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The finished shelves and desk - before loading!My friend wanted a unique fitout for his home office, so I suggest we do a custom floating desk/shelf combo, using Acacia project panels.
Materials
- Practa 2200 x 600 x 26mm Acacia Timber Benchtop
- M12 threaded rod
- Aluminium Angle
- 50mm black screws
- Painters Masking Tape
- Cable Duct
- Liquid nails
- No More Gaps
Tools
- Drill
- Circular Saw with Rip Guide
- Franklin Stud Finder
- Dewalt laser level
Steps
Step 1
Firstly I marked the wall where I wanted the shelves to go. I used good scotchblue masking tape run horizontally to show where the shelves would be. Its worth using the good stuff as you dont want to mark the walls or take off paint.
In this case I knew my friend wanted to put some big hardback books on the shelves so made sure they were far enough apart so he could do this.
I used a laser level to get each row of tape perfectly level; although a spirit level and some patience will achieve the same effect.
The shelves would be supported by threaded rod inserted into the wall studs. I ran the stud finder across each wall to mark exactly where the studs were. The Franklin Stud Finder is perfect for this as it shows exactly where the studs begin and end so you can drill exactly in the centre.
In this case I wanted four shelves with the lowest joining into the desk.
Step 2
I ripped the Acacia bench down into 300mm wide shelves using a circular saw and a Kreg Rip Cut Saw guide. I used the benchtop timber as it was nice and thick, so there was plenty of stength for when I put the threaded rods in.
I needed three benchtops: two ripped in half to make four shelves and another for the desk and shelf dividers.
Step 3
The most important (and difficult part) was to get the holes for the threaded rod to match up perfectly on the wall and the shelves.
To do this, I marked the centre of each stud on the marking tape strips put down in Step 1 - this is where I would drill the wall holes. BUT BEFORE DRILLING THE HOLES, I held up the shelves flat against the wall so I could transfer the position of each wall hole marking to the edge of the shelf. This should end up with them being 450mm or so apart (depending on the stud spacing in your wall). I used masking tape and pencil to number the shelves layers 1-4 so they each would correspond exactly with their related wall holes.
Step 4
Once I had the shelves marked up, it was time to drill out the holes.I was using 12mm threaded rod so drilled the holes with a 13mm bit. It is vital you get the holes perfectly at rightangles to the wall. I used a CARBATEC 3/8 INCH JIG PORTABLE DRILL GUIDE (not sure if Bunnings stocks something similar) but you can make up a 90 degree drill jig - there are plenty of tutorials online.
The wall studs should be no more than 80mm deep (otherwise you risk drilling through the wall into the other side!) and you should go about 100mm into the shelves.
Be sure to check for any powercables and utilities that may already be in the wall.
Since the studs were at 450mm centres and the shelves were about 2200mm long, I ended up with 4 holes/threaded rods per shelf.
Step 5
I used an angle grinder to cut the threaded rod into 180mm long lengths. Inserting the 12mm rod into 13mm holes will give you some wriggle room when sliding the shelves into place.
Once I had all the holes drilled and the rod cut, I gave each hole, both on the shelf and wall, a squirt of liquid nails then pushed each rod into the wall. Then I slid the shelves onto the rods.
This was pretty fiddly because, no matter how careful you are drilling your holes at 90 degrees, even a millimetre or two variance in each stud hole and threaded rod will make it difficult to match with the shelf holes. But patience and a bit of elbow grease got each shelf onto its threaded rods.
Step 6
Each shelf ended up tipped a tiny bit up or down. I used the left over shelf material to cut some vertical dividers. These strengthened the overall structure and also brought them to be perfectly level with each other. Take your time to measure these exactly and get the cuts at precisely 90 degrees - I used a speed square for this.
I didnt want too many as I still wanted it to have a "floating" feeling, so one full size one on one end and several smaller ones gave it the necessary strength. If I needed more, I would use large pieces on alternating ends to give it a zig-zag feel. I fixed these vertical supports to the shelves using 50mm black screw, which were pretty subtle against the dark wood.
Step 7
The desk section was a bit simpler. Since it joined the wall on three sides I couldnt use the same threaded rod method. Instead I cut 30mm white aluminium angel to the length of 1 long and 2 short ends of the desk. I then screwed these to the wall studs and placed the desk on top of them them.
Getting the desk the exact size is a bit difficult since your walls may not be perfect right angles. So it is worth making a template out of MDF or cardboard to get the precise fit, then transferring that to your desk panel.
I also used a hole saw to install a 60mm cable duct to allow the computers power cables to pass through the desk
Step 8
We gave plenty of time for the liquid nails to dry before filling the shelves, but as you can see there has been no problems taking his whole library and very important scotch bottles.
Hello @jase2
I am a big fan of custom shelves and yours is truly outstanding. I understand the difficulty of drilling straight into timber and maintaining that 90-degree angle. Even a slight variance is immediately visible as it ruins the straight edge of the shelf.
Using threaded rod as the shelf holder is very clever, but I reckon even this was a challenge to drill and mount into the wall. Thank God for laser levels, it has so many uses. Your shelves look absolutely fantastic.
Thank you for sharing such an outstanding project.
Eric
Afternoon @jase2
"Eyes wide" really, I was looking at the cover picture and thinking to myself nice but are they strong enough? Then was stepping throught your commenst. Yep, yep and oh wow yep as you described what you did. Love the detailed explanations, It felt like I was standing there watching you do the job!
Then the last pic with the shelves "LOADED" popped up! far out, they are beautiful and man they are solid. I had a better understanding of the thickness of the timber you used after reading but with the books on it 
yeeeeah. So one last question, how long ago did you install them and have they saged at all? I have bookcases and even ones you think should carry the weight still end up with that bow.
Dave
