Thickness of Glass in Display cases

[robomatt]

There is a furniture store that is closing around my house.

They had a Huge curio/display cabinet with real wood and a sliding glass door. Originally $850...it had a mirror in the back lower half that is cracked and is missing the shelves.

I offered them $100 and they said OK Hooray!

What does the thickness of the glass need to be in order to not break under the weight of many toys?

The shelf will be 40 inches long and 14 inches deep.

I have heard 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch and 1/2 inch.

1/4 inch - about $28 each shelf

3/8 inch - about $50 each shelf

1/2 inch - didn't ask

I want to buy the 1/4 inch because of the cost. But will 1/4 inch hold up under die cast valkries and huge Koenig Monsters?

Especially since the glass will be long and only supported on either end?

Help?

Edited January 21, 2005 by robomatt

[do not disturb]

well being an semi expert when it comes to curio cabinets, most of them use 1/4" glass...the same thinkness of a standard window pane which isn't that strong IMHO. it can hold some weight but but if you're displaying a lot of stuff or heavy stuff 3/8" is the way to go. it will support a lot of weight and you'll never have to fear of it breaking it or the support pegs.

1/2" glass is not even worth it. its so damn heavy you'll have to worry about the support pegs breaking before the glass itself so i wouldn't go there.

3/8" all the way my friend. also i'd ask around for prices on glass before paying that much for it. glass guys make up there own prices(like with any other trade) so asking around will save you $$$.

[fulcy]

I would say you'd want at least 1" thick glass, and make sure to specify bullet proof. If you say bullet resistant, any multiple shots from a gun will take it down. This ensures that any violent tendencies your toys may have towards each will only damage the toys, and not the surrouding display case.

[robomatt]

Thanks for the advice Haterist and Fulcy.

Looks like 3/8 inch for me.

I hate to spend toy money on glass for a display case...but if one of the shelves failed all the shelves under that shelf would fail as well.

Must protect awesome collection from being trashed!

After I get the display set up I will take pictures and post them.

[fulcy]

All joking aside, it really depends on where you plan on supporting this piece of glass. Only on the two 14" edges, then you need something a little thicker. If you are supporting it along the 40" edges, you can go a little thinner. Looking at the coffee table in front of me, the glass is 3/8" thick, and the supports for it are spread 36" apart - and it can hold alot of weight (I have my feet up on it right now). If it was me, the thinnest I would go is 1/4", depending on how many supports I have along the back edge (and depending on the toys on the shelf). Shelf full of chogokin goodness? I'd probably beef it up to 3/8". So, your decision to go with a 3/8" shelf sounds like a good one.

[fulcy]

Now that I read all of your first post, since the shelves are only going to be supported at the ends, definitely go for 3/8" glass. Though, you could look into having made or making yourself (depending how competent you are) shelf spacers out of a clear acrylic rod. Let me explain. Say you decide on the 1/4" glass - buy them, and put them in the display case. Then you measure the distance from the bottom shelf (I am assuming it's a sold piece of the display case, and not a piece of glass just floating there), to the underside of the first piece of glass - at the mid point of the glass shelf (so go out 20" along the front of the glass shelf, and measure straight down to the shelf beneath it) - say you measure 15 7/16". Get some acrylic rod (probably 3/4" diameter at least), and have two pieces cut just slightly longer than that (maybe 1/32 to 1/16 longer). Take them and wedge them under the first piece of glass - you want them a little long to take any sag out of the glass shelf. Place one at the front edge in the middle of the shelf, and one at the back edge - and now you have a support in the middle, that is clear so it won't really detract from your display. Repeat these steps for each additional shelf - but make sure to wedge each one before you measure the rod for the shelf above that, because the wedging will affect the height of the shelf above it. If you need any help with this, feel free to ask!

[do not disturb]

yadda, yadda, yadda, you're talking madness my friend!

no need to get nuts, just go with the 3/8" glass and you'll be fine.

just make sure you ask them to polish the sides/edges of the glass as well as rounding the corners, otherwise, they give it to you raw....ouch!

if they ask you about how round you want the corners(and belive me you want them rounded off), just tell them you want a "quarter" corner. this means the rounded corners will be round like a quarter(.25 cents) if you want something less round, tell him you want "nickel" corners, penny, dime, so on a so forth.