MDF A/V rack

[viper_va]

My Dad and I spent about 3 weeks building this rack up. I designed it first in Autocad. As you can see, the top slides out and rotates for cable access. It's made of MDF and a couple pieces of particleboard. Not finished yet, still have to paint and face drawers, as well as make shelves. Beats a $1200 hunk of metal though.

 

[ReTrO]

Looks nice.

My only concern would be with the runners for the upper half and making sure the unti is very stable when you run those runners out for kit and wiring. I bet that'd hurt if it fell on you.

 

[calibos]

Are you going to have your gear in the top bit? Won't the weight of a couple of thousand pounds worth of amps, dvd players etc make short work of the runners and topple out onto the floor? I suppose if the base is fixed and you slide the top out no more than half way you'll be ok.

 

[theritz]

..........and you slide the top out no more than half way you'll be ok.

That'd kinda defeat the purpose of having the top part rotating and offering access to the wiring at the rear..... ? (assume it's going into an alcove of some sort........

If the bottom is fixed to a wall with brackets/whatever, it'll be fine..... Very neat cabinetry...... dovetails and full-extension slides........ yum yum.....


Sean G.

 

[viper_va]

hey all. Finally finished the rack, got it all mounted. Painted it antique white, satin finish. painting was the worst part, by far. Handles are brass. Go gentle on the cable organization please.

top to bottom, DISH 6000, Xbox, HTPC, Denon amp, turntable

110" screen , oh yeah

the projector of choice, thing is great, native 16x9 LCD

 

[steve-j]

viper_va,

I am currently looking at building a cabinet myself and have a couple of quick questions if that's OK:

1. Where did you get the adjustable shelf support tracking (if that's the right description!) inside the top section of the cabinet. It looks a lot easier than carefully drilling evenly spaced holes in the mdf!

2. Again with the top section, did you have any problems with the strength of the cabinet given that it only really consists of a top and 2 sides with no cross support that will stop it from skewing? (does that actually make sense?) It doesn't look that strong and I'd be concerned to fill it with heavy items. A fixed shelf halfway up would help as would some fixed battens across the back but I don't really want to do that on my cabinet.

Thanks for any advice you can offer,

-Steve

 

[viper_va]

yeah, i understand your concerns steve. The shelf supports are from here . They are called standards actually. There are multiple colors to choose from, mine were white and then painted over. They sell the brackets that go into the standards also. Don't know about international shipping, as I'm in USA. I imagine any hardware store would have the same standards, they're pretty common. To mount, just dado out a slot the proper width and depth, then nail the standard in. As for the upper section, it doesn't skew at all, due to the way it is built. The top and bottom are dadoed on the edges, and the sides are glued into the dados. As you can see, I also added some metal L brackets, screwed into both parts. It's plenty strong without any interior support. Built like a tank as we say.

 

[steve-j]

Viper_va; Thanks for the advice. Maybe I should have taken a bit more notice of the Location under your name!

I have now found the "standards" here in England except that we call them Bookcase strips (neither name really tells you that they are adjustable shelf brackets!).

Have also found some L shaped metal brackets to attach to the rear of the cabinet (rather than inside) that should be pretty strong.

Now all I have to do is make a decision on what veneer finish to use and I can get started!

-Steve

 

[viper_va]

bad idea steve. Don't ever screw/nail into the edge of MDF. The edges have 0 strength. What you could do is recess the brackets, then make covers for them. Or, you could built out of plywood. Stronger on ends than MDF, looks better natural too.

 

[marcoeser]

well done, that a nice way to get at the cables around the back.

A conern of mine is the strain on the swivel. Did you think of using another drawer & swivel on the top aswell to share the load and stop the axis from tilting over?

If you like the natural look, waxed black MDF is very attacktive - 'slate looking'