Pressed Particle Board Shelving Warning

From: der Mouse <mouse_at_Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Date: Thu May 27 17:18:56 2004

>> So I'd say that you should never use particle board to carry loads.
> Manufacturers of computer room raised floors will disagree with that
> -- all the high-load ones I've ever coma across are made of particle
> board (usually with a very thin metal cladding, which is to protect
> against moisture and impacts, and to provide electrical continuity).
> Of course, these are 35mm-45mm thick, not 15mm-18mm.

They also are supported around the whole edge of a two-foot-square
square. If those shelves were supported every two feet - especially if
they used that kind of thickness - I bet they'd still be just fine.

>From an engineering perspective, I'd say that particleboard is fine for
carrying loads in the right circumstances, but it is incumbent upon the
designer to know what those circumstances are and design accordingly.
Building codes (which were cited in support of the notion) tend to be
conservative, and (especially given the likely blind substitution of
particleboard for plywood) I'm not surprised they take the tack
described.

/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X Against HTML mouse_at_rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
Received on Thu May 27 2004 - 17:18:56 BST