Hi all,
I'm working on the design for a media storage cabinet to handle our movie/music collection, and I have a couple of questions I though I'd put to the group:
Since DVD & CD cases are "so" narrow (5"-6" maybe), I'm trying to work out a plan to get 2 "layers" of cases into the unit. I'm thinking about having a "layer" of shelves on the front of the cab. on hinges that will reveal a 2nd "layer" of shelves when opened up.
I'm currently planning on building the unit in 2 pieces, a lower cab with either drawers or doors for misc storage, and an upper unit with the dual layers of shelves for the media, and the 2 units will be bolted together with furniture bolts. The piece will be placed into a niche between the fireplace and outter wall of the room, and I haven't measured it yet, but it's somewhere in the 2-3 wide.
The cabinet will be roughly 2 1/2 - 3 ft wide, and 12-14 in deep, depending on depth needed to hold the 2 layers of media. The bottom cabinet will be 2 1/2 - 3 ft high, and the top cabinet somewhere in the 3 1/2 - 4 ft high depending on how it works out with the height of the DVD cases (I'm kinda tall, so a 7 ft cabinet works great for me).
The front "layer" will be 2 "inner" shelf units, each about 12-18 in wide and 6ish in. deep, connected to the "outter" case with piano hinges. The "outter" case will be 2 1/2-3 ft wide, and 12ish in deep.
What I'm wondering about is clearence for the front shelves at the top & bottom of the case. I'm concerned that when the weight of the front shelves is swung out, it will cause the outter case to rack a bit, causing the swingout shelves to possibly bind. Anyone have any experience with a design like this? I was originally going to go with
1/4 in. clearence at the top and bottom, but I'm wondering if that is too much, or too little. Any thoughts on how to a) figure out how much clearence I really need, or b) support the outter cabinet to ensure it cannot rack at all?The upper cabinet will have a full back of 1/4 in. ply, which I know should stop the vast majority of the racking, but like I said above, I'm just a little worried that when one side is opened, the shifting of the weight may cause the outter case to rack enough that the swingout shelves may bind.
I'm planning on making the both the inner and outter cases out of 3/4 in ply, with 1/4 in ply backs, rabbited into the sides, then guled and nailed.
Thanks in advance for all your suggestions.
Trace