Semi-O.T. Floating Stereo Shelf

[djg]

Just paint that black box and cord white and you're done. Seriously, looks very nice.

[tomzarbo]

The cord hider channel came on today and it went in fairly easy.





The kit came with 25 feet of it which I thought was way too much, but I ended up using all but about 10 feet or so. It's about .65 inches wide and will really only hold two wires. 2 16 ga. Speaker lines would be about it. The thick coax basically needs it's own channel.

Cleans it up real nice, though.

Oh, and time did what I was hoping, I no longer notice the hinges, I just see the components actually. The shelf sort of disappears.

The end.
TomZ

[tomzarbo]

Thanks guys.

I'm hoping the hinges start to blend in.
Steve, that's a good idea, I can't install from behind unless I switch to a cabinet type of swing-open type of hinge .

Maybe I'll just glue a strip of white painted wood right in front of the hinges to hide them. Stupid things bother me sometimes and this irk qualifies. I guess I didn't realize how much I would see the cord storage box underneath, but it has to be that big... there are 4 items plugged in and two of them are wall warts, so not a small package.

Trevor, like Steve said, I was going for light weight with this. I had just build a fireplace mantle a few months back which I had built similarly. I had the same method of construction in my mind for this. Lind of like an airplane wing... strong but light.

This shelf is probably 1/3 of the weight of a solid shelf. And being primarily built of crummy-quality 1/2 inch plywood which is made of soft woods, that helped keep things light as well. I had actually planned on using 1/4" ply for the top and bottom, but I didn't have enough of it on hand that was flat... but that would have worked fine as well. I used Oak pieces inside for the holes, so there is strength where needed.

here are a few pics of that mantle which was my inspiration....



TomZ

[Steve Lee]

Weight have been a factor?

[trevordj]

Nice job! I just ordered a couple of those brackets myself. Is there a reason you built a hollow shelf like this rather than just using a big slab of solid wood and boring out some holes for the bracket?

[djg]

Nice job, as usual.

[Steve Lee]

That turned out really well, Tom!

Concerning the hinges - flip them over and install them inside the cabinet (when you feel like it).

Best!

[tomzarbo]

Pretty much done, still have to tidy up the cables a bit.



The under shelf compartment was just big enough to fit all the cables and power strip. Had to take out the HDMI audio extractor and place behind the CD player.

There may be a thin blue ray player coming, but I have to unhook it from our other TV and I'm not looking forward to doing that.

It was difficult to line up the wires in the back of the unit with the semicircle holes while pushing the shelf back... needed the wife for that.

I don't like the two hinges for some reason, I think it makes it look kind of too homemade. But other than that, I like it, and the wife does as well.

Now on to more important things... Speakers!

TomZ

[Blenton]

Nice!

[tomzarbo]

Getting this wrapped up in a day or two.

Ben, you were right actually. Even though I did use 1/8" hardboard to clean up the edges on the shelf and extended it on the back to cover up the bracket, through multiple sandings, I removed just enough material so the shelf didn't set flush with the wall anymore when installed. I ended up chiseling some material out where the bracket sits. I made a deep 1/8" line with my multi-vibrating tool and then used my chisel to remove a bit more than 1/16" of material. Kind of fun actually, not so neat as it was in plywood, but I don't always get to do the hand-tool thing, so it was a bit of therapy for me. Now it's flush and neater looking. I should have addressed this better in the beginning but...



The bracket is secure... it really is on there good. It's a really sturdy setup. Things were snug trying to get the shelf to slide on the three pipes.
The wainscotting created a bit of a challenge... it is a bit wavy compared to the drywall underneath, though it's cut in 8 or 10" widths. That waviness made the back of the bracket want to not sit totally flush.



I was thinking I'd have to shim it up here or there, but I had already planned on putting a few drywall anchors in to keep the thing snug to the wall in between the two stud attachment points. That kept the bracket mostly flush to the wall except for a slight adjustment on the right side pipe. It needed the slightest tweak outward, now it's golden. If that didn't work, I was going with Blenton's suggestion.

Slides in easy enough, but has enough friction to keep it in place flush to the wall with no other means of fastening. I like this system, seems really strong.

From down low, you can see, or will be able to see the cord-hider setup under the shelf slightly, but I'll paint it white and it shouldn't stand out too much at least.

I like the look of a floating shelf, cleans things up nicely. We repainted out master bedroom this summer and when we were done, it looked so nice we added a few doo-dads here and there to spruce it up... and a set of three cheapy Home Depo floating shelves really make that part of the wall look a lit nicer. Those are hardly strong enough to hold up a few picture frames and trinkets, but they look nice and were easy to install. I would have made a set for that too, but I was tired from a week of painting.



The shelf is stained, have a few more coats of poly to apply, but it's looking good.



I'll probably make something to hide the cables from the TV to the shelf, and from the shelf down to the floor. I even have some in-wall speaker cable with a white outer sleeve that might blend in decently for this situation.

TomZ

[Blenton]

That shelf is coming along nicely! Just a quick installer too for the bracket regarding keeping the shelf level front to back - walls, IME, are rarely ever perfectly plum so grab a pack of shims or something to shim with when you install the bracket itself. Sometimes something as simple as thin cardboard or paper folded a few times shoved under the bottom lip of the bracket (or top lip as the case may be) can level it out. Put your level on the round rods and shim appropriately. I usually aim for slightly tipped up so when the shelf is set in the rods and loaded, it settles in to level.

[Blenton]

I may have worded my previous post poorly; just meant to give you a thumbs up on using those brackets. Like I said, I’m friends with the guy that designed and builds those brackets and my experience with them shows me they are a top notch product that should work very well for you. Didn’t mean to sound like I was razzing you for not dragging the welder and grinder out to fab up a few brackets

[tomzarbo]

It wasn't up/down I had to account for, it was side to side.

If the holes were not 100% perfect where the tubes enter the shelf, the tubes would bow out or in when you try and slide it in, making hitting the inner ones impossible. Once I widened them a scootch, the inside ones could be made to line up no problem. The up/down snugness still seems good.

I'll know for sure when I get it in and under weight I guess.



I like the cord routing I came up with, it should work pretty well, and be hidden by the components more or less. Half of a 3/4" hole.

TomZ

[Millstonemike]

Maybe too late to the party ...

Threaded bolts at the red markers might be able to adjust for any deflection assuming there's enough wiggle room ..

[tomzarbo]

Tom,

I may be looking at this incorrectly, but it looks to me like you're going to have a gap between your shelf and the wall that is the thickness of the bracket plate.

-Ben

It would have, but like you surmised, the 1/8" hardboard I'm applying to the sides and top will extend a bit and will hide the bracket and should place the shelf flush against the wall.
Good eyes man!

It's kind of cool how light, yet strong the shelf is. Going hollow is more work, but it will be able to easily hold up the weight of even one of those vintage Sansui amps if I want in the future.

The little triangle brackets may take a bit of the twist as well.

TomZ