Another shelf issue

[C & M]

I've got a set of three shelves above a 32" TV that are 36"x30" and after only one year of very little weight the 3/4" birch veneer ply is acquiring a gentle bow. I can o the flip-flop thing but I would like to put more on the shelves. Soooo, the question is, have you seen any kind of support system that anchors above and holds the shelf level from above? I'm thinking of a hanging rod with a spherical top held by a socket and something similar at the bottom. )--------( I suppose that would necessitate an adjusting screw to adjust the shelf tension. Starting to sound like a screen door adjustable support rod for holding up the drooping corner. Hmmmmmm.....

[Pat Barber]

Do a little reading up on "torsion panels". That's a awful big "shelf" and I surprised it took this short of a time to "bow".

A torsion panel could easily span that distance with little trouble.

C & M wrote:

[Swingman]

Before you go through all that, make a new shelf with approximately 1/2" solid wood edging for both the front and back. Or cut the old one down slightly and add solid wood edging front and back AND flip it.

The edging can be thicker than the shelf and hang down a bit for extra support

A similar solid wood "stiffener/strut" glued to the bottom will also help alleviate the sagging problem. You can also sandwich one, or more, stiffener/struts between two shelf halves if clearance is a problem.

[HMFIC-1369]

Simple get some flat sttel stock rour out the width and depth glue it in and your good to go!

[Robatoy]

[snipperectomy] Hmmmmmm.....

In one application, I ended up putting a 2" dropped edge in front of a

3/4" plywood shelf. In behind the dropped edge, I hid a 1" square aluminum box tube with .125" walls.

[Bruce T]

I built a number of shelf units a few years back, and we have a LOT of books. So I built the shelves out of 1x12 pine and bolted a 1x1x1/8 aluminum angle to the bottom of each shelf using flat head machine screws. I simply used the aluminum as is but you could paint it flat black (or some other color) if you wished. Those shelves held up for 25 years with absolutely NO bowing. In fact, they worked so well that I'm using the same technique to build shelving in my storage room to stack cases of shotgun shells and bags of lead shot. The shelves are 48" wide, supported on the back edge and the ends, and will carry about 200 lbs each. Based on prior experience, I expect NO bowing

BruceT