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Sandwich panels with full with edge|Forum|WOOD DESIGNER
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Hi Ness, hi Mark,
Thank you Ness for the tip.
Mark, the steel reinforced shelves I make are pretty simple and quick to make.
Just two 9 mm boards on the outsides, inside is a timber frame made from 33 x 33 mm timber (1.5″ x 1.5″ PAR), not joined, just butt fitted, glued and nailed to the MDF panel, flush with the outer edges. If the shelf is longer than 700 – 800 mm I drop in 1 or 2 intermediate ribs in the middle from the same material. I have a simple jig to quickly put them together and keep the assembly true until I nail them together one side at at time. The steel reinforcement is a traditional twin slot shelf upright (2mm cold pressed steel profile with double slots and holes) screwed on the inside of the front timber, one edge being flush with either of the adjoining MDF boards. This steel upright runs from side to side of the shelf along the whole length and I fix it with a screw in approx every 150 mm. So the shorter timber pieces (rails if you like) are cut that much shorter to give space for the steel profile on the back side of the front timber. All this is finished with a 51 mm wide (tall) MDF strip from a 6 mm stock. Usually I get them to be cut to 53 mm and then I rout the overlaps flush with the shelf top and bottom, then round the edges, fill the nail holes, sand, prime, paint, done. They look like a one piece material when fitted. Once fitted you can climb onto it without any sag. Just make sure that the side fixings to the uprights are adequate for climbing or storing heavy stuff on them. They are still less heavy than what you would get from an identical size 50 mm thick MDF panel.
I’ll try to put together a sample assembly in PolyBoard over the weekend and upload it here.
Are you coming to the FFX tool show this weekend?
Best wishes,
Frank
October 4, 2012
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Hi Frank, Mark,
A steel framed shelf will certainly be amazingly strong.
Do you make the frames yourself?
Did you know that they can be set up with Polyboard?
Recently I’ve designed some metal and wood desks for a client and set all the metal frames up in Polyboard.
Metal and wood is very fashionable over here in France and I know quite a few cabinet and stair makers who also use Polyboard and StairDesigner for building metal and wood projects.
Just one thing Frank, you don’t have to change the cutting lists to set up your edging, you have to set up a bar material for each shelf thickness.
With a bar material for each shelf thickness the cutting lists will be perfect.
All the best,
Ness
May 18, 2014
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Hi Frank
Out of interest I am intrigued by the steel profile insert.
do you add an angle to the internal front.
,ark
Hi Ness, hi Mark,
Ness, thank you for the video. This is definitely the way to go. It has all the advantages that I need with that little price to pay of having to slightly edit the cutting list for the edging in order to have the width and thickness written correctly. I can live with that.
What I usually do is a 51 mm thick shelf from a bottom and a top panel, a timber frame in between with steel reinforcement. I take 1 to 2 years guarantee on the furniture I build and usually I demonstrate the strength of the shelves to the client by climbing or pulling myself up on them without any sagging on the shelves. I have never been called back for guarantee repairs. And some of my clients fill up the shelves by heavy books or even a fish tank in one case.
Mark, thank you for your comments. Definitely a good approach to have a template upper book case that can be quickly edited to the right size. You are right about the small doors here in the UK. I usually spend less time in my workshop and more at the client fitting the furniture and I take everything there panel by panel. This may change in the future but right now it has lots of advantages for me from the logistics point of view.
Have a nice day,
Frank
October 4, 2012
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Hi Frank and Mark,
Marks method sounds great.
If you want to copy the structure to another panel or apply from a library you could make a composite panel using an assembly method.
Try this:
Tell me what you think.
All the best,
Ness
May 18, 2014
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Hi Frank..
i don’t think you will be able to save the structure, as you need to think of this process as a model.
but I would do this (we do the same):
Make a single version of an upper bookcase model with too many shelves, more than you need ever, with 36mm sides, top and shelves in the way Ness said and save the model for use later.
you can then add it to new projects and resize accordingly. You can also add them together with a little bit of adjustment on the joining faces. I.e. Remove the thickness split but leave the edging to connect them on site.
works well. The only thing I would say, and you know this. We never usually build any cab above 1500mm in one piece as in uk houses, you can never get them through the door. We find the sectional approach is better.
mark
Thank you, Ness!
That is a nice solution. I feel I can think with PolyBoard’s approach more and more.
I guess you know my next question 
I haven’t tried it yet since watching your video but I’m wondering if could save it in the library as a structure and re-use it for new shelves?
Let me show you what I mean. Attached is a photo of a book case I made a few weeks ago with over 20 of these faced sandwich boards. Wouldn’t be a problem making them one by one in PolyBoard as presented in the video but it is always nice to think about increased productivity.
Many thanks,
Frank
October 4, 2012
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Hi Frank,
Made you a quick video:
hope this is helpful.
All the best,
Ness
Hi Ness,
I am still very new to PolyBoard and after watching nearly all training videos I have not been able to figure out how to apply a full width edge on sandwich panels. I.e. to give a face trim to a sandwich panel by gluing an MDF strip on it, which I do on about 80% of my projects. It would be nice to have those strips listed in the cut list. I am sure you have thought of this and PolyBoard can do it, I just could not figure it out how. Can you direct me to the right video if there is any on this subject, please?
Thanks,
Frank
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