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I’m building a display in to a brick alcove in my Tv room where i will display/store my whiskey. I’d like to use a vintage style bulb at the top to light the display and clear shelves which i thought i would cut a template and then route the 3 shelves from Acrylic. I was planning to make some supports which screw the the brick from a hardwood along with a matching wood front lip.
Does anyone have any information on the load and thickness required for the acrylic? For the amount i need it will be fairly expensive so i don’t want to buy a too thin material and it bow.
Depends on the width of your shelves, I’d say no less than 3/8th but it is still going to bow. Acrylic will bow with time no matter how thick. So my suggestion is to buy tempered glass from a glass supplier. Do not use acrylic for a shelf, you will not be happy with it.
That is not relevant, tensile strength is the resistance of a material to breaking under tension. The shelves will not be under tension, nor will that matter in terms of deflection.
When plate glass breaks it breaks into large pieces, which can cause serious harm to anyone near it. Tempered glass breaks into a million little pieces. You may end up with very small cuts but you do not have to worry about being seriously injured. Tempered Glass is 4 times stronger than regular glass of the same thickness. 1/4″ Tempered Glass has the same strength as a 1″ thick piece of regular glass. Tempered glass does cost more but in my opinion not worth the cost savings. Don"t use plate glass for shelving.
I was think acrylic as i can work with it myself however I’ve started looking in to tempered glass. I’m just waiting to see back about the costs from a few local suppliers. I can make up a template or send them a CAD file which ever.
If its too expensive, i’ll either look at making a solid wood self or a wooden shelf with a cut out to take a standard square / rectangular glass shelf.
