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wardrobe rail: 19mm or 25mm?

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Fred

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Apr 18, 2012, 9:24:31 AM4/18/12
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Hi,

I'm about to put the finishing touches to my wardrobe. I just need to
decide whether to buy a 19mm or 25mm rail to hang the clothes from. Is
the 25mm one thicker and stronger or is it just a cosmetic choice?

TIA

Andrew May

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Apr 18, 2012, 9:37:21 AM4/18/12
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What about oval? Seems it should be stronger in the direction that matters:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/d3d9muw

I have just got some to replace a circular rail that was sagging in the
middle although it will have centre support that the old one did not.

Dave Liquorice

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Apr 18, 2012, 11:43:30 AM4/18/12
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On Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:37:21 +0100, Andrew May wrote:

>> I'm about to put the finishing touches to my wardrobe. I just need
to
>> decide whether to buy a 19mm or 25mm rail to hang the clothes
from. Is
>> the 25mm one thicker and stronger or is it just a cosmetic choice?

What span? 25mm will be stronger.

> What about oval? Seems it should be stronger in the direction that
> matters:

Provided you fit it flats vertical. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.



Andrew May

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Apr 18, 2012, 12:20:26 PM4/18/12
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On 18/04/2012 16:43, Dave Liquorice wrote:

>> What about oval? Seems it should be stronger in the direction that
>> matters:
>
> Provided you fit it flats vertical. B-)
>

Try finding brackets to fit it with the flats horizonatlly.

ss

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Apr 18, 2012, 5:36:56 PM4/18/12
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I have just made some wooden ones from 1 x 1.5 inch (approx) wood and
ovalled one end, I didnt need brackets as I jointed into the uprights.
It would be easy enough though to make some brackets from wood.

Dave Liquorice

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Apr 18, 2012, 5:53:14 PM4/18/12
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On Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:20:26 +0100, Andrew May wrote:

>>> What about oval? Seems it should be stronger in the direction
that
>>> matters:
>>
>> Provided you fit it flats vertical. B-)
>>
>
> Try finding brackets to fit it with the flats horizonatlly.

There's nowt daft as folk... B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.



Mike Barnes

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Apr 18, 2012, 6:02:23 PM4/18/12
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Andrew May <andrew...@hotmail.com>:
The brackets that I've seen you could fit at any angle.

--
Mike Barnes

Andrew May

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Apr 19, 2012, 4:16:06 AM4/19/12
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The one that I have the rail drops in from the top so mounting the other
way would not result in the most secure installation possible.

GMM

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Apr 19, 2012, 4:49:34 AM4/19/12
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I would definitely second that. Ikea use oval rails in their
wardrobes and they seem never to bow, over a 1m run. If sizes are
compatible, their rails might be a good solution, as you can get them
separately, with brackets, in 1m and 0.5m sizes. I guess they can be
cut down but they do have a notch that engages with the bracket which
might be tricky to introduce to a cut down one.

Fred

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Apr 20, 2012, 4:32:04 AM4/20/12
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On Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:43:30 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
<allsortsn...@howhill.co.uk> wrote:

>What span? 25mm will be stronger.

Thanks for all the replies. I hadn't considered oval before; I will
look into that.

It will be 6' wide.

I saw some circular tube in Wickes and the wall thickness looked about
the same for 19mm and 25mm so I did wonder whether they would be as
strong as each other but then I remembered how much harder it is to
bend 22mm pipe compared to 15mm, so there must be more to it that wall
thickness.

PeterC

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Apr 20, 2012, 9:00:55 AM4/20/12
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Stiffness is proportional to wall thicknees and to the square of the
diameter, so diameter is more important than length...er, what were we
talking about?
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

Fred

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Apr 21, 2012, 10:30:11 AM4/21/12
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On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:00:55 +0100, PeterC
<giraffe...@homecall.co.uk> wrote:


>Stiffness is proportional to wall thicknees and to the square of the
>diameter, so diameter is more important than length

Thanks for the explanation. I was thinking cross sectional area was
going to be involved, so I was thinking along (almost) the right
lines.

Tony Bryer

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Apr 22, 2012, 12:47:20 AM4/22/12
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On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:00:55 +0100 PeterC wrote :
> Stiffness is proportional to wall thicknees and to the square of the
> diameter, so diameter is more important than length...er, what were we
> talking about?

Sort of: stiffness is proportional to the I value which for a thin tube
(according to Roark's Formulae) = pi R^3t, so for a given wall thickness
proportional to R^3 (or D^3)

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on',
Melbourne, Australia www.greentram.com

Dave Liquorice

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Apr 23, 2012, 7:00:43 AM4/23/12
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On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:32:04 +0100, Fred wrote:

>> What span? 25mm will be stronger.
>
> It will be 6' wide.

