Free Standing Door Help

[leoknite]

Hello the theatre company I work with has a free standing door as an abstract set with no braces, it is used twice in the show once on a side profile and the other flat to the audience. The direct refuses to use braces and prefers to find some other solution to keep the door frame steady. He states the door from is a rental and drilling into would be a no go, drilling into the stage itself is a no go because we're renting the space. I wanted to ask if there any solution out there to make this happen? We did thinking about hanging the door frame on a wire of some sort but because we move the door to two different positions, the wire idea just seemed like it would not work.

[sk8rsdad]

Don't you just love those "make a miracle happen" design constraints?

• Perhaps make base for the door frame out of some sheet material (plywood, steel, etc.) with some form of pocket that the frame slides into. You'd have to be clever about making the pocket blend in to the door frame.
• Perhaps you could use 2 sets of wire, one in each location
• Perhaps you could get 2 identical door frames and fly them separately

[StNic54]

Was in a similar situation 10 years ago - rolling doorframe for actors to pass through, no bracing at the bottom, narrow design, all on wheels. Set Designer argued over the door, director used authority to keep it one way. While in use for productions, the doors fell on more than one occasion - very embarrassing, but thank goodness no injuries. Even with some sort of breaks on the base, the top-heavy nature would make it too risky. If you can fly the doors in and out it would be safest.

[DuckJordan]

Another option is to use a free standing door on locking casters and put some stage weights in the base. Sure it will be a bit heavier but far less likely to tip with 60lb of brick in the base.

[JChenault]

Is this just a door frame, or is there a working door?

If it is a working door I just think you have to say 'Nope no way to do it without some kind of brace'

[FACTplayers]

Craft some braces that can move and aren't destructive to the frame. That way when the door is used on the side profile, have the brace extend from the side that is away from the audience. And when it is flat, have the braces extend to the back. Try using some wire to secure the frame or get some very strong magnets. Otherwise use some adhesive that easily comes off with no residue. This is tough to do, but possible. Also, no matter what you do, put weight on the bottom frame to resist any overturning moments.

[gafftaper]

Is this just a door frame, or is there a working door? If it is a working door I just think you have to say 'Nope no way to do it without some kind of brace'

This is a critical point. A working door is impossible without some sort of support structure which is well anchored.

If it's just a light weight frame then then there are lots of possibilities. You could make a frame of 1x3's secure the top corners with small metal corner braces and screw the whole thing to a 4'x4' plate of plywood. Use large heavy duty 90 degree steel braces to screw the frame to the plate. I had these 9" long 1/4" thick steel braces I used for a similar situation it worked fine. I want to say that the braces I got were designed for earthquake proofing your home.

[danTt]

What about some sort of 1/4" (or thinner) plate steel for the base? It has quite a bit of weight to it, and is still fairly unnoticable. Moving it might take two people, but it's probably the closest you can get to free standing.