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Will it work?

Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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I'm designing some corner shelvs, about 12" deep, for a client. I want to hide the screws that attach it to the wall by setting them in a 1/4" deep groove behind the edge of the shelf and then set the shelf in to the groove. The shelf will be held in with a pair of rare earth magnets. To my eye it should work just fine. Am i missing anything?
Corner Shelves1a.jpg

Corner Shelves1c.jpg
 
I built a corner cabinet that needed to hang on the two walls. I ended up making two French Cleats after determining that the wall corner was truly 90 deg. French cleats held the top and the same thickness spacers held the bottom out from the wall the same distance as the upper French Cleats. These were all painted flat black before installation, so they could hid in the shadow.

It worked for my cabinet, but I like your idea for the shelf. I would use more magnets, even for this single shelf though, but check the angle of the wall corner where it will be used. Not all wall corners are 90 degrees and the magnets will not hold well enough if there is a gap.

Charley
 
I'm going to tentatively say "yes probably and I don't see why not".

So I've built something almost but not entirely like this called "hungarian shelves" which only have the connection at the back.

For those they *have* to be wedged underneath otherwise they sag because they're only connected at the very back of the shelf. The wedge acts as both the mechanism to lock the shelf in place, as well as prevent downward sag. With your design that problem is entirely removed as you have full support on two sides.

I would probably offset the magnets on the wall bracket very slightly down so as to make sure to pull the shelf down to the bottom of the slot.

I could see there being a slight problem if something very heavy was placed on the very front edge of the shelf which might cause it to tilt forward slightly. If you could incorporate some sort of ?something? in the very back corner to press down on the point back there that would both prevent that as well as help lock the assembly in place (that might also obviate the need for magnets...). Maybe a "decorative spline" (or something similar..) in the back corner that hides basically a set screw to lock the shelf in place? Probably fine without it if it's built to your usual tolerances though :D

Some articles on hungarian shelves that probably explain them better than I do:

flyingcircusstudios.blogspot.com

Yet More Hungarian Shelves

Finally realized upon installing this set of shelves that knocking in the wedges with an oversized block that extends beyond the front e...
flyingcircusstudios.blogspot.com flyingcircusstudios.blogspot.com
maxwellsdaemons.blogspot.com

Hungarian Shelves

After last week’s wood cutting exploits I have finally managed to get my Hungarian Shelves up. I had decided to varnish the wood in differe...
maxwellsdaemons.blogspot.com maxwellsdaemons.blogspot.com

a rather messy picture of one wall of books from the ones I made demonstrating that the basic idea can certainly hold plenty of weight haha. The uprights are every 32" (studs were 16" oc and I put in an upright for every other stud).

1701565236371.png
 
Another alternative is a dovetail on one wall and and a dado as shown on the other wall. Depends on sight lines as to which wall gets the dovetail.
 
My concern is when Mrs. Client dust cleans the shelf it may be pulled out of the back bracket and surrender to gravity. :unsure:
the sketch here suggests a couple of metal rods on one side and a sliding dovetail on the other to allow for assembly.
Actually you might even eliminate the dove tail and stay with your design on the right side of the bracket. The rods I would slightly bend or install at an angle such that there would be some friction / drag grab when the shelf is slid in.
Myself I would simply suggest glue attaching the shelf after the bracket was in place.
calabrese55
 

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The larger Rare Earth magnets they are VERY strong. The dado groove that is also a help. The issue is the leverage on the shelf with a load added to the shelf and the lever arm.

French cleats would be better. Four LARGE rare earth magnets would be better. nothing heavy on the shelf, especially at the outer edge.
 
Here's another hastily scribbled thought. Pin the shelf through the top at the front edge to keep it captured in the mortise. Cut out a bit of the mortise slot to house an extention of the small lip at each end of the shelf. Drill a 1/16" hole through both pieces and then enlarge the top portion of the hole enough to house a metal (of your choice) rod to lock the shelf in place. Pushing a paper clip up through the 1/16" hole at the bottom pushes out the pin to remove the shelf. Sounds more complicated than it really is. I use spring loaded rods to create hidden hinges in boxes.
corner shelf.jpg
 
All of this implies a perfect 90 deg wall angle at the point where the shelf attaches. A quick check of this will save a lot of time later.

I like Ted's idea, as it will guarantee that the shelf will not pull out as long as the pins are in place.

Charley
 
Jim said: "Don't overload the shelf."

Agree. But, personally, I don't care for the idea of the magnets. At some point in the life of the shelf someone is going to overload it and/or hang on it and everything, including that valuable glass antique thingy, will come tumbling down. Why not just run screws into it from behind?
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Don't overload the shelf
Click to expand...
it's in a full rebate, I would happily stand on that shelf design if the connection to the wall is good. The most likely failure point for overload is the bracket splitting along the grain line but if it's decent wood that would still be a lot of weight.

Also liking Teds idea. I don't think you need the bottom pin hole if the pin is magnetic as two magnets on the top would extract the pins :D
 
WOW. Such great input. Some really super ideas.

Much of the concern seems to be with weight. I should have mentioned that the shelf is only 12" deep and will hold this type of item
Shelf.jpg

I think there will be less than a pound or two on the shelf.

Also, I had the client place a framing square in each of the corners that will have shelves. One is a good 90, the other is way out. I'll have him make a cardboard template of the corner and send it to me before I begin building.
 
Don Baer said:
I would simply make the back of the shelf into a french cleat. The way the shelf it made with the sides would hide the french cleat and it would hide the angle cut of the cleat.
Click to expand...
I like the original concept. If the 'groove' portion of the base is deep enough, the shelf likely won't ever pull out of it. The ±90° angle of the corner dictates that the shelf would have to pull straight away from the corner to come loose.
 
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