[jeffnc]

I'm looking at some biggish built-in shelves. The shelves surround a fireplace but are deeper than normal. They appear to be made of 1" MDF. The side walls are also made of 1" MDF. They are putting a lot of books and heavy stuff on the shelves, but the supports are just 4 little pegs. On one shelf already, a couple pegs have ripped out of the MDF.

What I'm looking to do is put in some really heavy duty peg brackets. The current ones look like this
Pioneer 0946998-50 1/4" Nickel Shelf Pin (Bag of 50) - Amazon.com

The only bigger ones I can find are like this
Amazon.com: Shelf Support, Bracket-Style, Nickel, 1/4" (25): Home Improvement

I suppose instead of 4 of the former, I could use 9 of the latter - 3 on each shelf side.

I'm really hoping to do this with pegs instead of something more clunky and ugly and time consuming. Obviously big L brackets are out of the question, as are the metal clip strips (due to having to route out the channels for them.)

 

[Hammer1]

The problem isn't the shelf pin, it's the MDF. There are surface mounted shelf standards, metal tracks, that don't require routing in. You can also use grommets for the shelf pins, they are pushed in the MDF pin holes to make a more solid hole.

 

[GeorgeC]

Those are both 1/4" pegs. They have the same load carrying capability. They just look different.

You do not say how long the shelves are. Who is this "they" that is putting the heavy books on the shelves? Are these your shelves or are you doing a job for a customer.

You could drill a third hole of the same size between each pair of existing peg holes. Then insert one more peg to give three to each end of a shelf.

George

 

[jeffnc]

Yes, the problem is the MDF. However it's 1" thick, so if I could find shelf pins that go in 3/4" and if anything were thicker, that would make a big difference I think.

A customer is asking. I'm just doing some research to help them, they have someone else to do this kind of work for them.

I will definitely recommend drilling another hole on each side of the shelves (they are probably 28" x 24" or something like that.) With 3 holes on each side and a couple along the back edge, that should do it. I think those grommets might be the way to go.

 

[jeffnc]

Those are both 1/4" pegs. They have the same load carrying capability. They just look different.

Yeah, I was careless with the links. I think they have these now
http://www.widgetco.com/shelf-pins-5mm-nickel

They could bump up to these which are slightly larger
http://www.widgetco.com/shelf-pins-nickel-white-vinyl-1-4-L

I think the white vinyl is a nice touch with their white shelves. If they use these grommets
http://www.widgetco.com/shelf-pins-1-4-nickel-grommets-sleeves

then by using between 6 and 9 pins per shelf instead of 4, it should be super sturdy (3 pins on each side, maybe 2 or 3 more in the back.)

These are slightly bigger still - don't know how much difference that would make (don't come in the white vinyl though).
http://www.widgetco.com/shelf-pins-L-nickel-7mm
http://www.widgetco.com/grommets-shelf-pins-nickel-7mm-sleeve

 

[jeffnc]

There are surface mounted shelf standards, metal tracks, that don't require routing in.

I think the problem then would be that the shelves wouldn't fit in the space, since the metal tracks would cut in about 1/"4 in either side.

 

[jeffnc]

Something like this doesn't have a flat edge built in, but it definitely allows for about an inch going into the MDF, and about another inch sticking out under the shelf for support.
http://www.hardwareresources.com/in...category=FI&section=SS&item=1400BN&leadchar=0

Which do you think would be more reliable - this or the shorter peg with a metal grommet?