[Chris Hovanic]

I am planing on building a DVD-Rack insert for my existing built-in shelves. Click here to see My Shelves. They are all finished in sheetrock.

I want to build somthing simmilar to the Boltz Racks, with the rods that span across the width of the shelf (About 40" +/- 2") and the DVDs/CDs sit on the bars.

My plan was to attach two boards (3/4" thick) to each side of the existing shelf (vertically) and drill 1/2" deep holes to support the steel rods (1/4" or 5/16").

Has anyone done something like this? And if so, would like to share the dimensions for the hole layout?

Is 1/4" of 5/16" strong enough to keep the shelf from sagging when loaded with DVDs/CDs?

Any other ideas to hide the 3/4" board on either side of the existing shelves?

Thanks four your comments and ideas!

[Dan Wesnor]

I've done something similar to this. Just lay a DVD case on the board at about a 30 degree angle and trace it. Then mark where the 3 holes go on the edge of the tracing, making sure the top-back hole is low enough that a CD won't fall through and the bottom back hole is at least 1" forward of the corner. Drill your hole so that the EDGE of the hole (not the center) is on the outline of the case.

Make the holes only *slightly* larger than the rod is. If it is loose, the end boards will not want to stay upright.

I spanned 3 feet with either 3/8" or 7/16" rods (can't remember).

If you have to paint the rods, paint them with spray lacquer. It won't gum up the nuts as much as enamel will.

[Chris Hovanic]

Dan thanks for the idea on the layout...

"The Boss" decided that we needed something less intrusive. She did not like the idea of a board being screwed to the sides of the shelves. She did have a good idea though and maybe someone here might know if the part exists or not.

You can buy a piece of hardware for you closet rod that screws to the wall and the rod slides into it from the top. You put one on each end of the closet to support each end of the rod. Problem is... that piece of hardware is too large for what I want to do. Does anyone know if some manufacture makes something similar for the smaller dia. rod that I will be using (1/4" or 5/16")

Thanks

[Chris Hovanic]

Update

After about a hour of scouring Home Depot I found the bits and pieces that will work for building my DVD/CD racks.

What I found was some screw-in heavy duty hooks ( Crawfor #13WH ) with a kewl cover to cover the screws and some 1/2" aluminum round tube (which should polish up very nicely.)

The hooks dissasemble leaving a little stub that the tube can slide over. I will have to drill out the tube just a little to allow for the dia. of the stub but it should work very good.

I will post pics once I complete the project.

[Chris Hovanic]

UPDATE

My search for Alum. tube left me hanging, but a friend who is a machinist was able to find me some 1/2" solid Alum Rod. Cost me about $20 and he cut them to length for me.

This weekend I went over to my dads to use his drill press to drill the ends out. We decided that it would be too difficult to try to align each rod to drill out. Luckily a friend at work has a lathe and said he would drill them out for me.

So I decided to polish the rod. Started with 150 grit and worked my way to 400 grit. Chucked the rod in the drill press and let it do most of the work.

Here are some pictures to look at....

Next step drilling out the ends... Stay tuned

[Adan.S]

I just wanted to comment that my family room looks like yours in terms of all the baby toys sitting around!

Good luck in getting your shelves built.

[Chris Hovanic]

yea isnt that great... you should see it 15 min after he wakes up from his nap! Yikes

Some are used as barriers to help keep him away from things. He loves to pull all the movies/dvds/cds off the shelf. Thats one reason for the new rack.

[Adan.S]

My daughter uses my Mits to stand herself up. I cringe everytime I see the speaker cloth stretch as she puts her weight on it! She also loves to bang on the screen protector go figure. She loves watching Elmo on the 65" screen though.

[Chris Hovanic]

UPDATE

Just finished my top two shelves.

Each shelf holds 1 row of DVD's on the existing shelf, 1 row of DVD's on the alum. rods and 1 row of CD's on the top alum rods. The next shelf down will hold two rows of CD's.

You can see pictures here.

My wife did an excellent job laying out all the mounting points.

Let me know if anyone needs any more information.

[Chuck Bogie]

www.shapriosupply.com has just about any sort of aluminum rod/tubing that a DIY person would need.

[Allen Ross]

great looking rack













some one had to say it