shelving ?

[simonmea]

hi all its my first post so i hope i have put it in the right place

I am thinking of making some shelving to go in the boys bedroom and the spare room (they will be used for some books and toy cars )

the idea is a shelf that runs around the room at the level of the top of the window so just over 2 meters of the floor.

the shelf will be a max depth of 20cm
I am thinking of using mdf which will then be primed/sealed
then undercoated x1 or 2 coats ?
then glossed.
which should work and look good

I will be making some brackets out of mdf as well which will be sealed undercoated and glossed the same as the shelf

my question is how far should i space out the brackets/supports on a shelf of 2.4 meters long and 20cm deep


any help on this would be good thanks

 

[big-all]

you wont need more than 5" 125mm for a shelve overhead for books
if you make your brackets 6x4" in a roughly triangular form you will need a bracket every foot on 12mm mdf if you use pine 119x18-22mm then you will get away with every 19-24"

i normally aline with the picture rail that will add support to the back edge and the ends where they reach a corner

another option is 8" brackets 4" one end and 3" the other with a 5" shelve on top and a 4" below and if you introduce a waist to the middle off bracket about 2" deep then a single 3.5-4" screw per bracket

 

[JohnD]

a shelf at that height is ideal for having heavy objects fall onto peoples heads or faces as they try to pull them down.

mdf is quite weak. Ply is stronger.

If you have boys they will try to pull themselves up on the shelf.

 

[foxhole]

I would use 18mm mdf and fix the brackets above the shelf,not below, looks neater and also acts as book end, space at 600mm centres.

 

[simonmea]

thanks alll

so if i use 18mm mdf it would be better for the shelf and sapace them every 600mm and have the shelfs 125mm deep and the brackets should be roughly a triangular shape with a size of 6x4" does that sound about right


also what should i be looking to use to seal the mdf as i would like to gloss it .
would pva watered down be ok or should i get a mdf sealer/primer ?

 

[JohnD]

also what should i be looking to use to seal the mdf as i would like to gloss it .
would pva watered down be ok?

No no no!

never PVA under paint!

 

[big-all]

mdf sealer primer dries very quickly

do you have an electric jigsaw ??

ideally open ends should have a curve with the first bracket 5to 10 " 125-250mm in from the end with toy ornament etc occupying the space
as said above the brackets should be top hung
if you have a jigsaw make them look a bit like half a pear aiming for the hole to be around 2"/50mm from the top
so basically the the bracket would start vertically at right angles to the shelve with around a 70mm radius[a disc around 140 across ] line it up with the front edge off the bracket center off disk level with the bottom
draw the arc until its horizontal
mark a point 50mm from the top and the back edge lay your disk on top off the bottom arc and touching the point at 50mm then mark
the last bit can be freehand but curved to the top corner
once you have made one then you can use this as a template to mark others

i normally go for cutting as pairs from a square 2" 50mm wider than the the bracket width in this case 150mm/6"

 

[foxhole]

If you don't have primer I find emulsion seals mdf ok for glossing.