FireGuruMN
Active Member
Here are a couple of pictures of some of my collection.
Yes, yes, I know what all or you are asking "How did he build those nice shelves"?
Well let me tell you. . .
Figure out what size shelves you need to hold your equipment and what space you have in your house (garage, trailer, cave). This set of shelves is basically acting as a room divider. It is built in four sections with the back to back ones being exactly a mirror image so you can have equipment pushing through from one shelf to the next. That allowed the SA1000 (22 inches deep) to fit in the shelf and not need to waste space for all the more shallow equipment. I could even put some shallow equipment (tube amps) on the back side of the monster receivers. It ends up being a production fitting deep and shallow things at the end but it all works out. I built a previous set that was against a wall and those I made 18" deep which worked for almost all my equipment.
Each section is 15.5" deep which allowed me to cut three strips from one sheet of plywood with some scrap to cut off the chewed up edges from the lumber yard. If I built two shelfs 31" deep I never would have gotten them in the basement much less been able to lift them or stand them up with the low ceilings. As it is they had to go through the patio door sideways and rotate and stand up in the tall area in the middle of the room then slide sideways into the soffit area. What a production. On Christmas day even. Its good to have guests with strong backs.
How to pick plywood. It depends on what your goal is. If this is going in a garage (that would be sad) then who cares. But assuming they are going in the house you need something with veneer ON BOTH SIDES. Often this means "Baltic birch" plywood. To most people that means $140 a sheet special order time. The $140 plywood usually has 15 or so layers and there are very few voids. Fortunately I found some $85 plywood at Home Depot that was veneer on both sides but only 5 or so layers. That was good enough for me. I bought 22 sheets. Later I found our I needed 5 more because I forgot to double the shelf count. But regardless, draw a plan and layout a cutting sheet so you can figure out how many sheets you need. A warning about $50 A/C plywood. It warps. You might need extra fixed shelves to keep it in line. Really, just don't go there.
You also need some trim boards for the top, bottom, verticals and possibly the faces of the shelves. And some 2x4's for the base.
While you are there pick up a short piece of melamine shelf board with predrilled holes. I used that as a template to keep my holes aligned. There are 1000 other ways to do that. Live your life.
When getting shelf pins, get the "L" shaped ones, not the simple pins. The pins can drift out if your holes are loose. These are held in by the shelf and they have a hold so you can screw your shelf in place.
Screws: 1-1/2" countersink with the T10 driver. Or what ever makes you happy.
Glue. Tight Bond 2 or 3. Or what ever makes you happy. And one of those awesome "glue bot" glue bottles. They make a great xmas present.
Continued. . .
Yes, yes, I know what all or you are asking "How did he build those nice shelves"?
Well let me tell you. . .
Figure out what size shelves you need to hold your equipment and what space you have in your house (garage, trailer, cave). This set of shelves is basically acting as a room divider. It is built in four sections with the back to back ones being exactly a mirror image so you can have equipment pushing through from one shelf to the next. That allowed the SA1000 (22 inches deep) to fit in the shelf and not need to waste space for all the more shallow equipment. I could even put some shallow equipment (tube amps) on the back side of the monster receivers. It ends up being a production fitting deep and shallow things at the end but it all works out. I built a previous set that was against a wall and those I made 18" deep which worked for almost all my equipment.
Each section is 15.5" deep which allowed me to cut three strips from one sheet of plywood with some scrap to cut off the chewed up edges from the lumber yard. If I built two shelfs 31" deep I never would have gotten them in the basement much less been able to lift them or stand them up with the low ceilings. As it is they had to go through the patio door sideways and rotate and stand up in the tall area in the middle of the room then slide sideways into the soffit area. What a production. On Christmas day even. Its good to have guests with strong backs.
How to pick plywood. It depends on what your goal is. If this is going in a garage (that would be sad) then who cares. But assuming they are going in the house you need something with veneer ON BOTH SIDES. Often this means "Baltic birch" plywood. To most people that means $140 a sheet special order time. The $140 plywood usually has 15 or so layers and there are very few voids. Fortunately I found some $85 plywood at Home Depot that was veneer on both sides but only 5 or so layers. That was good enough for me. I bought 22 sheets. Later I found our I needed 5 more because I forgot to double the shelf count. But regardless, draw a plan and layout a cutting sheet so you can figure out how many sheets you need. A warning about $50 A/C plywood. It warps. You might need extra fixed shelves to keep it in line. Really, just don't go there.
You also need some trim boards for the top, bottom, verticals and possibly the faces of the shelves. And some 2x4's for the base.
While you are there pick up a short piece of melamine shelf board with predrilled holes. I used that as a template to keep my holes aligned. There are 1000 other ways to do that. Live your life.
When getting shelf pins, get the "L" shaped ones, not the simple pins. The pins can drift out if your holes are loose. These are held in by the shelf and they have a hold so you can screw your shelf in place.
Screws: 1-1/2" countersink with the T10 driver. Or what ever makes you happy.
Glue. Tight Bond 2 or 3. Or what ever makes you happy. And one of those awesome "glue bot" glue bottles. They make a great xmas present.
Continued. . .
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