How much weight can a 3/4" of MDF support?

My son is starting his first year of college next week and he and his roommate have discovered the joys of Craig's List. They just HAD to have a TV but neither set of parents were willing to buy them the $400 flat screen they were lobbying for, so they went scrounging.

Now, I love the fact that they decided to go this way and they found exactly what they wanted: an old, 32-inch, flat-screen tube TV. Don't ask me how the heck they are going to fit it into their dorm room at school and I don't care if one of them has to sleep on the floor.

But I am going to try to slap together a quick stand for it and here is the rub: it is 32" wide (because the speakers are on either side) and 23" deep and has to weigh well over 150 pounds. They don't have much room, obviously, and the stands we see in the stores either do not support the sheer wight of this monster or they are way too wide.

So I was thinking about slapping one together myself using 2x4s and either 3/4" MDF or plywood. Needless to say, I want this thing to be as cheap as possible! I was thinking about gluing two 18" 2x4s together to make an ELL for each of four legs and then lay a piece of

3/4" plywood or MDF on top. Maybe use a 1" board to connect all four legs together at the top and then another set of 1" boards halfway down to put a shelf in plus it should help it stay together.

Does this sound like a plan? Of course, I originally thought of a couple 2x12s and some 12" concrete blocks but the moms puked. Ain't nothing going to be cheaper than that!

busbus

Reply to
busbus
Loading thread data ...

Actually, I think it may even be cheaper to use a couple 2x12s for the top and find a piece of thin ply I have laying around to make a shelf.

Reply to
busbus

go to radio shack and get a swivel wall mount, easy and saves floor space.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

I think I would use 2 X 4 for the corners. I would put the 4" side of the back pieces parallel to the front of the TV; and the front two, perpendicular to the front of the TV. I would then rabbeted a 1 X 4 into the top of the 2X4 to to form the top of the stand, and then cut dadoes for another band of 1 X 4 several inches from the floor. That would give you a stand with the strength and bracing sufficient for to hold the TV. Make the dadoes as tight as possible.

If you don't think the 1X4 would give you the strength you need they could be half lapped into the legs

If you used a better quality of 2X4 and 1X4 you would only need to cut a shelf to fit the bottom 1X4's, and a piece for the top and it should be strong and look pretty good.

Reply to
knuttle

You will definitely need either to put a support directly under the center of the top, or double up the top's thickness, or install 1x2" center and front reinforcement strips under the top shelf. I forgot what those are called.

No legs. Make a box (with a back) of termite barf or plywood. Glue 'n screw it together so it will withstand the rigors of dorm life. (Think BRICK SHITHOUSE.) Paint it white and send it over.

Wimmenfolk.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Do you have any idea what a large mount like that costs, sir? (HINT: it's about $200 more than bricks and low-grade tubatwelves.)

Reply to
Larry Jaques

If you want it cheap and strong, Try this.

Use 1x4's for the legs, but rip them diagonally - measure over about 1" from each side on the opposite ends and draw your line. Cut along the line and form an "L" out of the pieces. Glue and screw an apron between the four legs with a 1x4 , stretcher on the inside of the four "L's" (mitering the corners on the apron pieces will give you more glue surface) Glue and screw, or nail (pocket screws would be very good here) one more short length of 1/4 between the center of the front and back 1x4. Nail, or screw, and glue the MDF to the top.

Deb

busbus wrote:

Reply to
Dr.Deb

I've got one in the bedroom, don't recall what I paid for it, wasn't that much though. I do remember how hard it was for an old fat man to carry a 30 inch crt tv 9 feet up a ladder.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

I almost got tossed out of residence for putting a thumbtack in the wall. Of course a few Tapcons and a quiet hammer drill...... (you were kidding, right?)

Reply to
Robatoy

Easier to get forgiveness, than it is to get permission.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

This may give you some useful info:

formatting link

Reply to
Neil Brooks

"busbus" wrote

Sounds like the TV I got rid of recently. Mine was 185 pounds and had a CRT, not a flat panel like the new ones. Flat panels that size weigh about

30 pounds.

A box with well place center support will take that weight.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Probably, it has four feet. Those, you have to support well, so put the legs and whatever bracing goes under the tabletop under those four feet.

The tabletop, actually, is only to collect clutter like the remote or a TV guide... shelves well below the TV are more useful than a tabletop.

Reply to
whit3rd

One of my favorite temporary expedients is a corrugated cardboard packing box with a piece of plywood laid across the top. It's amazing how much that can hold as long as it doesn't get wet. Perhaps a couple of 18x18x18s--under 10 bucks at Staples for new ones.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Well, I happened to stop at IKEA at lunch time and they had a find in the scratch and dent room. It was a smaller TV stand, about 24 x 24. The TV is at least 8-inches wider than the table top but I figure I may be able to simply screw a 24 x 32 x 1/2" piece of plywood I have laying around on top and leave it at that.

There is no weight specifications, so I don't know if it will hold

100-200 pounds. There was a bigger one upstairs that looked like this one and the weight limit was 60 pounds. But I am at the point that I just want to get this over with.
Reply to
busbus

-------------------------------------- Wait till they figure out they are there to study, not watch TV.

My bet is the room doesn't have any space left over for this monster.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

AGREED!!!

Told them that. They don't care! Hell, it's their $25. If one of them needs to sleep on the floor, so be it!!!

Reply to
busbus

"busbus" wrote

One word of caution. If this is like my old TV, the weight was concentrated at the front of the tube. If I set it close to the front, it was tippy on a stand. It was OK to have a foot of the back hanging off though as there is no weight there. Moving it back 2" made a huge difference.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Yep, just tossed a 29" Sony CRT TV, heavy SOB, replaced with a 32 inch Sony LCD, the shelf is actually starting starting to get straight again by some miracle. :-)

Reply to
FrozenNorth

The plank and block shelf is a classic. How could they not like that?

Reply to
CW

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.