how to unstick a roll top desk tambour?

Question

have a 20 year old roll top that is in down position. I can only move it up about 4 inches before it sticks. Any ideas to get it loose?

Answer 1

Firstly, make sure nothing is obstructing the roll top part of the desk. To do that use a mirror and flash light to look up under the desk - in and above that 4 inch opening.



If nothing is obstructing, then:





It sounds like some wood has swollen. You can reduce the swelling in two different ways.



If it has been in a high humidity area you can dry it out with a hair dryer and it will reduce the swelling.





If that doesn't work .... Use a can of air and spray it on the part that rolls up on the desk - not on the frame of the desk. (the air in the can of air is very cold, and .... making wood colder shrinks it. If you shrink the roll top part of the desk then it will slide easier in the groove of the frame.



No matter which system you use, then also spray the area WD-40 where the roll top is stuck,





If none of that works. You will need to disassemble the desk see what is causing it to not roll up --

Answer 2

Make certain that a physical obstruction is not keeping it from moving more than 4".

If no obstructions, take a bar of soap and cut off a bunch of very thin chips of the soap. Lower the tambour to the bottom, press a small chip of soap on each of the tambour pieces and slide it in between the tambour and the guide on each side. Gently lift and lower the roll top until the tambour coils as it should. Then while in the open position, cut some small pieces of the bar of soap and lubricate the back side of the guide. Raise and lower the roll top a few times and then cleanup any excess soap from the guides.

It may help but I wouldn't apply any petroleum lubricant on the tambour, you may end up with some permanent discoloration.

Answer 3

My roll top’s tambour would not open all the way. It was like it was jammed from being able to be pushed up all the way to the top, in the totally open position.

• This meant the drawers were locked.

• Fortunately, not all of the drawers were shut.



These instructions will enable you to get your tambour all the way open and remaining drawers unlocked provided you have the same scenario as I did.



Instructions as follows:



1. Remove any drawer.

a. For my drawers there is a small piece of plastic that is shoved through a slot. It is bent over to make it too large to fit through the slot. One is located on each side of the track.

b. To release it I had to simply unbend the piece of plastic and lift the drawer vertically thus allowing the plastic piece to slide back through the slot.

2. Once the drawer is removed, take a flashlight and look toward the back of the opening where the drawer had once been housed.

3. Now, you can see the locking mechanism behind the drawers.

4. In my desk, it comprises a vertical wooden shaft with cut-outs to engage the locking hook on the back of each drawer.

5. Take a long stick or something and put it in the cut-out and lift.

6. As it is lifted, open the other drawers.

7. Repeat step #1 on the first drawer (if the first drawer was not the one you removed in step one).

8. In my particular case, there is a plastic tube that fits in a hole on the underneath side of the desktop.

9. This plastic tube is the mechanism that moves up and down as the tambour is lifted and lowered.

10. This plastic tube is open at one end and has a flat rectangle at the other end. The open end fits in a hole and a flat rectangle is the part that actually moves the pivoting wooden “lift”

11. The rectangle piece got caught on some wood and would not move. This prevented the tambour from completely opening.

12. I simply took a long tool, reached in through opening left by the removed drawer and unjammed it.

13. The tambour was freed up to work properly!!

14. In order to keep the drawers from locking again if the tambour gets jammed:

a. I removed all the drawers

b. Unscrewed the drawers’ metal hooks.

c. These hooks are actually what is inserted into the wooden shaft’s cutouts to lock them in place. (located the back of the drawer and easy to remove with a screw driver)

Answer 4

a light canvas will work best. Older desktops had strips of canvas glued to the back of the tambours, but I've seen them where the entire surface is covered with canvas also.