Shelves for Home Office: Input Requested

[SoonerFan]

I built this two station desk for my wife and I to share our home office now that I retired. 

View attachment 1

Next step in the project is to add a book case / shelving unit.  For the panels I laminated 18mm ply and 12 mm because we like the look and to store as many books as we'd like.  I will also add 1" / 25mm maple to cover the plywood edges.  The shelving unit is large (13' 6", about 4.1M) by (5', about 1.5M).  I plan to build the right and left sections in the shop.  Then I will move these to the office and install one at a time.  Once the right and left units are on the desk I will add the shelf that spans between these two units, add crown moulding, attach to the wall, etc.

View attachment 2 

I have a few questions / would like some advice in a few areas:

1.  The shelves in the right and left units will be fixed.  What is the best way to attached the shorter shelves inside the right and left units?  I could use Dominos or for that matter I could use screws since I can fill the screw holes before painting.  In the past I used dados.  This allowed me to setup the table saw and know the alignment would be exact.
2.  How would you attach the longer shelf that spans the two units?  Challenge I have is this shelf will align with the top shelves on the right and left units and my hope is to have the entire book case the exact length of the wall.  Maybe use a dado and install the face frame last?  Use pocket screws and fill the holes?
3.  How would you attach this entire unit to the wall?  We'd preferred not to have a panel on the back which could be used to hide a stretcher.  My current thought is to attach the book case to the wall at the very top where the connection to the wall will be hidden by the crown moulding.

Thanks in advance.

 

[squall_line]

If you haven't already seen it, since you're already laminating ply, I would highly recommend Peter Millard's 10 minute workshop episode on "fake" joints, where he essentially laminates plywood around an opening to make a dado without having to actually worry about cutting the dado.

 

[sancho57]

I havent posted this inks for a while but thought it would help the OP and others...
https://woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/

 

[waho6o9]

French cleats and back rails to attach to the wall. The books will hide the rails.
Good looking office, nice work!

 

[Packard]

When I build shelves and I want permanent shelves, I cut dadoes prior to ripping the two uprights apart. By doing so, I guarantee that the left and right uprights have dadoes at the same height.

But keep in mind that dadoes, while effective in carrying weight (on the shelves) offer little or no racking strength. 

You can replicate that by clamping the left and right uprights side by side, effectively returning them to their pre-ripped size. 

You can do the same with dowels or dominoes, both of which are going to add more structural racking strength than dadoes.

Also, if the sides are hidden, you can use Confirmat screws or through dowels or through dominoes.  First clamp the shelf in place then drill or machine the hole or mortise. 

Additionally, if you ever find the need to align two panels with pre-drilled shelf holes, bamboo skewers that you can buy at the supermarket are produced in 3mm and 5mm sizes.  In the USA, dowels or pins that size are hard to find otherwise. 

But in the future, machining the dadoes or marking the locations for shelves are operations that are better done prior to ripping the verticals apart.

And I would further note, that the shelf units must be securely mounted to the wall to prevent accidental tip overs.

And Confirmats can be assembled and broken-down several times with no loss of strength.  This allows pre-assembly then breaking down and pre-finishing.  It also allows in situ assembly.  Which means one person can carry the load and assemble in place.  Very helpful if you wor pk alone.

I used to have available helpers, but they retired and moved to Florida.

 

[woodferret]

I built this two station desk for my wife and I to share our home office now that I retired. 

1.  ...What is the best way to attached the shorter shelves inside the right and left units?...

2.  How would you attach the longer shelf that spans the two units?  Challenge I have is this shelf will align with the top shelves on the right and left units and my hope is to have the entire book case the exact length of the wall.  Maybe use a dado and install the face frame last?  Use pocket screws and fill the holes?
3.  How would you attach this entire unit to the wall?  We'd preferred not to have a panel on the back which could be used to hide a stretcher.  My current thought is to attach the book case to the wall at the very top where the connection to the wall will be hidden by the crown moulding.

Thanks in advance.

1. View attachment 1
from=230s

about 3 mins in.
Note that the toe screw is on the back side.

2. Honestly filler against wall... but if you REALLY insist, then the same screw method as above.  Just lift, fit, take down, swivel+toe screw and then lift back in as a complete unit.  Or buy a P2 Zeta and use the divario.  =D

3. No opinion other than noting that you're really lucky at having straight (vertical) walls.

 

[SoonerFan]

I havent posted this inks for a while but thought it would help the OP and others...
https://woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/

Thanks.  This is helpful.  Appreciate the link!

 

[SoonerFan]

French cleats and back rails to attach to the wall. The books will hide the rails.
Good looking office, nice work!

Thanks for the suggestion.  I had not thought about French Cleats and these just might be the answer.

 

[SoonerFan]

You can replicate that by clamping the left and right uprights side by side, effectively returning them to their pre-ripped size. 

I used to have available helpers, but they retired and moved to Florida.

I used to do dados before ripping to final width to ensure the dados aligned.  Now that I have a sliding table on my SawStop I find I can get great accuracy with panels cut to final dimensions first.  And luckily I have still have helpers near by.

 

[SoonerFan]

[member=75217]squall_line[/member] I liked some of Peter’s tips and tricks.  Had not viewed this one until you posted it.  Too late this time because everything is already glued together.  But as I mentioned above, with my sliding table I usually can get really good dados. 

 

[woodferret]

While I joked about the P2 Zeta and the divario... I just remembered that Keilverbinder also has a cheaper alternative that only requires a router.  Keep that in your back pocket if you ever find yourself with a tricky shelf again.

 

[Dst1985]

Hi, I am relatively new to the group here. Would you have plans for your desk setup or a website you might have got plans from? I have been looking to make a single desk like that in an L shape. Thanks!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

While I joked about the P2 Zeta and the divario... I just remembered that Keilverbinder also has a cheaper alternative that only requires a router.  Keep that in your back pocket if you ever find yourself with a tricky shelf again.

If you don't need the shelves to be structural, just invisible attachment, Dominos can do that too.
Just cut them into the sides and glue them in place. Then route a matching-width groove into the edges of the shelves, slide them in from the front. It works sort of like a shelf pin, but internally.
I have done this several times to aid in transport and installation. It takes a ton of weight away from a large unit, but still looks integral, rather than having adjustable shelf pins.

 

[woodferret]

I like that idea.