Electronics > Beginners

Bench top shelves?

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paulca:
So my new "man cave" has a desk I bought for the electronics lab.  It's 180cm x 105cm, but it's already full of junk and by the time I added the 3D printer, PSUs, Sig Gen, Microscope there is only a little puddle of free room.  So I figured shelves would be a wise ideal.  But... I don't want to have to screw them up to the wall in case I later choose to move the bench.

What do you guys think of these?  I'm thinking about plopping them down on the desk, maybe clamping them to it, or screwing them down with some drilled steal bands so they don't topple on top of me.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SONGMICS-Bookcase-Shelves-Standing-Bookshelf/dp/B07C2LPJG2/

I was looking also at the wire mesh "cube shelves", but there appear to be different brands and some are rubbish.

Nominal Animal:
Engineered wood?  I suspect that means some variant of particle board, which I hate.

Do you have access to laminated pine panels (300mm wide) or glulam or 12-18mm plywood?  That's what I'd use.

Looking at .co.uk web sites, a 1220mm×2440mm sheet of 18mm plywood costs about £25-£35.  For three shelves, 1m by 1m in size, you'd need five strips, or about 1220mm×1600 of the sheet, plus five 300mm×350mm for the separators, so you'd still have at least 1220mm×440mm left, enough for a middle level backing.
In other words, a single full sheet is enough to make a similar shelf unit; you can even make it a bit wider (up to 1220mm, or 1.2m wide).

18mm thick plywood, even in Spruce (Baltic Birch is the Good Stuff), is amazingly strong stuff.  Twenty years ago, I made a TV stand for a 28" old CRT TV that weighed a lot, so I used 18mm spruce plywood, and through mortises for the vertical pieces (i.e., rectangular holes in the horizontal pieces, with vertical sides and back through those), and the 100cm by 40cm by 40cm box was sturdy enough for a 100kg guy to jump on; probably strong enough to park a car on top.

Edging the edges to hide the plywood structure, if you want, you can do with thin strips of wood.  Glue the strips on, then drill 5mm holes about 30mm deep, and glue in some dowels, say every 25cm or so.  That will hold even if a heavy scope happens to rest on the edging, and won't cost much.

I didn't paint the plywood TV box at all, just oiled it.  I like the look.

If you want, I can draw up a cutlist for a full plywood sheet to make a 122cm by 96cm, 30cm deep three-shelf bookcase.  All I used with mine was a jigsaw, drill, a chisel (to clean up the mortises), wood glue, and wood oil (Ikea Skydd/Stockaryd/Behandla).

(Actually, if I were you, I'd first measure your devices and things you'd like to put on it.  Maybe you want two high shelves, with upper one less deep than the lower one; or maybe split so that left side has two shelves, and the right side three.  Maybe you know the shelves' heights already.  I'd have a good think at it first, then do some drawings, maybe even a cardboard test, to see what works.)

paulca:

--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on January 29, 2020, 06:40:18 am ---Do you have access to laminated pine panels (300mm wide) or glulam or 12-18mm plywood?  That's what I'd use.

--- End quote ---

I'm sure I could fine the materials.  The trouble is I haven't done wood work for around 30 years.  I also don't even own a saw!  I'd probably needs a saw, some form of square edge to saw off, sanding blocks etc. and ... well... some practice and therefore skill to pull it off.  It's highly likely to be crocked and messy on the first attempt.  Plus buying all the right tools outright would be expensive.

 So only really viable if I am to consider adding wood work to my skills list for future projects.

Nominal Animal:
True.

I did use 20 UKP (25 €) el-cheapo jigsaw and a 15 UKP (20 €) drill, though.  If you use a strip of wood as a guide, you can make the longer cuts pretty straight.  I finessed the fits using a 16mm chisel (4 €), and only used a couple of sheets of cheap 180/240 grit sandpaper for "finishing".

The difficulty with ready made shelving units is that they are either made from paper (or particle board, which will bend under heavy objects), or cost a LOT.

I looked at shelvingsystem's shelving wizard; a 30cm deep 104cm wide 98cm tall four-shelf unit made from solid pine would cost 163 UKP (with free delivery), almost three times the shelving unit you linked to.

Nominal Animal:
One possible option might be the Ikea Ivar system.  Three 30×124cm side units, six 83×30cm shelves, and two pairs of cross braces would cost you 3×9+6×8+2×2=79 pounds, for a 160×124×30cm shelving unit (with each shelf rated at 35 kg).

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