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Doug Houseman Doug  Houseman is offline
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Default how strong are pin shelf supports?

In article , "dadiOH"
wrote:

Ralph Compton wrote:
Making a garage cabinet for a friend, going to be used mainly for
household supplies, etc. The shelves are 30" wide by 23" deep.

I have only used the metal Knap & Vogt -type standards and clips for
adjustable shelving in the past. They work well and support a
reasonable amount of weight. I was going to use 6 standards (3 on
each side) for these shelves, which is probably overkill.

But lately I have gotten interested in the 5mm pin supports. I know
that the strength of these depends on several factors, one being the
type of wood used. So, for those who have used these things, how
will they do in, say, baltic birch plywood? Are the metal
track/standards going to be significantly stronger? Shelves will be
3/4" plywood.


Unless you are storing lead bricks, the pins will be fine. I'm assuming you
are talking about the "L" shaped ones with a pin, not the spoon shaped ones.
They come with 1/4" pins too.

Benefits of pin shelving include not having to dado for the metal
standards and a neater overall appearance.


OTOH, you have to drill holes for the pins


I use grommets that go into the holes and then slide the pins in. It may
be overkill, but I have over 200 feet of bookshelves done this way all
full of hardback textbooks and hardback fiction. I have another 300 feet
of shelf that is dedicated to paperbacks (yes we read a bit) with two
rows of paperbacks to a shelf. Some are pushing 20 years old with no
issues. I use the grommets because the line the hole and make the pins
fit very tight, as well as the shelf tight to the cabinet.