Imagine. An opening in your wall without the sliding doors. Your inside becomes the outside in one continuous space. You can entertain without interruption and your views become vistas. No fixed glass panels and no mullions or posts. Just wide open space.

All this is possible today because of the revolutionary breakthrough of the eclipse™ weathersealed bifolding technology developed in Australia by Centor Architectural.

In 1997 for the first time, bifold doors were successfully weather-tested by Centor Architectural in a NATA laboratory to withstand driving rain and howling gales. We built the technology into our eclipse™ system and offered it to leading architects. It rapidly became the #1 item of architectural interest* and is today a part of mainstream construction and renovation.

e2™ is Centor Architectural’s next release and expands on the capabilities of the original eclipse™ system. Now up to 16 panels, each 850mm wide, can be folded for a total possible opening width of 13.5 metres. Its weather performance has been rigorously proven with a water rating of 450Pa (100kph) and structural rating of 3600Pa (280kph) for maximum peace of mind.

Does it really keep out the rain? Absolutely. We now have three tropical cyclones under our belt and not one drop of water. And with an air-tight rating 50 times better than the Australian Standard for a sliding door, you can rest assured that the warm air stays in and the cold out. Energy efficiency never looked so good.

The system is fully adjustable, easy to install and is suitable for use with wood, aluminum or uPVC doors. Finishes now include solid brass and 304 stainless steel.

Centor Architectural exports eclipse e2™ internationally into North America and Europe. It’s world-class hardware and it’s made in Oz. But the best part of e2™ is that once it’s installed you don’t even notice that its there. After all, the whole point of folding doors isn’t that they fold; it’s that they aren’t there. It’s all about space™.

The e2™ tracking hardware is matched with the elegant Forte™ and Harmony™ ranges of key lockable dropbolts with keysafe™. The dropbolts were specifically designed for eclipse folding doors. The keysafe™ feature (patent pending) prevents the doors from being inadvertently opened while the keys are still in the lock. This avoids the keys from impacting and damaging the opposing door.

Forte™ and Harmony™ dropbolts come in several lengths and are available in tarnish-proof brass and satin anodised finishes.

e2™ is the next evolution of the eclipse™ system. It is the result of experience earned from many thousands of bifold installations and from on-going collaborative design with builders, architects and door makers. There are 87 individual engineering improvements. Most notably, the new sure-lock™ adjustment (patent pending) on the carriers allows the door panels to be lifted or lowered simply with just a screwdriver. There are no locknuts which could come undone or spanners to lose. If the house settles over time, the panels can be easily adjusted without any fuss.

The top carrier now has an added side-thrust roller. In a perfect world, a folding system would not need it, however the roller makes the system even more tolerant. When it is installed on-site, the roller completely prevents the main bearings from scraping on the inside of the track but instead provides a smooth silent rolling action. The lower roller has been upgraded to an ultra-smooth, stainless steel, precision-ground bearing complete with the sandshield™. This design is the result of many hours of testing the rollers by ruthlessly crunching them through a sand-and-mud mix guaranteed to bring tears to any European bearing engineer. Your four year old would have been proud.

There are also two exciting new materials to the range; solid brass and 304 architectural grade stainless steel. The brass will complement a traditional style renovation and the stainless has a timeless lustre that just has to be seen.

Centor Architectural now holds, or is pending, a total of 6 patents and one registered design for the e2™ system. We continue to build on our 51-year tradition of innovative design and quality engineering with this our latest range of architectural door hardware.

The smoothness of the e2™ hardware comes from the brand new twin bearing rollers. Centor Architectural has been making tracking for 51 years and these are by far our best rollers yet. After traveling the world in search, we commissioned bearings to be custom-made for us by European craftsmen using state-of-the-art German and Swiss machinery and only the highest quality bearing-grade steels. Traditionally roller bearings were made locally and could only be machined. We needed to take the next step, which is to start with the machined wheels and then individually precision grind them to an ultra-fine hone. Only European machinery could meet the extremely fine tolerances that we demanded.

So what is the difference? Rollers that glide like silk. Quality you can actually feel and hear. Doors that bring a smile to your face every time you open them (well, they always make us smile - and we’re only a little bit obsessive). Even more exciting is the addition of stainless steel rollers to the range giving higher performance for exposed coastal installations.

e2™ guarantees effortless operation backed by years of Centor dependability. That’s the difference.

Centor Architectural is so confident in the e2™ system, we provide a 10 year warranty on all e2™ hardware**.

The eclipse e2™ system is designed for folding doors in external residential or light commercial applications. It has been specifically developed to allow the opening to be effectively weathersealed for exposed environments. It enables up to 8 doors in both directions to be folded to the side of an opening and is suitable for Housing, Apartments, Cafes, Restaurants, Hotels & Shop Fronts.A typical installation of an eclipse e2™ system would be glazed doors opening out onto a balcony or patio. It can be used in place of aluminium, wood or uPVC sliding doors.

Max Panel Weight 40kg (90lb) ea Max Panel Height 3000mm (9' 10") Max Panel Width 1000mm (3' 3") Min Panel Thickness 38mm (1 1/2") Max # of Panels 8 each way

The Centor DoorCalc VB™ software or Centor DoorCalc XL™ spreadsheet will easily calculate panel sizes for any opening and is available free of charge from Centor Architectural.

This system is suitable for use in external building applications. Use of Schlegel's Aquamac™ weatherseal is recommended and has been NATA certified to the maximum 450Pa water rating as per Australian Standard 2047.

The eclipse e2™ uses pivots at the jamb which allow adjustment of the system both horizontally and vertically. The pivots provide compensation for out-of-square jambs with up to 10mm (3/8") of adjustment. All screws are fully concealed for external security.

The eclipse e2™ uses architectural grade aluminium alloy for tracking and stainless steel for hinge pins, carrier pins and carrier bogeys. Hinges are available in aluminium, solid brass and stainless steel.