[Shop-talk] barn door questions

[steve hochschild]

Look, a real shop being built and discussed on shoptalk!

I am about to begin building my dream shop: 1024 sq ft on two floors, 
metal shed roof, exterior stairway, and lots of other fabulous features 
that I will talk about later.

The 1st floor has a ceiling height of 12', so I can roll my travel 
trailer in and work on it out of the hot Texas sun, and I need the full 
height.

I propose to fabricate a pair of 4' wide by 12' high barn doors, to 
cover an 8'wide x 12' high opening.  I'm thinking of making each as 
metal channel frame, with six  ~2' by 4' frosted acrylic/plex panels 
supported by metal channel cross pieces welded to the uprights.

Is there a best choice for the frosted plastic panels/windows?  Is there 
a standard way to clip the panels into the frames?

Is there a standard way to make the frames, for example an extruded 
aluminum frame stock that is made to build up just this kind of thing?  
I got the idea for this while looking at picture frame components, but 
of course, I need something far bigger and industrial strength.

The 8' opening is centered on a 16' wall, and I plan to hang a track 
system all the way across, so I can open each door to its side with no 
overhang.  I have briefly looked at Tractor Supply's site, where they 
offer couple of different formats: square tubing or round, flexible 
hangers or non, and different roller configs.  Is there other hardware 
that I should look at?

More later, but this is the issue we are looking at now...

Thanks!