Question about desk redesign

[ear3]

I made my office desk 3 or so years ago.  Really basic, utilitarian design, the main goals being to maximize space for books and to find a use for this soundboard housing I had salvaged from a piano.  Three shelving units (one in front and two along the sides) made with a basic carcasse and dadoed shelf design from pine shelf board and 3/4 ply backing for added stability.  Attached the three shelving units together then topped it off with the salvaged piece, now covered with Lexan to provide a protective, flat surface.  I built this before I started converting my shop over to Festool.

As I find myself once again running short on shelf space, I was thinking about redoing the shelving units that support the top.  Essentially what I wanted to do is double the depth of the one in front, and add a three-tiered sliding shelf a little less than half the width of the unit, thus increasing the book-storage capacity in the front unit by roughly 50%.  I've included a crappy sketch after the pictures to illustrate what I'm thinking.

I'll probably use some better wood this time around, but I'm going to keep the same utilitarian design.  I might take advantage of the Festools and ROTEX the edges of the soundboard housing to get to the bare wood, that way I can leave the shelving units unstained and not have them clash with the top.

My question is about hardware for the sliding shelf in the front, namely, do you have any recommendations for what I should use given the eventual size of the sliding shelf (24"w x 28"h x 5.25"d), and the fact that it will be laden with books?  I was thinking of some sort of track(s) that could be installed in a channel routed into the bottom of the main unit, and then outfit the sliding unit with some runners that would snap into the tracks.  I've built sliding doors before for cabinets, but they've been light enough that I've just relied on a wood on wood channel.  Thanks for any advice.

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[nclemmons]

I was thinking about rails and rollers - here's one example.  Might be overkill but would definitely carry the weight.

http://www.pbclinear.com/Redi-Rail-Roller-Bearing-Linear-Guide-Rails

To go much lower cost, you could even rout in grooves to hold 3/4" black pipe under the movable shelf unit in the base of the desk and then put rollers under it that you had turned from Delrin or a similar material.

 

[Fury5]

As a possible low-tech option, you might consider affixing one or more strips of UHMW, lengthwise, to the bottom of the sliding shelf.  Then attach wooden runners to the case along the top and bottom to serve as guides.  Lee Valley is a pretty good source for UMHW.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=32045&cat=1,43455,43831&ap=1

If you haven't used UMHW before, you can cut and shape it easily with woodworking tools.  But forget about gluing it -- it's just too slippery.  You would need to counterbore and screw the UMHW sheets to the bottom of the sliding shelf.

BTW, are those Loeb classics in the desk shelf units?

 

[wow]

I agree with Fury5 on the UMHW, but I use the strips from Woodcraft. They have an adhesive back and can be applied to most anything.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/16L65/Slick-Strips-3-Width.aspx

I use applied one to the side of my table saw fence, and I can't believe the difference it made! I highly recommend it!

 

[elfick]

If you really need to maximize usage, instead of the sliding bypass, how about making the front (front front?) shelf full width, split in the middle, and hinged on each side so you can open it like doors to the back (back front?) shelf?

 

[ear3]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  I didn't know about the UHMW/Woodcraft strips, so I'm going to try a mock-up using them first and see how it goes -- given the smallish dimension of the books the strips might be just enough to support the weight.  It's not like I'm loading down a shelf w/art books or carpentry manuals.  And yes, they are Loebs -- I built the desk shelving specifically to store them as I got tired of them wasting space on normal-sized shelving units (I didn't know about the LR32 at the time I built my office shelving to do variable spacing!). 

As a possible low-tech option, you might consider affixing one or more strips of UHMW, lengthwise, to the bottom of the sliding shelf.  Then attach wooden runners to the case along the top and bottom to serve as guides.  Lee Valley is a pretty good source for UMHW.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=32045&cat=1,43455,43831&ap=1

If you haven't used UMHW before, you can cut and shape it easily with woodworking tools.  But forget about gluing it -- it's just too slippery.  You would need to counterbore and screw the UMHW sheets to the bottom of the sliding shelf.

BTW, are those Loeb classics in the desk shelf units?

 

[ear3]

That's a neat suggestion, thanks.  Since increasing the depth of the front unit will be cutting into the shelving space along the sides by 5-6" (because the top forces me to keep the same overall width as the original desk), I could work in this option to the exposed side of the desk and make up for the loss of space, and maybe even increase it slightly. 

If you really need to maximize usage, instead of the sliding bypass, how about making the front (front front?) shelf full width, split in the middle, and hinged on each side so you can open it like doors to the back (back front?) shelf?