Day 565, The Shelfish Gene: a voyage of personal discovery

Alright, let’s over think this.

Why aren’t these shelves that I put up being used effectively?

I’ve always had some level of reluctance to put heavy things on these shelves. Well maybe not just 'not put' heavy things there as there have been a few heavy items up there.  What I really mean is put heavy items on the shelf from a point just beyond a third of the way along from the left hand end. The left hand end is supported robustly by a wall - the other end of the shelf is only attached to the wall along the back of the shelves. The right hand end is supported by a terminating board between the two shelves which keeps them the correct height apart. This vertical board is solidly screwed into the wall.

The shelf is effectively floating at the right hand end other than along the back. This would be fine if the shelves were narrow and only contained paperback books. This shelf however is 30 cm deep and isn’t just for small paperback books.  The extra depth of the shelf makes putting any heavy item near the edge of the shelf more of a problem - Archimedes recognised this phenomenon when he was putting up shelves in his Syracuse home, hence his great understanding of the nature of leverage.

So that’s it, I've worked out that my concern stems from understanding Archimedes. I think that must be a win. Only 2000 odd years to go before I discover how to get water from downstairs to upstairs, I'm still working on it.

Back to the shelf.

Maybe if had bolted the end board into the wall rather than using long screws and plugs that would have inspired more confidence?

Maybe if I put a couple of small, diagonal, supports at the less supported end that would inspire more confidence?

One other thing, the shelf is flexing in the middle. The front middle is lower than each end of the front and is lower than the back. Part of this problem is due to there being a ‘yet to be fitted’ central support which attaches to both shelves and also screws into the wall.

The first task is to put the central support in. Then put in two diagonal supports under the lower shelf - the diagonal supports can fulfil a dual purpose with a dowel or multiple dowels running between them which can be used for hanging various items from.

Ok, so that’s it over-thunk and I'm happy that this will remove the uncertainty in the effectiveness of the shelves.

Let’s do it!

First part done, I immediately fitted the mid-shelf support. Now to fit the diagonal supports, although I don't appear to have the right length screws, perhaps Archimedes has something to say about that.

Shelf without the mid-shelf support.

For official/internal use only:
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