Suspension Shelf
a beautiful, modern shelf with adjustable heights, modular design, and easy disassembly
Structure
C-frame weldment
The main structure of the suspension shelf consists of mild steel square tube welded into a pair of c-shaped frames connected through bolted joints to shorter straight members. A pretensioned cable ties together the upper and lower ends of the c-frames to support the front of the shelves, and to pre-load the frame up to the shelf’s design weight. This cable-pretension arrangement allows the shelf to be loaded with a minimal amount of displacement as weight is added.
The fixed cable clamps, positioned at the top and bottom arms of the shelf structure, couple the cable to the shelf and allow it to be tensioned using a bolt. The upper clamps are fixed and use a pair of aluminum parts to clamp down on the cable and retain it using friction. The lower clamps are more complex, consisting of three machined aluminum pieces; the carriage which itself is composed of two pieces which clamp down around the cable, and the base which is bolted to the frame.
Top cable clamp
Cable Anchors
Movable Cable Clamps
Cable clamps sit along the cable to transfer load from the shelf to the cables. They are machined aluminum in two parts, which use a ramp and screw to clamp around the cable with greater force than would be provided with a screw alone. The parts were designed to be produced in a single setup on a 5-axis mill. Since they use friction to stay in place, they can be adjusted with an arbitrary amount of precision.
Although the shelves are in part supported by the cable clamps, they still need to be supported from the back and prevented from wobbling (as the cables are not very stiff side-to-side). To serve this purpose, rigid shelf supports made of printed Onyx with continuous carbon fiber reinforcement support the rear portion of the shelf and insert into the shelf to prevent horizontal motion. Bolts run through the stabilizers and into a backing plate with threaded holes.
Shelf Stabilizers
