Hi Max, Well, 28 inches is a lot less leverage than 6 feet however anything with any weight on it will tend to dip eventually. I very much doubt though that it is going to pull out of the dados.
One thing though that I usually do is thicken up the outer edge both for esthetics and strength. If covering with a laminate then I just cut another strip about two inches wide maybe more and glue and screw it to the under side of the front edge, this stiffens it a lot and adds attractive thickness. If you are edge banding plywood though you may prefer to cut a strip inch or inch and a half wide and secure it on it's edge by glue and screws or even a strip of solid wood. Drill the screw holes because you are going through the edge, the laminations, they will tend to separate otherwise. For style you can set this strip back three quarters of an inch from the leading edge always assuming you have sufficient height. You could even fit another one at the rear which, although out of sight will stiffen the shelf further. While glue is sufficient in the dado provided you clamp and leave it long enough to fully cure I see Norm and so I too often drive a couple of pins up through the bottom of the shelf on a pretty good angle so they don't come out where they can be seen, into the side wall. I do this only from the bottom so they can't be seen. This creates a sort of locking mechanism to reinforce the glue and hold things until it is fully cured. If it is not necessary for the gap behind the lower shelf to run full length you might leave a short bridge so the rear of that shelf can also be attached to the rear panel. Finally, another strategy often used is face framing. This would be better achieved with solid wood, something like pine 1 by 2 or hard wood or poplar if you are painting. You probably don't want to mix woods though if you plan stain or other translucent finishes. Hope this gives you a few ideas. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Max Robinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Blind Handyman" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 11:43 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] More questions about dados. > The weather profits are saying we should have a string of 50 degree days > starting next week. That means I will be able to get out to my shop and > work on the radio desk. A friend pointed out a potential problem with my > design. He says if the shelves sag under the weight of some of the > equipment the ends of the shelves could pull out of the dados. How can I > secure the ends to the sides to ensure this won't happen. All shelves > have > an unsupported span of 28 and a half inches. One is nine inches deep and > is > likely to support as much as 20 pounds. It can be supported along its > length at the back by fastening it to the one quarter inch back panel. > The > other is 16 inches deep and is likely to support about the same weight. > The > back panel will not extend to that shelf to allow for ventilation. It > will > be supported only at the ends by the dados. What are your thoughts on > this. > I built a workbench about 35 years ago and the upper level which was for > holding test equipment was 6 feet long and one foot wide. It was > supported > on 2 by 4s at the ends and along the back. The front edge began to sag in > the middle after about 20 years. It supported about 40 pounds of stuff. > I > don't want my radio desk to sag and come apart after a few years. > > Regards. > > Max. K 4 O D S. > > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Transistor site http://www.funwithtransistors.net > Vacuum tube site: http://www.funwithtubes.net > Music site: http://www.maxsmusicplace.com > > To subscribe to the fun with tubes group send an email to, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! 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