To the question of shelf attachment.

1. Put cleats under the shelf. Glued and screwed to the ply from
inside. Be careful to only get 3/8" penetration from screw.

2. If There is actually a frame under or edging the shelf, you could
screw through that instead of adding a cleat. 4 screws with glue at
each side sould hold it. If you can get some more throough the back or
a small return on the front, that would help.

3. The 1/2" ply is strong enough to carry the load in direct vertical,
just be sure the geometry of the until does not allow for the side to
bow in our out or for the whole unit to rack.

4. Alternative is to use some sort of shelf system, metal strips with
clips. Honestly a few hundred statis pounds is pretty easily supported
by typical shelf system.

5. Alternative is to build little columns inside the side. You could
use a 1x2 at each corner inside standing on end and that would be
fine. Stack them between shelfs if you have multiples.

On Jun 4, 9:01*pm, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:
I'm working on building a simple entertainment center, and would like
some advice. *The sides and back are to be 1/2" red oak plywood, and
there will be three shelves the width and depth of the entertainment
center (minus the sides). *

I plan on putting a large screen TV that's about 100-200 lbs on the
second shelf, and was wondering if the 1/2" plywood sides would be
sufficiently strong. *The shelves themselves will be 1/2" plywood
supported by a 1x2 poplar frame with 1x4 red oak as a border. *The top
shelf will carry some wonderfully heavy equipment, too. *It'll be less
than 200 lbs, I think.

Any suggestions on attaching the shelves to the plywood sides? *1/2"
isn't very much material for a screw to grab in to from the inside, and
if a screw was inserted from the outside it'd show.

On a related note, this project marks my first real venture into
hardwoods. *I had a good experience with the hardwood store, but learned
that 10' long boards just won't fit in a Prius. *Next time, I'll peruse
the shorter boards /first/ and save myself a trip back in the truck.

Puckdropper
--
"The potential difference between the top and bottom of a tree is the
reason why all trees have to be grounded..." -- Bored Borg on
rec.woodworking

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm