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Shelf strength & thickness for 4ft adjustable bookcase span
I am building a built-in bookcase with a 48" shelf span and want to
make sure that I am designing the shelving system properly to support the span with minimal deflection. The shelves need to hold heavy textbooks. - The sides and back of the bookcase are 3/4" cabinet-grade birch plywood. - Plan is to create 48"x12"x1" shelves by gluing together two sheets of 1/2" birch plywood. - Shelves will be held in-place by a pair of 1/4" shelf pins at each end. I plan to use sleeves to reinforce the shelf-pin holes. I would like to avoid adding shelf-pins along the back because I don't want visible holes. Also, I would prefer not to split the span since I like the open look and don't want to have 2 narrow 2ft spans. Questions: 1. Is this construction strong enough to support a 4 ft span loaded with textbooks? (I have had 3 foot span bookcases constructed from 3/4" material and they seemed to hold) 2. Does anything else need to be done to stiffen the span? e.g., Thicker shelves? (I could use 3/4" to replace one or both of the 1/2" pieces but then the shelves get heavier and bulkier looking Torsion box construction? (I could sandwich a 1/2" layer between two 1/4" layers but this is added work and added opportunity to mess up Shelf pins along middle of back wall? (I really would like to avoid the visible line of holes down the middle) 3. Will the 1/4" shelf pins with sleeves be strong enough to hold the load? (e.g., should I use stronger or more shelf pins?) Also, do the sleeves do much to strengthen the holes or am I just as well off without them? |
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