Heavy duty shelf supports
8/11/16
I'm quoting a job for an artists studio and she requires alot of heavy duty shelving cabinets. I was going to laminate two layers of 3/4" ply together for 1 1 /2" thick shelves and use "L" shaped shelf pins for adjustment. My question is there a better way to support an adjustable shelf? I don't have room for a sawtooth type adjuster, and I've never had the "L" shaped puns fail, I'm just wondering what else other people do? I plan on keeping shelf widths to 32" or less. Thanks
8/11/16 #2: Heavy duty shelf supports ...
It would help if we knew the weight requirements instead of "heavy duty". I hope you know, because the artist's idea might be 200 pounds per shelf. You better also worry about attachment to the wall!
8/12/16 #3: Heavy duty shelf supports ...
Yes rich, It might be two hundred pounds on a few shelves. I use 1/2" venner plywood backs on my cabs, glued and screwed to 3/4" veneer ply sides(painted onsite by other). Most shelves are floor to ceiling (12' tall ceilings). The ones that are uppers will have a ledger to rest on. I see no issue with wall attachment. My concern is the shelf itself. I put in my bid shelves might sag and they should be annually flipped to help with that.
8/12/16 #4: Heavy duty shelf supports ...
Not that your worried about the shelf itself but the sagulator calls out .005"/ft of sag on a 32" wide x 18" deep 1 1/2" shelf with 200# total load. I wouldnt worry about that at all with conventional pins in 3/4" sides forget about L shaped pins. There is no way #200 is going to shear off the pins or tear out the ply.
Just my $0.02
8/12/16 #5: Heavy duty shelf supports ...
The shop I got started in used the aluminum or steel pilaster notched track recessed into 3/4 plywood with the metal shelf clips. I still use this for heavy loads such as a recent pantry dedicated to canning jars. Lowes carries the steel track.
8/13/16 #6: Heavy duty shelf supports ...
I would suggest using 3 lines of holes whichever shelf supports you use.