That will need at least one if not two or three supports along it's
length. Clothes are surprisingly heavy.

--
Cheers
Dave.



Fred

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Apr 23, 2012, 1:25:57 PM4/23/12
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On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:43 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
<allsortsn...@howhill.co.uk> wrote:

>
>That will need at least one if not two or three supports along it's
>length. Clothes are surprisingly heavy.

Thanks, I had planned to do that. I was going to put a shelf above the
rail and screw the centre supports into that and end supports into the
wall. Do you think a sheet of contiboard would be strong enough to
hold the central supports?

I may reduce the span, if I decide to partition it and put some
shelves on one side.

Andrew May

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Apr 24, 2012, 4:06:26 AM4/24/12
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On 23/04/2012 18:25, Fred wrote:
> On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:43 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
> <allsortsn...@howhill.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>
>> That will need at least one if not two or three supports along it's
>> length. Clothes are surprisingly heavy.
>
> Thanks, I had planned to do that. I was going to put a shelf above the
> rail and screw the centre supports into that and end supports into the
> wall. Do you think a sheet of contiboard would be strong enough to
> hold the central supports?
>

Probably not. I suspect it would sag in the middle. You could stiffen it
by creating a front edge from another piece of contiboard. I put a piece
of 3x2 across the wardrobe as a shelf support and hung the rail of that.
Then a three inch lip on the shelf to hide it.

Fred

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Apr 26, 2012, 10:26:32 AM4/26/12
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On Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:06:26 +0100, Andrew May
<andrew...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Probably not. I suspect it would sag in the middle. You could stiffen it
>by creating a front edge from another piece of contiboard. I put a piece
>of 3x2 across the wardrobe as a shelf support and hung the rail of that.
>Then a three inch lip on the shelf to hide it.

It will have either end attached to the wall to take some of the
weight. I was going to put something along the front of the contiboard
to stiffen it, though I hadn't planned anything as large as 3x2. Sorry
to mix my units, I was going to use 18x44mm but perhaps this would be
no use?

My original question was more whether the screws might be pulled out
of chipboard or contiboard by the weight but I suppose chipboard comes
in many densities. For some reason, I always think of a coarse
chipboard and I am sure they aren't as bad as that in real life.

Andrew May

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Apr 26, 2012, 10:48:29 AM4/26/12
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I'll leave others to respond. The structural elements of mine were all
built from timber. It is quite likely that it was over-engineered but
the last one had been in place for 20 years and had fallen apart. I want
mine to last that long but still be going. Only time will tell.

Windmill

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Apr 25, 2012, 8:39:31 PM4/25/12
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When I need a long piece of Contiboard to remain straight instead of
sagging, I usually attach a length of heavy steel wall bracket support
(the slotted stuff normally used to allow brackets to be moved up or
down as required) underneath the board, turning it sideways so that it
becomes in effect half of an I beam (which improves the rigidity).
This means you have to drill mounting holes and larger holes to get
access for screws.
Bit of a kluge, but not too ugly. And you can hang things from the
slots.

--
Windmill, Til...@Nonetel.com Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost

Fred

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Apr 28, 2012, 1:25:41 PM4/28/12
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On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:48:29 +0100, Andrew May
<andrew...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I'll leave others to respond.

Sorry, I misread your post. I see that you used the 3x2 to support the
rail along the middle of the shelf. On my first read, I thought you
had it along the front edge of the shelf. My 18x44 was going to
stiffen he front of the shelf, not hold the rail down the middle.
Possibly I might use your idea of something to support that too.

Andrew May

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Apr 30, 2012, 4:24:03 AM4/30/12
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Although to be fair the front of the shelf is not far in front of the
3x2 because the shelf is only a little over half the depth of the wardrobe.

This was the best compromise I could find to allow access to the shelf
where the wardrobe doors do not go all the way to the ceiling.

Fred

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Apr 30, 2012, 4:50:06 AM4/30/12
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On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:39:31 GMT, spam-n...@Onetel.net.uk.invalid
(Windmill) wrote:

>When I need a long piece of Contiboard to remain straight instead of
>sagging, I usually attach a length of heavy steel wall bracket support
>(the slotted stuff normally used to allow brackets to be moved up or
>down as required) underneath the board, turning it sideways so that it
>becomes in effect half of an I beam (which improves the rigidity).

A good idea, thanks.
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