Illustrated in this mod is the creation of a hidden door made from wall to wall bookshelves without casters. It was built on one of the wall at a home office which is a perfect spot for floor to ceiling bookshelves that can be opened. The door has an access to the storage area and crawl space under the garage as it stands 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide as shown in the image below.

Calculating the dimensions is the first thing to do and in order to clear walls and neighboring shelves with minimum gaps, the bookshelf needs to pivot. The hinge was positioned 2 inches from the front of the cabinet and 7 inches from the right. A scale drawing of shelves was made and the rotating shelf shape was cut out as shown in the images below to clearly understand the scenario.

To validate the measurements, different pivot ideas were tested in order to have the vertical gap between moving shelf box. The moving center had a better drawing since it is the key part of the unit.

Instead of trying to hinge the wood shelves directly, a steel frame was built to allow the door to swing easily and support 500-1000lbs. The assembly of the moving steel frame is shown in the photos below where the size for the frame allowing minimum clearance from the floor for trim and base board were calculated. To cover the access door and be centered, enough clearance from the ceiling for the metal frame and the width were set. The upper and lower anchor points are mounted to the ceiling and floor respectively, wherein the steel frame would pivot.

During the installation of the frame, the ceiling anchor had a short arm out to avoid rocking and was sized to span 3 floor joists. Inserted into a 1-inch hole is the brass flange bearing pivot point on both ends. This provides the positioning and placement of the frame, base anchor, and top anchor. The top anchor was attached loosely to let it rock, slipped in frame and bottom anchor on pin, then slid the whole set into place as shown in the images below. Both ends were secured after ensuring that both directions are vertical using a plumb bob hanging along the edge of the frame.

The first shelf box for the swinging shelf and verified clearance was built into the installed frame. To allow clearance for the arc when it swings, the swinging shelf was made 2 inch shallower than the other shelves. The trim was installed all around after building the two side shelves. Clearance was created using a credit card for gaps between trim and crown. The addition of the wood is shown in the below images.

Some videos of opening and closing of the hidden door can be seen below.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/496987/2644143http://video.yahoo.com/watch/496994/2644155