Adjustable shelved for cabinets

[John Gregory]

We are going to build some wall cabinets for our neighbors. The carcasses will be ¾” melamine. The face frame and doors will be painted poplar. And they want adjustable shelves. I am not sure what the various widths of the cabinets are, the figures are at home and I am at work I think 24-30". I am wondering about sagging shelves. We plan to put a row of holes for support pins in the back panel. (3/4” melamine) But what to use for shelf material? Ideally ¾" melamine would be preferred, no painting. But the neighbor will be putting 3 ring binders and books in them. An option I have thought of is 1) biscuiting a poplar edge on the melamine and painting the poplar white. 2) Using ply with an iron on edge and paining it white. 3) Using solid popular shelves and again painting it white.

Any thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

[Mack Cameron]

We are going to build some wall cabinets for our neighbors. The carcasses will be ¾” melamine. The face frame and doors will be painted poplar. And they want adjustable shelves. I am not sure what the various widths of the cabinets are, the figures are at home and I am at work I think 24-30". [quote]I am wondering about sagging shelves.Go to woodbin dot com. There is a sagulator there for calculating what else--shelf sag. Hope that helps!

[glenn bradley]

Another vote for the sagulator:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

[Scott Vigder]

Another vote for the sagulator:

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm
Here I Come To Save the Day....

The Sagulator, Is On It's Waaay.

[Mike Ross]

Hi John,

Sounds like you will solve your issue with the sagulator. I will have to look at that some day!

You might want to rethink that 3/4" melamine back panel. That is going add considerable weight to your cabinet. I almost always use 1/4" backs and have been a cabinetmaker for 20 years.

Use a hardwood stretcher or cleat under your top and bottom fixed shelves. They will tie the shelf, ends and back all together and you can screw through it into the studs for install.

Have fun with your project. Sounds like you have lucky neighbors!

Mike ross

[Jules Dominguez]

I built shelves into a 13 foot wall in my living room many years ago. I used 3/4" hardwood plywood with solid wood edging and a 26" span between vertical members into which the shelves were dadoed. The shelves have been 100% filled with books of the leather-bound "100 best books" variety, which are large and heavy, for all those years and don't sag, or at least not visibly to the naked eye.
Being a hardcore book lover, I then built another 8 feet of shelves into an alcove wall in my bedroom. This time I didn't want to fiddle with the edging and used solid 3/4' pine shelving with a 29" span. These shelves carry a more more ordinary variety of books - less total weight - and have no visible sag. The backs of the shelves aren't supported in either case.

I think if I were building those shelves today (being a lot older and more cautious) I'd use 3/4" oak, even though the pine and plywood have held up well. I wouldn't use anything with a particle-board type base to hold books under any circumstances.

[John Gregory]

I built shelves into a 13 foot wall in my living room many years ago. I used 3/4" hardwood plywood with solid wood edging and a 26" span between vertical members into which the shelves were dadoed. The shelves have been 100% filled with books of the leather-bound "100 best books" variety, which are large and heavy, for all those years and don't sag, or at least not visibly to the naked eye.
Being a hardcore book lover, I then built another 8 feet of shelves into an alcove wall in my bedroom. This time I didn't want to fiddle with the edging and used solid 3/4' pine shelving with a 29" span. These shelves carry a more more ordinary variety of books - less total weight - and have no visible sag. The backs of the shelves aren't supported in either case.

I think if I were building those shelves today (being a lot older and more cautious) I'd use 3/4" oak, even though the pine and plywood have held up well. I wouldn't use anything with a particle-board type base to hold books under any circumstances.

Thanks Jules I was looking for info like this.

[Steve Clardy]

I use a 3/4x1 1/2 solid wood face on every shelf.