Display Shelves and Cabinet

[tiralie]

A customer who owns a company that makes parts for nuclear power plants asked me to put in a shelf and cabinetry that they could use to show the parts they make.
They showed me an alcove that was opposite their board room and asked if I could design something that fit the space and matched the doors to the boardroom. One of the largest parts they wanted to display weighs about 80lbs. and is 85" long. The alcove measured 86 5/8" wide and just a tad over 6 ft. tall and a little over 19" deep.

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Because the part they wanted to display just fit the space, I didn't think there would be enough room to put traditional sides and a back on the shelves so I designed shelves that spanned the space of the alcove.

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I wanted the shelves to have a least a 1" profile and because both the top and the bottom would be visible I wanted the thickness to be continuous. Because I wanted a very clean look, without any cleats showing I chose to use some lightweight panels for the shelves.

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Since I had planned on adding a solid wood edge I also incorporated so additional strength with some hardwood inserted in the space between the two mdf layers.

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After I cut the panel to a rough width and length I routed out the cardboard cells separating the two sheets of 1/4" MDF so I could insert a edging strip.

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After gluing in the edging strip, I used my lipping planner to make the edge level with the mdf so I could apply a layer of HDL to both sides.

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Here is a WIP with the shelves, carcases for the cabinets and top in place.
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And the shelves with cabinets in place.

 

[bigGaloot]

Beautifully done. What is that hollow core material?

 

[tiralie]

They are called lightweight panels. I got it from Richelieu. With the edging and cleats attaching them to the wall they are very rigid shelves.

 

[Jalvis]

Thats a great idea!  Lightweight and strong.  You must have a distributor for that product....I would have to see first hand before ordering.

What kind of "cleats" did you use?

 

[tiralie]

Thats a great idea!  Lightweight and strong.  You must have a distributor for that product....I would have to see first hand before ordering.

What kind of "cleats" did you use?

After fitting the shelves to the space, I routed out the cardboard cells to make room for the cleats to fit in between the 1/4" MDF. I attached 3/4" x 3/4" ash strips through the wall to the metal studs with "Toggler" toggle bolts to the sides and  back then I applied some carpenters glue to the top of the cleats and slid the shelves in.
Tim

 

[nclemmons]

Nice design

One other question - So when attaching to the wall, you made cleats and slid the shelf in place I assume.  Did you glue the cleats top and bottom to the MDF panels?  Just wondering about overall strength of the shelf - it looks to be maybe 8 feet long in the photo, so wondering what the weight capacity is without worrying about sag.

Thanks for sharing.

neil

 

[tiralie]

So when attaching to the wall, you made cleats and slid the shelf in place I assume.  

Neil:
Thanks.

Yes. I made a template to cut the shelves to size and then used the Trion to cut.

Did you glue the cleats top and bottom to the MDF panels?  

Yes glued top and bottom. Glue was applied to the top of the cleat and bottom of groove/slot inside the shelf. I made sure the cleats that were attached to the wall on the sides butt against the edging on the front . There is a continuous cleat running along the back and glue was applied top and bottom.
 

Just wondering about overall strength of the shelf - it looks to be maybe 8 feet long in the photo, so wondering what the weight capacity is without worrying about sag.

The shelf is just under 7.25ft. long. I was worried about this myself so I actually built a prototype with cleats etc. I didn't glue it so there was some deflection. To test it I sat on the middle. I am 225Lbs, so I was satisfied that it could handle the weight (+/- 80lbs) they intended. After we installed we took one of the sample parts that weighed about 40-50lbs and put it right in the middle shelf and it deflected about an 1/8".

If I was to use this again, I would buy or make one a bit thicker. the one I used was 1.25" thick.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if this is confusing.
Tim

 

[nclemmons]

Thanks for the clarification.