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If putting holes in the wall was a game this shelf wouldn’t net you any points. The image above is a very rough SketchUp drawing of a shelf I am going to start building over the next couple of weeks. The concept of “clamping” shelving between the ceiling and floor isn’t original to me, in fact I’ve see several variations of the idea; this is just my variation. The point of this method of mounting shelves is – you get the shelf without the holes in your wall, the concept also lends itself to being placed where there is no wall (stud) support.
If you want it you can download the SketchUp file (right click “Save Target As/Save Link As”)
2/8 – flanges arrived yesterday, build starts Friday night.
First step is to remove the lip from the 9 flanges that will be used to support the shelves:
If you don’t want to remove the lip yourself Simplified Building will bore out the flanges for you (additional cost for each fitting).
The following action likely voids any guarantee or warranty the Kee Klamps have.
There probably are better ways to do this, but I used a metal hole saw to remove the majority of the lip and then a drill grinder to get the rest out:
The flanges were screwed down to the board to keep them secure during drilling:
The hole saw didn’t quite remove enough of the lip, so a grinder was used to get the rest out:
Eventually:
Testing the fit:
Cutting the pipe to length:
3 short pieces for the ceiling half of the clamp mechanism:
3 long pieces for shelf support and floor half of the clamp mechanism:
Taking the burs off the ends of the pipe:
3/8″ thread rod, bolts and washers for the clamp mechanism:
This is how I originally envisioned the clamp assembly, this later changes slightly:
Making the holes in the shelves for the pipe to pass through:
Test Assembly:
Notice the change in the clamp assembly from the first picture? I decided that the pipe in the ceiling half of the clamp assembly wasn’t necessary:
Emily, the child labor my niece helping to sand the shelves before the application of polyurethane:
Final assembly, I found the easiest way to assemble the shelf was to insert the pipe into the footer and slide on the flanges and shelves separately adding the header last.
I was sick out of my skull while doing this part, apologies for the lackluster photos.
Making everything level:
The bottom shelf got a hole on either side to pass cables through:
All done:
This was an easy project, the hardest part of the build was drilling out the lip on the flanges; so Kee Klamp take note and make flanges that allow the pipe to pass through Simplified Building will do this for you. Admittedly, I was worried as to how well this shelf would work (even though I’ve seen similar shelves before) but the shelf turned out to be very stable. Even though it’s placed against a wall here I don’t think there would be any issues if it wasn’t.
Project parts:
- x15 – type 61-6 1″ Kee Klamp Flanges | Simplified Building
- x3 – 10ft 1″ galvanized pipe | Home Depot
- x3 – 1×12x8 | shelves | Home Depot
- x2 – 1×6x8 | header and footer | Home Depot
- x3 – 2ft 3/4″ threaded rod | clamp assembly | Home Depot
- x6 – 3/4″ bolts | clamp assembly | Home Depot
- x6 – 3/4″ flat washers | clamp assembly | Home Depot
- x60 – 3/4″ screws | attach flanges to shelves | Home Depot
Notes:
- Galvanized pipe is dirty because of the oil that is on it, you’ll want to clean it off after cutting it to length, dish soap and water worked well.
- The Home Depot grade of galvanized pipe may not be “pretty” to some people. You could use aluminum pipe or prettier galvanized pipe but it’s a bit spendy and I like the industrial look; fence post is probably to flimsy for this project.
- The table saw and metal cutting blade I used worked but it binds easily, a chop saw would work better.
- You want to tighten the clamp mechanism pretty tight, just not too tight as putting a hole through your ceiling would defeat the design of this shelf.
- I didn’t cut the 2ft threaded rod, about 1-1/2″ is inside the top flange the rest is inside the pipe. You want to make sure that there is a decent portion of the rod in the flange and the pipe to alleviate the possibility of it slipping out.
In the interest of full disclosure – Simplified Building provided me with a discount (read: I still paid for them, just not retail) on the Kee Klamp fittings used in this project. In exchange for the discount I agreed to document the project here on awaitinginspiration.com and instructables.com. This project was conceived and planed using Kee Klamps and would be using Kee Klamps purchased from Simplified Building regardless of the discount Simplified Building graciously extended me. Thinking about it, I got off like a bandit because I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t have done anyway.
Related – Kee Klamp Shelf (not on the cheap)
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How successful do you think this would have been using furniture grade PVC pipe instead of the metal pipe you used?
@Sam
Not sure… you figure the average (standard anyway) ceiling height is 8 feet, take away 12 inches from that (the clamp mechanism takes that up) and you’d have to ask yourself how rigid is a piece of PVC (even furniture grade) at 7 feet long?
Since the strength (what’s holding everything up) of this shelf is in the rigidity of the pipe and how tight it is clamped between the ceiling and the floor, compounded by the length of PVC you’d have to use I’m not sure it would be rigid enough; I picture the PVC bowing out as you clamp it down. But maybe if you used 2 inch or larger diameter PVC it may work. It certainly would not hold as much. You’d also have to substitute PVC fittings for the metal – Kee Klamp – ones I used to hold up the shelf as they would not work out so well; I’d imagine the set screw would crack the PVC.
It’s not that odd of a question though – some people brought it up on instructables as well. If anyone does make this shelf with PVC I’d love to hear about it!