Home Made Rack + Pics

Thought I’d share my recent experience of building my first every home made Hi-Fi rack. I decided to loosely follow a couple of online photos of self builds and make my own hybrid version. Essentially a three point support (as they tend to be more stable and easier to make and level), dual isolation system.

Firstly I got the local timber yard to cut six pieces of 18mm good quality hardwood cross ply to the exact same sizes, as they could do this more accurately than I could with a circular saw. Not to mention having the specialist fine tooth blades that would not chew up the ply faces. Glued and clamped two pieces together to make three 36mm thick shelves in total. Once dry the shelves are incredibly rigid, but also fairly light compared to similarly thick MDF.

Once the shelves were rock solid, I set about the edges using sheet after sheet of sandpaper with a sanding block, going from grade 40 (I think it was) to pretty smooth feeling 340 grade where it felt like it was polishing the ply edges as opposed to sanding them. Using a sanding machine there was a chance of rounding off the edges due to the cushioned pad, so I quickly abandoned that approach.

Once smooth and prepped, each edge got about seven or eight coats of water based clear varnish, (sanding between coats) until it felt silky smooth. The varnished ply edges were then lined with Frog Tape (brilliant!), sealed with more varnish and then about ten coats of white paint applied with a roller to the top and bottom, sanding between each. Left it all to harden for a week before I removed the Frog Tape. This revealed a clean crisp-ish edge. A final sand to the varnished face / paint joint with 340 grade paper to soften (to the touch) where the white painted edge met the varnish, cleaning off any paint burrs and then a final coat of clear varnish on the edges to finish.

While the varnished shelf edges were drying I made nine support legs, tall enough to clear the ‘Qute, plus added isolation levels underneath. Each leg was clamped and drilled with a 10mm drill, tops dowelled and then threaded inserts put into the base to hold the M8 threaded spikes from each level of an ancient Soundstyle rack. Painted, then 'dry' assembled to make sure everything lines up as per measurements.

Unit then assembled carefully - taking a lot of time to line up the downward facing spikes to their individual spike pads that sit on each shelf. That was stressful! Each shelf glued and clamped.

When in situ, I experimented firstly with perspex for the secondary isolation and this seemed to restrict the energy of system somehow. