Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Picked up a free curio cabinet today... two of the shelves measure close to 3/16" and the other two just under 1/4" at .225"

I tried setting just a couple of verticals on the 12" wide by 34" long shelves and the 3/16" shelving was already sagging after the third engine. Definitely not something I want to fill up with engines... The .225" shelving seems a little stronger but the edges are rough cut and some have chips, so I was worried about them being weakened. I called the local glass store and they recommended 1/4" or 3/8" for a curio cabinet. They have 1/4" in stock and can do each shelf for about $20 (I need 4) but 3/8" has to be ordered in and would be at least $70/shelf. I went to the store late this afternoon and ordered four at 1/4", I measured while I was there and their's also comes in at .225", not .25". Did I make a mistake? Should I have gone for 3/8"? I don't want to put $300 into glass when I could probably buy a nicer/vintage cabinet for $100-200

Long story short, do any of you display on glass shelving? How thick is yours? Length? Width? How many engines per shelf?

I was estimating that I would have anywhere between 25-40 pounds max. on each shelf. I DO NOT want them to come crashing down as it will be my nicer/favorite engines in the display

This free shelf is already nearing $100 with the 4 new shelves on order... 

The shelf uses those little squares with a peg that go into the pre-drilled holes, so it's held up at four points. The cabinet has a wood backing instead of a mirror, so I was already thinking of running a strip of wood along the back under each shelf which should greatly increase the capacity.

Thanks Dennis, looks like the 1/4" (actual .225") shelving on order should work then as yours are loaded quite a bit more than I am planning. The wood strip on the back probably isn't necessary, but would be easy once I get the height/spacing figured out and would help me sleep through the night... hopefully without a crash of glass breaking 

The glass store recommended 1/4" over 3/8" as they said it should hold at least 100 pounds depending on the mounting, where I only need 25-40. They said once you jump up to 3/8" you need to increase your mounting hardware as the sheets themselves will be over 15 pounds and if you have plastic pegs they can shear off from the weight.

I read on one site where someone used an acrylic rod cut to the exact length and placed in the center of the cabinet between each shelf. Being clear it wasn't as noticeable.

This shelf is only temporary as I want to get a full wall length display when the room is remodeled, but that will come after removing 4 to 6 layers of painted over wallpaper and lots of cracks filled...

Mine are all on ugly plastic shelving stacked two deep on both ends and down the center of a spare bedroom. I say "spare bedroom", but two of the kids share a room 

This is my first branching out to displaying throughout the house, so I'll have to keep it looking nice 

I don't trust putting too much around the house yet with 3 little boys running around...

Still think I need to put up a new, heated tractor shed that could double as a mini toy steam museum... 

Oh, she would love for me to build a shed for all my junk, it's the bank that I need to be begging 

Mine all have the 1/4” glass Nick.

I never had a problem.

A nice “free” score!