Another Bookcase Puzzler...

[BradNaylor]

My colleague Phil went to see a bloke yesterday who wants one of these - wall to wall, floor to ceiling.

Our first thought back at the workshop was "Piece of pi$$", and then we looked again. And thought about it.

It's not as straightforward as it looks! Apart from anything else how are we going to pre-fabricate it and assemble it on site? Or do we just put it together like a big lego set?

Suggestions welcome.

Cheers
Brad

 

[OPJ]

Assuming your making the frame as well then, of course, you'll be able to dry-fit everything in the workshop (!!) before delivering.

I guess you could still make several 'segments'. Though, I'm not sure whether it would be better or much easier to use dominoes or another method?

If you glued some biscuits on to the outer faces of each 'segment', could you fix those in place and then slide the others in to place, which would have corresponding grooves (rather than slots) cut to fit over the biscuits? Hope that makes sense.

It looks like one of those jobs where it would be easier to start from the centre and work outwards. Not sure about how to fix them to the back wall?

 

[Anonymous]

Brad

I made one of those years ago, it was really quite simple.

every joint was like a cross halvng joint and they all slotted in together, took alot of marking out but it worked perfectly

 

[Anonymous]

Brad - 3:19am?????

 

[mailee]

I was thinking along the same lines as Mark. Using cross halving joints and slot it together on site would probably be the easiest way to go. :wink:

 

[Richard T]

I did a wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelf that is standing right next to me - but it was originally for my girlfriend's previous house in a smaller form.
Even though it is just standard horizontal shelves jointed in uprights, the most crucial thing I did was number and mark the pieces. F,B and L,R are also very useful.
If you finish the pieces in shop, maybe mark on masking tape ?

 

[dexter]

I`ve just finished a wall unit with 60 pigeonholes for a neighbor's office, the dividers were made from 6mm MRMDF and cross half lapped. A nice snug fit on all the joints when dry fitted together. Then I disassembled it and painted all the components with 3 coats. Trying to assemble it afterwards was a nightmare, just 3 coats of paint had made the snug fit too tight, (6 coats really with 3 on either side). I ended up having to pear back all the paint on the joints. Don't get caught out by that mistake Brad.

Dex

 

[wobblycogs]

My initial thought was cross halvings like a few others have suggested but now I think about it stopped dados or sliding dovetails might be simpler as all the small sections will be identical and could be batch cut in one go.

 

[studders]

Never mind all that... what I want to know is where can you get those giant Green Salt and Pepper Pots?

Or is it just a very small room?

 

[Lester Burnham]

Brad,
I made a very similar unit for a client recently and put it all together with 10 mm dowells and a "joint Genie". I assembled it fully in the workshop but did not glue all the dowels so I could take it apart in manageable sections and then transport it. When on site I glued the sections together, pinned a back on and the job was done. Worked very well, and got the joint genie inspiration from an old thread on here.
Good luck.

LB

 

[eoinsgaff]

I'd hate to have to round a corner like in the second photo...

 

[dickm]

a bloke yesterday who wants one of these - wall to wall, floor to ceiling.

My first reaction was "why?" Seems a d**n silly way to stack books compared to the conventional bookcase with horizontal shelves. Must waste acres of wallspace.

But that's "DESIGN" for you.

harrummph

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Brad,

Totally see what you mean, dead easy to make.... hang on :-k :-k :-k :-k :-k ......

I think I'd go for the halving joint route. The timber or MDF could all be CNC'd or templated for routing in your workshop. The good thing is that it is a regular pattern so once you've got it sorted (perhaps a small sample?) you're set for the lot. Going round a corner would give more of a head ache though.... tell me you've not got to go around the corner...???

Richard

 

[joiner_sim]

My thoughts on how to make this are:

Make up the first top section, screwed and glued. Then drill undernearth for dowels, then slot the next upright piece into the holes. The upright piece will be screwed and glued to the part underneath, then drill the underneath again for dowels, and so on....

Slot it altogether in the carcass, leaving the bottom off it nessecary til the last piece. I would imagine that screwing thru the sides at 45 degrees would actually be quite hard, so I'd consider fixing and screwing thru the back to the shelves.

Doing all this in the workshop, without gluing the dowels in would make it easy to dis-assemble and re-assemble onsite. And this method is similar to the one I used when making this: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6177979&l=aa926034b8&id=514966822 However I screwed thru the sides, and all was fixed together at the shop, and the bookcase was split into 4 carcasses.

Hope that helps

 

[cjp]

I have an old episode of Woodworks on file where David Marks made a Mahogany Wine Rack. It was essentially the same as the bookcase but smaller. If I remember right, it was just done with biscuits - the trick being to make lots of square sections before tilting over.

You can watch this episode online here: http://www.djmarks.com/woodworks/203.asp

Cheers,

Charlie