Alright y'all, I'm looking for some ideas on this one. I have a customer that wants a curtain rod for a sliding glass door. The door measure 80" wide, and the overall length of the rod would be 92". 

 

The catch is they want to be able to slide the curtain all the way to either side. That means the wall brackets have to go on the very ends with no center support. I'm having trouble coming up with something that can span an almost 8' distance without sagging in the middle. Solid rod is out, and I'm not sure tube would make that stretch either. It might, but I'm not sure what diameter and wall thickness it would have to be. 

 

Any other suggestions?

I made something similar to this for my future mother in law, only age wanted to be able to drape a king sized quilt over it. I ended uo using a 7' wooden dow rod app. 1" OD, I made two pretty brackets for it to rest in on either end, sanded the rod and stained and varnished it the color of her mantle, I then forges two nice tacks to go on either end of the rod. Looked great and she loved it, no sagging in the middle as of yet, but I did tell her to make sure the weight of the quilt was distibuted evenly.

That's not that big of a span.  Go to the steel yard and see what they have, you can make the call when you handle a few different sized/thick pipes.  

That doesn't put supports out of the question.  the curtain could be put on hooks (open) and the supports to the rail attach on the bottom.  The hooks slide over the supported area with nothing in the way.  If they don't want to see the hooks this connection could be hidden with a decorative plate that sits just in front of the rail so all you see is a curtain hanging down from behind a decorative plate.  

I use 1 1/4 black pipe (actually the same as scedual 40 with our the code compliant stampings) for shaves on carts, it's just under an 1 1/2". You can use DOM tubing in a lighter gage, as well. If they hold up to horses and training carts the should hold the curtains.
If you are still worried, mount the brackets solidly both to the studs, as well as the rod. This will make it more rigid in the middle. Like a cantileverd beam.

Please excuse the ignorance of a city boy, but what is a shave?

Greetings Ford Guy,

 

You might try a nice piece of 3/4 tube with a piece of textured and fancied up 1/4 by 1 flat bar welded on the inside.. (in T form) It makes a nice bar with a  great reveal..  Its hard to bend a 1/4 by 1 the hard way...   Just might work for you

 

I hope this helps.. 

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

Think wheelbarrow handle for horses, it he hold up the front of a cart, and alow the horse to steer a wagon.

Thanks for the ideas guys. I've never tried to make a curtain rod this long, if that isn't obvious.  :P

 

I looked at some tube today that might work. Mr. Coke's suggestion of putting a vertical bar along the pipe is an excellent idea, and if the pipe itself isn't structurally sufficient. Sounds like it should be though! 

If you need to use a center support, do not limit yourself to using complete circle curtain hangers. You could due or make a hanger similar in shape to a question mark. Then support the center of the span from the bottom. You could also think of this approach like one of the under supported closet hanger bars. The one draw back is the hooks could jump off the track, or catch on the support if pulled out and over at the same time. You can search curtain hooks in google to see examples

I have seen a curtain rod with ~120" spacing between brackets made from a thin walled steel tubing. To help counteract the sag in the middle, the rail had a decent amount of overhang past each of the brackets and the overhang  was filled with lead shot. Of course to do this you need the space for the overhang.  

Alright y'all, I'm looking for some ideas on this one. I have a customer that wants a curtain rod for a sliding glass door. The door measure 80" wide, and the overall length of the rod would be 92". 

 

The catch is they want to be able to slide the curtain all the way to either side. That means the wall brackets have to go on the very ends with no center support. I'm having trouble coming up with something that can span an almost 8' distance without sagging in the middle. Solid rod is out, and I'm not sure tube would make that stretch either. It might, but I'm not sure what diameter and wall thickness it would have to be. 

 

Any other suggestions?

Did you sort this out?  I have the exact same issue now.  Was gonna use 16mm solid round bar, but not sure it's rigid enough.

What is wrong with solid bar?

I made my personal sliding door curtain rod from a piece of 11/16" hex stainless steel.

It is extremely rigid. I like hex when twisting because of the extra lines.

 

 

If you need to determine whether something is stiff enough, support a section of it from each end at the span distance and manually test it. (press down on the center).

That doesn't put supports out of the question.  the curtain could be put on hooks (open) and the supports to the rail attach on the bottom.  The hooks slide over the supported area with nothing in the way.  If they don't want to see the hooks this connection could be hidden with a decorative plate that sits just in front of the rail so all you see is a curtain hanging down from behind a decorative plate.  

 

Thanks to my wife, I have EXPERIENCE :wacko: hanging curtain and closet rods!!!  Stephen's idea is probably the simplest.  Some sliding hooks have small rollers that allow them to slide effortlessly (think shower curtain hooks).  You could use steel pipe or rod, the center support would take care of the sag and the hooks would slide easiest on a round profile.

Hi

I need a rod to cover a 15 foot length, with no bracket in the middle. My curtains are made of voile, so very light. Will I get away with it if I use a metal pole?

Yes, No, Maybe; depending on the details of the pole.  There will be sag with solid steel in any "usable" size; have you checked out pipe?

A bit of an odd question for a blacksmithing site but, assuming that you don't want any noticable sag in the middle, I suggest some sort of light walled tubing such as electrical conduit or something similar.  Anything solid would need to be unreasonably large and heavy not to have a sag in the center.  15' is a fairly large span but you may be able to find something rigid enough and light enough.  Also, 15' may be longer than the standard length for various material and you may need some sort of joint or coupling in the center.  Check with an electrical supply company for conduit.

At the end of the day you may have to resign yourself to a support bracket in the middle.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Solid bar is heavy, and if not large enough will sag under it's own weight.  Tubing is lighter, and for same OD, and span, and will sag less.

4130 thin wall tubing of about an inch, or inch and a half should do the job nicely, and won't weigh much at all. Then you can fire up the forge, and make finials, and hangars for it.

No matter what material you use, you need a center support for that length. 

This thread has got me thinking, have any of you made a shower curtain out of solid steel? It's beyond my skills, for now, to work something that long, but I think a twisted wrought iron curtain rod with some simple wrought iron hooks would look nice and rustic. There shouldn't be too much sag on a 4-foot span.

Good Morning,

A great way to make points with the better half, Rusty shower curtains.

Neil

You would make it of stainless of course and passivate it!  Or Monel, Inconel, etc.

On 9/29/2013 at 11:14 PM, Charles R. Stevens said:

. You can use DOM tubing in a lighter gage, as well. If they hold up to horses and training carts the should hold the curtains.
 

What is DOM? Thank you.

Edited September 5, 20214 yr by Mod30
Trim quote.

Drawn Over Mandrel

DOM tubing doesn’t have a weld seam on the inside like conventional tubing.