I've been wanting a shelf for some time, not a big one but big enough to get items off my desk and free up some working space. I still had a fair bit of aluminium L lengths left from previous project so I decided to use it up building a floating shelf.
Check the project link above for the original desk project.
The wood is just 5MM MDF using 3M (3MM) nuts and bolts, 2"/5CM philips head screws and a hand saw + precision saw with metal cutting blades to cut excess bolt away.
So this is my side desk that latches on to my primary desk creating a L shape, it has 3 deep draws and light-box area. You can see I've created a box aluminium frame out of the L lengths and used the 3M nuts and bolts to fasten everything. There is full back panel because things where forever falling down the back, now they can't.
The back panel is just low enough for my cork pin-board to go in front and hide it, however I wanted my shelf 43CM exactly off the desk level so it matched the level of my computer case. I extended the height just using more L aluminium pieces fixing at 2 points per piece for maximum structural integrity (strength). At this point I can use the top like a handle to pick the entire desk section up, so it's pretty strong.
Of course no matter how strong it all is at the back, the shelf will deform with a weight at the front so I attached a support arm on the wall side to provide extra strength. The shelf itself is the same 3MM plywood just bolted into the aluminium frame.
You can see in this picture the extra box frame I added under the shelf meaning the wood is no longer load bearing the weight all the aluminium structure is. Now all the stuffs off my desk! Desk floating shelf mod
As this side desk is where I solder I plan to next add "3 phase" lights with 3 settings of brightness. In short 3 long rows of LED's under the shelf with either a variable voltage controller or maybe more simple like being able to turn each individual row on and off. This is the darkest corner in the room so soldering has always been a day time thing. Until next time...!
