Puckdropper 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.

1. Your life would have been much easier with 3/4" ply. The finished
project would have been stronger and more rigid too.

2. The 1/2 ply sides will be sufficiently strong.

3. The 1/2 ply for shelf and top will be OK too depending...

(a) on how they are attached to the case

(b) on how the weight is distributed; NP with TV, weight isn't centered.

(c) fore and aft "stringers" will greatly increase shelf strength

4. You mentioned a 1x4 oak border. Is that 4" horizontally or vertically?
If horizontally, I have to ask, "Why?". Since you also mentioned 1x2 poplar
for the shelf support I suppose the 4" oak is vertical in which case I still
have to ask, "Why?".

In both cases it seems like work that basically accomplishes nothing. In
both cases there is no reason to not just attach the ply to the oak and do
away with the poplar. In the case of horizontal 4" oak, all you are doing
is banding the ply so why not 2"...or 1"...or 1/16"? In the case of the 4"
oak being vertical, it bands and will also add tons of strength but I think
it will look way off scale unless (and probably even if) you are building a
gargantuan case.

5. To attach the shelves to sides, you have two options: fixed and
moveable...

(a) for moveable, I would drill holes for KV clips

(b) for fixed, you have two options...

(1) cleats glued to the sides, shelf glued or screwed to the
cleats. The shelf would need a vertical strip on at least the front edge to
hide the cleats. I'd probably screw the cleats to the sides too...if from
the outside, fill shallow countersinks with face grain plugs; if from
inside, using screws short enough to not penetrate outside of the sides.

(2) dados in the sides, shelf glued into dados. I don't like
dados for this purpose less than 3/8" deep; since the ply is only 1/2"
thick, I wouldn't make continuous dados...I'd make 2-3 stopped dados so that
there are pillars of full 1/2" remaining. Naturally, the shelf ends would
have to have tongues matching the dados. PITA, doubt I'd do it. You could
use dowels too, even bigger PITA, *know* I wouldn't do it. Someone might
say, "Biscuits"; I wouldn;t trust them for this.

dadiOH