chipboard bookcase

Stephen · 2010-11-15T10:48:06+00:00

Hello,I am thinking of making a book case or should I say shelf unit, as Imay use it for cds and dvds too.Based on my experience of this house, the walls appear to be 8'x4'plasterboard that is only supported by 1.5"x1.5" wood at the edges,yes that's right, 4' centres! The plasterboard seems to be re enforcedby splashing some plaster on the inside of the wall and pressingcardboard squares into it, to give the appearance of somethingresembling an egg box with square holes.As the studs are very insubstantial and few and far between, I don'tthink screwing to the wall is a good idea. Though I could demolish andrebuild the wall, I think a free standing unit might be a quicker andcleaner way to do things.If I use melamine faced chip because it's cheap and readily available,unless you have a better idea? What's the best way to fix the sides to the shelves? Would you justbutt them together or should I be routing/mitering bits out?IIRC chipboard likes coarse screws like those used in plasterboard, soI could just screw through the sides. I am not too worried abouthaving screws on show. I could always tidy them up with caps.Or would you do something more elegant with hidden dowels?Is there a magic method to make sure hole and shelf line up or is itjust a case of measuring twice, drilling once?Thanks in advance,Stephen.

Nov 15, 2010 25 Replies

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The Medway Handyman 15 years ago

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned 'The Sagulator' yet.

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maybe they have & I missed it?

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Mike Clarke 15 years ago

Just keep tapping in shorter sections one after the other until the bottom one is far enough down. But try to arrange things so that the screws won't be going in near the ends of any of the battens.

There's not much danger of the battens breaking through the sides of the panel unless you do something very drastic, they just follow the internal surface.

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Stephen 15 years ago

Thanks. I didn't realise I could use short lengths. I thought I would have to go from floor to ceiling. Presumably the longer the better, as it would share the weight over a larger area?

Thanks.

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Stephen 15 years ago

I thought they went into a radial arm saw, and since I don't have one of those, I didn't look any further into it. If I were to do any, I think it would be with a router. I assume you have to chisel the end to make the round end square?

Thanks for the long post, it has given me lots of options to consider. If you do think of any books, please let me know as I can ask for them for Christmas.

Thanks, Stephen.

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John Rumm 15 years ago

You can use them in a radial arm saw, and also on a table saw (assuming its arbour is long enough to take the thickness - some EU models are knobled due to the elf'n'safety requirements for spin down time - and a short arbour that won't take a heavy blade set is cheaper than electronic breaking!)

If you are routing "stopped" dados, then you could - or alternatively just cut the matching bit of the shelf such that it is shorter than the dado by the router bit diameter - then you won't need the rounded bits of the slot.

Oops - never did that did I!

This is not a bad one:

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