I am building wall cabinets that are 35″ wide, 40″ tall and 18″ deep. Do I need to run a vertical face frame member dividing the width in half to help support a fixed shelf? I used 3/4″ veneer ply for the fixed shelf at the midpoint in height which I dadoed into the cabinet sides. I plan on providing two additional adjustable shelves and have added metal brackets also dadoed into the sides with clips for those. There will be double doors on the cabinet which can either meet in the middle or meet with a small space at the face frame.
If I add a face frame member, should I also run center bracing (perhaps a 1×2) to act as a stiffener from front to back ending at the face frame? This would run cross-grain to the plywood veneer and only be 16″ long, so it may not do any good. I know stiffeners running with the grain are better, but then I lose valuable clearance between shelves for storage. I believe the cabinet will be more functional without the added face frame member, but am concerned about eventual shelf sag because of the shelf’s length and width.
One more thing, this question doesn’t seem to be showing up under “recent discussions”. I’m new here. Perhaps I’m missing some information on how to properly post these inquiries where someone might be able to or interested in replying. All help is appreciated.
Edited 5/11/2008 4:21 pm ET by ramblingroad
Edited 5/11/2008 4:22 pm ET by ramblingroad
Edited 5/11/2008 10:25 pm ET by ramblingroad
Edited 5/11/2008 10:28 pm ET by ramblingroad
Replies
It all depends on how much weight your shelves will be holding. I consistantly create shelving that is wider than your 35" width, but 18" deep is adding alot of extra holding capacity. You can check the strength of your shelves using a sagulator, which calculates weight load for certain species, width, and depth of shelves. They have one over at http://www.woodweb.com.
You can add strength to your shelf by adding a 1 1/4" hardwood moulding to the front of each shelf, and if needed, a 3/4" stiffener to the rear.
As long as you're not planning on really loading up the shelves with heavy stuff, you should be just fine.
Jeff
Hi ramblingroad ,
How much weight will be on the shelves , are you talking 20lbs per ?
You don't have to place a stile up the center , you could fasten or support the shelves against the back wall .
You could also cut a piece of closet rod or a 1" X 1" or larger piece of wood cut it to fit between the shelves , hot glue them in if your worried , that could be plan C .
Funny enough I'm building a linen cabinet 42" wide the adj. shelves are like 38 1/2" wide X 17" deep I used some Maple ply that has a bow or warp if you will , just put the crown up .
hope this helps dusty
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