Urgent help/ advice needed..cabinets/cabinets hangers/shelf?

[Grangey]

Hi all, first post here but after this site coming up on a number of google searches Im sure it deffinatly wont be my last!

Im after some help!! Im currently building a "Floating Wall" Feature for my AV Equipment but I am struggling on a part of it.

Basically, my initial idea was to have one long "floating shelf" going accross the bottom of the floating wall.... the problem with this however is my AV Reciever, which is 450mm deep and wieghs about 40kg. This couple with the cost of buying a number of shelf uprights for one shelf seemed abit pointless... So I turned to Ikea. I discovered this cabinet

Now this is 500mm deep (ideal!) so I could but my amp on top.... so my question however is would normal cabinet hangers be sufficient enough to hang this cabinet + the wieght of my amp (40kg) and sky box safely? I know this cabinet is deeper and not as long as normal kitchen cabinets so Im not sure on if it would work??? I would have the cabinet upside down to how it is shown in the picture as Im aware that the cross member bit would get in the way of the hangers.

Please help as this is now holding up my project

Thanks for your help in advance , Grangey

 

[HowlinWilf]

By "cabinet hangers", do you mean the means by which wall units are mounted onto a wall?

If so, then the system we use at my workplace involves a metal rail (hacksawed to length) screwed to the wall with as many screws as is necessary, and with the 'hooks' fixed inside the cabinet (screwed to the sides of the cabinet in the upper rear corners) and protuding through holes cut into the back. These hooks then hook onto the rail and are tightened (to pull the cabinet in tight to the wall) by adjustable screws in the hook-mounting on the inside of the cabinet.

I'm sure there are many variations of this system available (we use Hafele fittings).

The strength of this system depends on a) the number of screws holding the hooks to the cabinet, b) the number of hooks mounted on the cabinet and c) and the number of screws holding the rail to the wall.

For the weight of your AV equipment, you would need at least 3 hooks, with the centre one attached to one side or the other of the central partition of your cabinet - which looks reasonably strong from the photo.

For this system to work, the back of your cabinet would have to be set in from the back edge of the rest of the cabinet (sides, top and base), ie. when held against a wall, the sides, top and base would come into contact with the wall, but the back remain 10/15/20 mm away from the wall.

A word of warning - is the IKEA cabinet designed as a wall unit? If not, the base may not be attached to the sides properly (it would have been designed for the sides to be resting on the base, rather than supporting the base) - the result could be the separation of base from sides under the weight of your kit, and ....... CRASH ! ! ! This could also be the case if the cabinet is not made well enough or is of poor quality materials.

I hope you understand all that! Good luck. (Check out Hafele's website - Hettich is another supplier of fittings)

 

[Grangey]

Thank you for your response and yes it does make sense, I have had a look at the website and all I can say is OH MY GOD YOU ARE A LEGEND!! I have been looking for this shelf bracket everywhere with no luck!! http://www.hafele.co.uk/Hafele35a1/...g_id=11588&title=Hebgo+fixed+brackets,+150+kg

Is there any way you could assist me in purchasing a small number of these please??!?? The whole way along I was hoping to make one long floating shelf but conventional shelving availible via normal DIY would just be too much work and money trying to get a half decent result and these are 100% perfect for what I am looking for. I saw these in B&Q in Swindon holding up a shelf of Sinks and I cant believe I've found somewhere that does them!!!

I would be deeply appreciative if you could help me in getting about 5 or so of these brackets! Please let me know if its possible as this would compleatly remove the need of my initial post!!

 

[HowlinWilf]

Don't mention it. Happy to be of assistance!

These brackets come in many different sizes, and you can buy them yourself from Mykitchenbits.com. Easy peasy!!

So you've abandoned the IKEA cabinet then?

 

[Grangey]

Thanks for the link! Ouch! £26 per bracket! Argh Im in a real dilemma now.

Right so just to give you an idea of what I was originally intending to make:

pritty much to scale:

Not to scale but abit more of a clearer idea of what the final product would be

Now If I got 2 brackets per item it would cost me £260 + the wood and paint!... if I got 5 it would cost me about £130 and i havnt even checked cost for delivery etc yet.

Now the only reason I really need brackets of this proportion is as I mentioned previously, the amp, which is both deep and heavy. The rest of my products could be held on anything really so I just dont know what to do!

The ikea cabnet was an option because if I could use hangers, it would continue with my idea of giving the floating effect although it takes up alot more room than one simple shelf would, and as you mentioned I dont know if it has the right structural support to do what Im intending...

However if I wanted a long floating shelf.... it would cost a crap load purly to keep the shelf in proportion and be able to support the weight of the amp! Argh! I dont know what to do now!!

 

[HowlinWilf]

If these brackets fit in with the aesthetics of what you have in mind, then I don't think you should give up on them just yet.

You may not need very many of them - 1 pair can support up to 150kg.

With a 2.5m long shelf, you would need a minimum of one at each end and one more in the middle - as long as the shelf itself is strong enough for a long span between each bracket. You could mount the outer brackets 300mm in from the end.

If your amp goes in the middle, it would be sitting directly over the middle bracket. You should buy a £26 (450mm?) bracket for this position, but the outer 2 brackets could be a lot smaller than the middle one (and a lot cheaper - perhaps 280mm at £17 each), bearing in mind that the shelf will be screwed to the bracket.

As for the shelf itself, I don't think it should be thinner than c.25mm, unless you use plywood. The fewer brackets you have, the thicker your shelf will have to be. To arrive at a c.500mm width, your cheapest bet might be several lengths of c.25mm PSE (planed pine) from any builders merchant, though you might need to glue them together (got any sash cramps/F clamps?) and plane/sand them flat (solid wood boards frequently cup across their width and expand more at one edge than the other. Otherwise, find a supplier who will sell part of an 8'X4' sheet and get MDF or ply (chipboard will be difficult to finish nicely).