Introduction: Create Space and Get Rid of Wires With This Shelfie
This is how you can create space with a design look and get rid of those horrible wires, modem and sockets. This inscrutable involves woodwork. Some experience with laser cut parts or CNC milling of wood and drilling holes is advised.
You need:
1x lasercut plywood shelf. (Size 70 x 70 cm. You can use my PDF and order it at a company that can laser cut or CNC-mill wood.
4x screws and rings from the hardware-store
Glue for wood
Drill for concrete of type of wall you have at home
Wrench
Level
Tape or clamps
Pencil
Wet cloth
Step 1: Mounting and Drilling
First of all you need the shelf. You can use my PDF and order it at a company that can laser-cut or CNC-mill wood. Use 6 mm thick plywood, MDF, bamboo or acrylic for this design. The drawing is meant for a 1200 x 600 mm board. Note that you need 2 of the same boards to create this shelf. Every part needs to be cut twice! On the drawing there is a large and a tiny one.
Place the first part on the proper height. I fixed it as low as possible to hide as much of the wires. Hold it leveled and use a pencil to draw a line.
Drill the first holes.
Most handy for now is to fix the part with two or more screws. Or you'll need more hands to help you later on.
Then place the second part on the other side of the wall and make sure it's leveled.
Step 2: Assembling the Shelf
Now it is time to assemble the shelf. It consists of a lot of parts so you need some puzzling and patience.
Take the two parts you fixed on the wall in step 2 and assemble the whole shelf with a proper amount of glue. Apply enough glue to the slots. It doesn't matter if it pores out when you put the parts together.But don't forget you must remove the glue drops with a wet cloth, otherwise it will stain on the wood when it dries.
Use tape or clamps to secure some parts from moving during this process.
Let the glue dry
Step 3: Mounting the Shelf
This is the last step. After you've assembled the shelf, fit it to the wall.
This requires the 4 or more screws/rings and a wrench and some patience. The space in this design to move the wrench is limited, but you'll manage.
After this you can start decorating and enjoying your new created space.
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25 Comments
7 years ago
Looks great...I won't start this until I have got some way into your sunken shelf #2.
I have a question, please: Do you just print the PDF design onto a single sheet of A4 paper?
Cheers and thank you for your magnificent designs. You should think about patenting them.
8 years ago
That's really clean. Add some glass and your set!
8 years ago on Introduction
Approximately what does it cost to have this amount of laser cutting done?
Reply 8 years ago
Please someone correct me if I'm totally wrong. Here is my estimation:
- First thing you should know is that laser cutting services charge you by cutting time. Some even charge you a fixed amount for setting up the laser and performing test cuts. My last laser cut job was for 1€/min
- Second: cutting speed estimation. For 6mm light plywood and with a 80W laser, you would probably be able to cut cleanly at about 5mm/s
- Third: calculation. I don't want to look at the pdf and measure the exact path you have to cut. But the whole board is 70cm each side, so the longest element is 70cm long. So let's say (yes it's actually more than that) the perimeter is double = 140cm. The length of the elements decrease towards the outer area. So let's say the average perimeter is 80% of the longest one. There are 28 pieces.
1400mm*0.8*28=31360mm
That makes around 105mins cutting time. Plus additional cost for the plywood, which should not be more than 10USD (cheap compared to the cutting service)
******TD; DR******
I think around 100USD @ 5mm/s
Again, please correct me if my estimation is way off.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply!
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
That is a real good estimation. Including transport this costed about €110 or $115 to make.
Reply 8 years ago
HAHaaaa! I gave myself a cookie after reading your reply ;-)
8 years ago on Introduction
I don't know much about engineering those designs, and interlocking design priciples.... however, I feel that the way this shelf holds itself to the wall is genius and totally underappreciated.
The first thought I had after looking at your fotos was: "That looks nice but I don't feel that it is reliable, the "rips" are only connected to the wall-pieces screwed to the wall with very little contact area. And those long rips are huge levers once you put something on the shelf. How the hell does it work????"
... but after studying the design I realized that on the one side, the rips are coming down on the wall-piece from the top, on the other side from the bottom. The orthogonal interlocking pieces work like a clamp on both wall-pieces! So if you would glue all the rips riggidly together (in an ideal world scenario), you could even go without glueing the rest to the wall pieces. The construction would not only clamps itself on the endpieces to withstand vertical force, but also prevent it from beeing pulled out, because the angle the shelf can be pulled out from one wall-piece is orthogonal to the other wall-piece.
.... that's awesome!
8 years ago on Introduction
You make good use of the dark-burnt color difference. But really, we can see the wires etc are not under the shelf in the picture. What if they somehow hung from the shelf, off the floor.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
The shelf is an open structure so you can see through when in the right angle. So you don't want the wires to close to the bottom of the shelf. That's why I left the wires on the floor.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Pretty sure you just proved how well the shelf works.
8 years ago on Introduction
Wow! That's super cool! It would be interesting to also hang the powerstrip under the shelf so it's not seen on the flour as well.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
That is a great idea. But consider that the shelf is an open structure. So you can see through when you look from the top down. So you don't want things close to the bottom of the shelf.
Forgot it myself when it was watering the flower, pored water in my modem.
8 years ago on Introduction
Love it! It really looks cool :) Great job!
8 years ago
That is one elaborate self. But I'm unclear how you got rid of any wires or how that had anything to do with the shelf. From the photos, it seems that the electrical components are still on the ground, just covered from view at this angle, by the shelf. Is that the case?
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
It looks like the idea is to allow the wires to pass through the shelf body, due to its openwork design, so that things that need to sit there all the time can do so without showing off wire clutter, and things that get charged there can either do so while underneath, or have their cords passed through and sit on top. It hides the wires and power strip while also allowing them to have enough airflow to not overheat, and ease of access to vacuum regularly to prevent dust buildup.
I might suggest also mounting the power strip to the wall just below the shelf itself, but that's my preference.
Reply 8 years ago
Yes,that is the case. Hiding
8 years ago on Introduction
Beautiful, got my vote!
8 years ago on Introduction
Consider laser-cutting small diameter holes in a pattern at the mid-point of each square close to the bottom edge. It would add a "design element" as well as offering you a modular anchor point to zip-tie items to the bottom of the shelf to get them off the floor.
8 years ago on Introduction
Mmmmm, makes me think of waffles.