On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 09:34:14 -0000, "Christian McArdle"
wrote:

Is there any way you could fit a wall bolted, 'triangular' shaped,
steel brace in the middle or do you need an uncluttered space?

I'd need to drill a very big hole through the washing machine to accommodate
the brace. It might prevent the drum rotating, too.

[T] Ok, so it's 'doable' then ;-)

Seriously, though. I've been told that a 40mm wooden beam across the front
is sufficient.

[T] Sounds like the suppliers I know .. ;-) "Yes just hit it hard with
a hammer .. it will be fine .... oh you did and it broke ... click ..
brrrrrrrrrrrrrr "

I just want to know if I can reduce this using a metal beam
(or several) as I don't have 40mm to play with. There is absolutely no way
that any part of the structure can extend more than 25mm below the bottom of
the worktop over the 121cm span.

[T] I see ... theres no doubt that a piece of hard wood will help but
would it be enough to prevent an expensive lump of slate / marble
snapping in half if someone sits / climbs on there by mistake. You
have see the large glass table tops being smashed on 'Youv'e been
framed' when folk treat them the wrong way?

(Like when my 'terrified of heights' friend went up the CN tower and
the kids were jumping up and down on the glass floor some hundreds of
feet above the ground ... I would be looking for stress fractures,
loosse bolts, rust or maybe NOT walk over the glass sections at all
(just in case).

I digress. Any decent section of steel would probably be stiffer than
the same size wood. The deeper the 'wall' the stiffer the box, the
problem is you would have to have it round the 'short' way.

I have some lengths of 50mm x 25mm x 1.5mm thick seam welded steel box
left over from when I built the garage doors. It's pretty stiff
(unlike angle) and probably stiffer than the support the cupboards can
provide?

Sit the top on that with a couple of strips of 1mm thick double sided
foam to provide the cushion and that's about the best you can do in
the space?

I assume you wouldn't be able to take the box section along the entire
length of the worktop (this would provide more support?)

All the best ..

T i m