finally finished up my media rack. Holds DVDs, CDs, and a bit of my vinyl collection...

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~raudi77/CDRack.jpg">

<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~raudi77/HT5.jpg">

I used 3/4" threaded rods (thicker, heavier, and beefier than the ones that Salamandar Designs uses), steel with zinc plating. Thin profile 3/4" nuts and washers, also zinc plated, hold the shelves in place. I cut the MDF to my design spec and routed the edges with a radius cut. Primed and painted, and then it's on to assembly. THis is a PITA cause you need to spin the nuts all the way down the rod and there are TONS of them.

But all in all it's a super flexible system - you can place the shelves wherever you want them, and they're beefy as hell.<ul><li><a href="http://www.mcmastercarr.com">YOu can get the hardware here but if you have to ship it you're going to get bent =/</a></li></ul>

to sit down and enjoy your work! Good job!

Damn wife.

She's all aboout form, while I have to rein her in and remind her that we have to live/sit/lay on these things.

I'm very lucky to find someone to live with who has such similar tastes though, for sure. =P

How did you get the nuts to line up level? Spin them down til they were close and then put the shelf on and level each one?

This would be basically what I would do in my A/V Closet when I build it...

Used a level on the shelves like you said. PITA to assemble.

I seem to recall a young lady who may be interested. ;)

Did you glue sheets of the the MDF together or just cut, prime, paint?

What did you use to clean the threaded rods?

The threaded rods are zinc plated and don't need cleaning like a raw steel with protective grease on it would.

If I had it to do all over again I'd use hardwood of some sort and stain it black. I didn't have enough confidence that I wouldn't screw up the wood, but it was pretty straightforward. Stain wouldn't show wear marks like the paint eventually will.

are just 2" strips of softwood that you can get anywhere. They were in ilke 8' lengths which I cut to the length of the MDF pieces. I painted them separately and then counter sunk some pilot holes in from teh bottom of the shelves. I fasted the two pieces together from the bottom with black coarse thread wood/drywall screws.

How many coats of paint did it take before the MDF didn't show through?

BTW-did you get my email regarding the DV stuff a week or so ago?

and if you live near a major city you'll find a similar industrial supply house. YOu'll need the hardware anyway, and that'll be tough to get an HD.

2 coats of paint will be good for the MDF.

Yeah got your email - still trying to figure out what stuff I need. It was MattK that referred me to you BTW...

seven years ago, though I made the shelves out of hemlock and stained them cherry to match the speakers.