[VAC] Tambour

["Terry Tyler" <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Daisy,

If the tambour material is a good match except for the indented parts which 
may be lighter (no accumulation of dust nor years of age to darken it), 
they can be darkened with a toothbrush and a light coating of ordinary 
liquid furniture polish (or any hand cream). 

Take your time when you measure and when you install the new material. Keep 
track of how everything came apart and the order it came apart (even to 
writing it down). Give yourself plenty of room to slide the material into 
place on the lower track, then raise the lower track and new tambour into 
the upper track and position it for free running. 

I use blocks of wood to hold the slide and tambour in an aligned position 
while making the final adjustments and securing the hardware in place. Once 
you have the new material sliding freely, become a zealot about stabilizing 
the entire configuration. You don't want any changes in the alignment or angle of the slide track.  

One time, I used screws with my electric drill to get the screws in quickly 
and one handedly. But, the screws worked themselves out after a few bumpy 
roads. I replaced all of the screws with pop rivets. Depending on your 
AGILITY and the number of hands you have, it may make sense to start with 
screws and after the hardware and sheets of wood are securely fastened 
together, replace the screws with pop rivets. Choosing the correct size and 
length of pop rivets is an art form unto itself. Having two pop rivet guns 
can be a major convenience when (not if) you jam one of them.

Seeing as you have small areas under the double bed to replace, I'd do 
those first to get familiar with the idiosyncrasies of how to reinstall the 
hardware. They are easy to disassemble. They LOOK  easy to reassemble and are, if you do it right.

With your unbroken tambours in the bath and entertainment center, use your 
vacuum with the narrow blade to clean out the bottom slide. If you can't 
get into the slide with the narrow attachment, use the toothbrush to loosen 
up any accumulation of thick dust or sticky grit. Following that with a 
little silicone spray will then help those slides run freely and be less subject to breaking.

If during your travels, you happen to be parked where there is a lot of 
dust (your table is all gritty when you return to the trailer after being 
away all day with the windows open), then you know you're going to have to 
clean out the horizontal slide track in the kitchen, if you want the 
tambours to continue running freely. That large tambour is the one most 
vulnerable to becoming jammed and being broken when your frustration leads 
to heavy handed effort at opening the door. 

This is more than you asked for, but it might be helpful someday,  

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net