races in shelf carcass

[tiredofspam]

I am building a desk, drawers, file cab, and shelves right now.

I want to keep all wires in races. The desk and drawer units have them built in.

What I can't figure out is how to do it for the shelf units. The shelf carcass is maple ply with shelf pins drilled. So that adds a level of complexity. I thought about hollow core sides, but that really doesn't work for me. The pins would need help for support... I thought about routing a channel... Then covering it... still not great. It thought about molding... but that would not be ideal either.

Don't tell me let the wires run in the back. ... not happening. This will be screwed to the wall for support and too heavy to move. And remember adjustable shelves, so it has to work for that. Not holes everywhere....

I have been putting this off long enough. I thought I would have an answer by now, but I haven't thought about it much... just assumed it would come to me by now. Anyone do something nice and clean...??

[Bill]

Newbe reply. Isn't a raceway required to be accessible?

[tiredofspam]

[John Grossbohlin]

First, a question. What are the wires in the shelves for? Lights? Receptacles? Do you need to hide fixtures or boxes in the shelves?

[Lee Michaels]

Sounds hard.

I built a bookcase once that needed some wires for speakers and lights that were built into it. The guy insisted that the wires not be seen. I suggested some kind of conduit along the back of the shelves. He didn't like that idea. He did not want the wire "loose in the back. I ended up building a second back onto it. I put spacers between the two backs and had some countersunk screws that could be taken out if he wanted to get to the wires. It wasn't that much more work and I charged plenty for the change order.

Maybe you can do something similar, from the front. Maybe velcro or magnets to hold the false back into place.

[Dave]

On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:04:43 -0400, tiredofspam

[tiredofspam]

Multiple things.

Network cable for wireless access point and low volt power for same.

Speakers from computers.

And anything else that the future could bring.

Lights will be routed from the back. Tacked to the back panel.

[tiredofspam]

Ok, but how did the wires come out of the false back. If the shelves are moved, I don't want holes all over the place.

[tiredofspam]

[Bill]

I was thinking of the "surface" raceways (which I thought was the type under concern here).

Bill

[Lee Michaels]

All the wires went to the lights, speakers etc. They were all built into the bookcase.

He ran the speaker wires under the baseboard. Lighting came from a power cord behind the bookcase.

[Swingman]

Face frame or frameless and how much height do you need for the wires?

[tiredofspam]

BTW I thought about using the frames, but the depth of the unit is 13" while the shelves will be 12 Inches. so 1" of backset..

[Swingman]

Just one approach, with a separate/laminated interior side panel, that can be fiddled with and still leaves the holes for adjustable shelves in solid material:

gap at the back can be varied depending upon how thick the wire running up the sides, and visibility.

If you use a 1 1/2" face frame and 3/4" side panels on the shelf system, you could easily have a 1" raceway running from top to bottom of the shelf unit, with a slight gap at the back that shouldn't be all that visible, to pull wires through regardless of shelf position.

Make the adjustable shelf go all the way to the back panel (past the gap) and that would keep the wires coming out of the raceway, only at the level of each shelf the wire serves.

[tiredofspam]

[ChairMan]

[John Grossbohlin]

If you want it completely invisible upon close inspection I'd be inclined to route or dado a groove maybe 1/2" x 1/2" along the back edge of the shelves to carry the wires from the sides to points along the back. The wires would be held in place by gluing short blocks near the outside edge of this dado and spaced then such that you can pull the wire out at various points along the shelf.

As concerns getting the wires to those shelves, given the constraints you placed against using the side structure and back, I don't see how this could be done without some kind of surface mounted baffle in the back corner(s) to carry the wire from level to level. Angled chases open to the back could do...

Alternatively, if the shelves have a face frame run the wires up the front inside corners and use dados as described above on the ends of the shelves with blocks at the shelf support locations. From the sounds of it you aren't filling the shelves with encyclopedias so weight likely isn't a big issue.

John

[dpb]

I'd go w/ Swing's approach...

BTW, since this is a woodworking group, that's the wrong kind of carcase... :)

--

[dadiOH]

I can't see a problem with hollow core sides, all you need is some wood between the skins for the shelf pin holes. I do it all the time.

The problem is your desire to have moveable shelves...easy to hide the wire for a fixed shelf, pretty hard for a moveable one (FWIW and IME moveable shelves almost never get moved). However, the only way I can think of to do it is to have a race routed in the side(s) or back, partially fill that race with a strip of wood that is in sections...if you gotta move a shelf, juggle the sections so the wire exits where you want it.

[tiredofspam]

Thats a pretty good idea. I like it. Nice sketch up drawing.

I might go with that. Inconspicuous..