Pull out shelves vs electrical cords

[Ellen Benkin]

I don't think I've seen this posted before, so I would appreciate any suggestions.

I'm building an audio entertainment center (no TV) for a friend. She has a turntable and a cd player that load from the top, so I will place them on pull out shelves and she can pull them out when needed and push them back in when she is finished. But what do I do with the electrical cords that trail behind the units? I should mention that the unit has a back made of 1/4" plywood for stability and to square it up. I know I will have to cut holes into the back for the wires to go through to wall outlets. At least one of the pull outs has to be the entire inside depth of the unit, because the CD player is exactly 16" including plugs and that's the inside dimension. How do I ensure that the wires don't get caught behind the shelves and keep them from closing completely?

Thanks for your help.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ellen.........the trouble with most audio cables is their flexibility.

How deep is the entertainment center going to be?

One solution is to place a false back in the area below the slideout shelf. Bundle the cables together using wire ties and let them drape down into the area between the false back of the lower shelf and the 1/4" ply back. Bundling them together will help stiffen them to go where you want them to go.

If the sliding shelf isn't quite as deep as the entertainment center, you could make an arm hinged where it attaches to the back, hinged in the middle and hinged where it attaches to the shelf. Then just loosely bind the cables to the hinged arm using wire ties...ty-wraps....

[Don Baer]

I'd hang weights on the cables outside of the piece. That way when the draws are pushed back in the cables will automaticaly be pulled back in as the drawers are pushed in...:D

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Don's weights or springs will both work. Of issue is the pressure on the cables - they aren't intended to take pressure loading so it's got to be a smooth flowing gentle mechanisim.

[Samuel Brooks]

I would try the following:

Use two pieces of plywood and mount hinges on them. Put on at each end which connect to the cabinet and to the back of the sliding shelf and one between the two pieces.

Sliding Shelf Hinge --------- Hinge --------- Hinge Side at back of cabinet.

Then use either zip ties of cable ties to hood the cable the the pieces of wood. When the shelf is pushed back the cables will fould back in but when you pull the shelf out the hinges will allow the cable to ride out with the shelf

Closed
|H-------H |
|--------H |
|--Shelf---|

Open
| H |
| / |
| H |
| \ |
| H |
|--Shelf---|

Hope this makes sense.

This is how the cables are managed in my rack mounted server equipment at the office.

Sam Brooks

[Ben Grunow]

There is a commercially made gizmo like the set up that Sam is talking about. It's a wire chase or track that is aluminum with hinges that mounts to the back of the cab and to the shelf. I think it limits the travel of the shelf and controls the wires. Can't remember where I've seen it. Google? Good luck.

[Al Willits]

Not sure how much height you have, but I used to have a rack mount
set up that about half way back on the ceiling of the shelf, there was a couple of eye bolt screwed into the ceiling.
The cords ran from the back though the eye bolts and back to hook up to the unit, power cord though one RCA cables though the other.

Worked well for me.

Al

[glenn bradley]

We use a hinged arrangment as Samual Brooks describes for rack mounted servers in my "real job" world. They're generally overpriced for home use but I'll try to get you some links.

[Byron Trantham]

I built a cabinet for my son. I cut a horizontal oblong hole behind the unit(s) that had to slide out. The hole was about 1" high and 10"wide. I glued a piece of 3/4" half round on the back of the cabinet, flush with the bottom of the slot. This created a smooth transition for the cable to travel over. I think I used a boat anchor or car bumper or some such thing weight the cable.:D I really can't remember what I used but I to do remember I used tie wraps to attach it to the cable. He's had it for several years and is still using it.

[Ed Labadie]

I'm not trying to rain on your parade here, but I don't think its a good idea to put the components on sliding shelves at all.
Depending on what audio cables are being used on the equipment, they might come unplugged quite frequently during movement. Some of the higher end quality cables aren't very flexible at all.
I would also be concerned about the turntable stylus skipping when sliding it back in to the cabinet. (I can't imagine leaving the shelf extended & playing an LP.)
When I did my audio cabinet I put a "well" on top that houses the turntable. It has a lid that opens up to access the unit. I made it large enough to allow the turntable to set in it with the factory lid still on it & functional.
If she doesn't want to upgrade the cd player to a newer front load design, I would consider doubling the width of the unit to allow the cd player to set next to the turntable in the top.

Ed

[Ellen Benkin]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think the hinge thing is probably a great idea, but maybe overkill. I might try putting weights on the cords to make them fall outside the box (so to speak), but I was concerned about friction on the electrical cords. Does anyone else think this would be a problem?

[Frank Chaffee]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think the hinge thing is probably a great idea, but maybe overkill. I might try putting weights on the cords to make them fall outside the box (so to speak), but I was concerned about friction on the electrical cords. Does anyone else think this would be a problem?
Ellen,
I would not subject cables to friction unless they were contained in a flexible jacket made specifically for that purpose.

Search www.mcmaster.com for “woven nylon fabric sleeving”.

Frank

[Bruce Benjamin]

I built a cabinet for my stereo system about 15 years ago and made a slide out shelf for my turntable. I just covered the wires with spiral plastic wire wrap and arranged it so that it had a coil when it was closed. It was pretty stiff but when I pulled out the drawer it would uncoil a little and when I pushed it back in it would coil back up. I don't use the turntable too much any more but I did for quite a few years and it always worked just fine. Never a problem.

Bruce