Glass Shelf

[zacburgess]

Hi

I was looking around the web last night and I come aross this webesite about floating glass shelfs. looks really good and not bad prices.

Have a look. Thinking of one for my self.

http://www.glassshelf.co.uk/index.htm

[northan]

Was thinking of using this for my mother in her room. Problem with hers was there is no way to hide the wires coming from the tv sitting on the shelve to underneath sky, htpc.
There is no way I could chase out the wall and I'm sure any trunking would detract from the brilliance of the glass shelve

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just noticed they sell them with a channel cut out for cables.
I will let her know about them, see if she can afford it. cheers

[dunks517]

They look rather nice, I would like to see one loaded though, my experience of floating shelves is that they are about 5 degrees from spilling everything!

[elootos]

(01-24-2011 08:36 PM)dunks517 Wrote:  ...my experience of floating shelves is that they are about 5 degrees from spilling everything!

Too true!

I'll agree they do look pimp though.

[Per]

The shelf you posted a link too looks cool, but certainly wouldn't be man enough to support any half decent AV kit - it woudl struggle with basic ornaments.

If you want a proper floating shelf for your AV kit then your local glass merchants will be able to supply 10 or 12mm (or thicker) toughened glass. They usually also have some tasty minimailist brackets, but, and its a rather big BUT, if you tell them you are going to place a 30kg AVR on the shelf, the brackets still won't be enough.

I trawled the web for some aluminium brackets about 3 years ago for my floating shelves - none were available, so I got some unique brackets and mounts (the mounts ended up being behing a panel and gave just enough depth for the cables to hide behind).

The company I bought the stuff from is no longer trading, otherwise I'd give you their details - the stuff wasn't cheap, but one shelf is supporting an Onkyo 875 amp (about 28kg) and my HTPC (ABOUT 10KG) plus the weight of 10mm toughened glass - which is 1000mm wide x 500mm deep - so a heck of a lot of weight on 3 brackets.

I will try and find some pictures and post them up.

Good luck with your hunting, but what ever you do, make sure you get the right bracket - the glass shelf is cheap to replace, but not your AV kit!!

Per

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Some pictures - hope they make sense!!







These were taken well before I got my HTPC, so I'll get some pictures with that in place and add them here soon.

Cheers

Per

[ali_g]

(01-26-2011 02:46 PM)Per Wrote:  These were taken well before I got my HTPC, so I'll get some pictures with that in place and add them here soon.

Cheers

Per

That looks good mate.

Those brackets look so strong you could sleep between the shelfs

In your case, your AV kit is under your tele so i don't think those neon blue lights would do your head/eyes any good anyway, i speak from experience, i now have my AV kit behind me, and wires under the carpet etc for now.

[elootos]

(01-26-2011 02:46 PM)Per Wrote:  The company I bought the stuff from is no longer trading, otherwise I'd give you their details - the stuff wasn't cheap, but one shelf is supporting an Onkyo 875 amp (about 28kg) and my HTPC (ABOUT 10KG) plus the weight of 10mm toughened glass - which is 1000mm wide x 500mm deep - so a heck of a lot of weight on 3 brackets.

Some pictures - hope they make sense!!

Great looking shelving!

The illuminated ones would just have a small LED strip stuck to the back edge of the glass, but as Ali_G says, too much light makes an annoying distraction more than anything.

Look forward to seeing photos as it is now with the fabled HTPC!

[cliffwright]

(01-27-2011 08:38 AM)elootos Wrote:  Great looking shelving!

. . . .


Look forward to seeing photos as it is now with the fabled HTPC!

Ditto and Ditto.

As much as I do like them though, they're not strictly 'floating' in the truest sense of not having exposed visible brackets extending out . . .

I'd be suprised if you could achieve 'proper - floating shelves' to take the full weight of all that tech without a more drastic approach that allowed for a larger amount of the glass to be 'slotted' into the wall (I'm imagining a piece of glass slotted through a stud wall or something here).

Where's this HTPC Pic then

[Per]

Cheers guys - you are right - they're not floating in the truest sense - I think that in orger to get real floating shelves and no visible supports, and to hold say 30-40kg (which is what a devent AVR and a HTPC will weigh) then you may need something like 1/3 of the glass depth in the wall so for a 500 deep shelf, the shelf would need say 160/170mm buried in the wall, so you'd be looking at a 660mm deep shelf.

Clearly if you went for thicker toughened glass - mines 10mm - but say something like 14mm, then you might get away with less in a wall, BUT - a sheet of toughened glass which is 1000mm wide, 660mm deep and 14mm thick will itself weigh a shed load (and not be cheap - I'd guess £100+ per sheet), this then starts to look really expensive and complicated.

Toughened glass is very heavy - a quick google check shows that a 1000x1000x6mmm sheet weighs 16kg per square meter, so a 1000x660x14mm is likely to weigh about 20kg or more. Add to that the kit and the part you have in the wall is supporting maybe 60kg - that's a heck of a weight to support and rely on 160mm of burried glass!!

Check out website below - 15mm tempered glass is 37.5kg per square metre. With a 660mm deep sheet you are looking at just under 25kg for the shelf alone. My Onkyo 875 weighs 28kg so glass of the size you'd need would be one mother of a thing to heave in to place!!!


http://www.westviewwindows.co.uk/pdf/TOU...0GLASS.pdf

Oh, and my fabled HTPC is in the Gallery section.

I would be very interested to see how you get on with your floating shelves - nothing is impossible just another challenge to overcome!!

Cheers

Per