, they must be parallel to each other, and at the same level.

Since the support arms stick out, and may get bumped during assembly and use, you probably should reinforce the arm-to-wall joint with small bits of styrene, firmly cemented in.