to build 40 mm mdf and paint for alcove desk

G-Man

2 alcoves 1.1m wide. I want to put simple desks mounted on wall brackets in each one.

[IMG][/img]https://imgur.com/aFk066F


To maximise work area they are angled a bit. Dimensions of the smaller one on left is

1.1m Wide, long side .86m short side .45m

The right hand one is a bit larger and also has an angular piece to fit in against bay window.

I am thinking of using 40mm mdf and painting white. Comments welcome.

Kite Runner

Just a few quick points,

1, really this is a floating shelf set up, if you are mounting with wall brackets, normally using 15/18mm mdf with ribs inserted for strength. mounted on battens or some roundbar
2. very few 40mm stockists not on special order. would be very expensive, possibly consider birch ply.
3. painting is fine but edges of mdf very difficult to smooth so possibly look a a solid facing alip glued and pinned on face. eggsehell F&B or consider getting them sprayed.
4. try and look at these youtube guys for ideas. gosforth handyman | 10 minute workshop, peter milliard | the London Craftsman.

Jim

G-Man

Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate it, I did not learn much carpentry and tend to think about a project and eliminate all the extra details that could derail it. Now I did not realise face cut mdf would be bad, but you are right, some moulding will finish it nicely.

That gosforth on youtube has nice details. for floating alcoves. 18mm ply or mdf on top. 20mm strips and 6mm mdf on bottom . I can see for shelf visible top and bottom the laminated structure would hide more construction..

In a previous years I did those alcoves with floating shelves, I had 8 to do, 1.1m wide, 35cm deep. I went 38mm mdf and routed a slot 6mm from the bottom. That allowed me use cheap light 2mm folded angle iron as end brackets and the shelves slid on to the angles. Little bit of visibility too.. Not much. Those leaf shelfs have held for 15yrs jammed with heavy books, no noticeable sag.

Now I am back to take out the bottom shelf and put in this angled desk. Thing with a desk underside is not visible, so so some leeway for having construction details underneath. I unfortunately dont have the space or time for laminating and cutting, so thats my preference for the one sheet method. I could be prone to sag a bit more. In this case I think one spar or light shelf channel screwed to underneath should save it.

Woodworkers have 38mm mdf at 65 inc vat

quietsailor

Bah, I should have found this thread this last week before I built a shelf for our alcove. It was 1.8m or 6feet wide. Its getting a piece of counter top as the desk and I tried building the support out of 2x1 but even with gluing and screwing three pieces together at the front there is deflection.

If you look at office desks, even at 6 feet wide, they have 40 x20mm steel and it doesn't deflect. I reckon you don't even need to weld it, just put a bracket or piece of wood under each end of the metal to support it

quietsailor

The photos are of the frame I built, the first one should be of the view upwards and you can see the timber screwed to the wall that takes the weight.

My original four sided frame, screwed to three walls had huge deflection - maybe 10mm
I added two lengths to the front of that frame, gluing and screwing for extra rigidity and it still deflected ~5mm
Adding that piece screwed to the wall reduced deflection to ~1-2 mm. When I put on the counter top and screw all that together deflection will hopefully disappear!

The original frame was 450mm deep and adding two more length of timber made it 490 deep out from the back wall so you don't need a full depth frame if your top has a nice enough finish already.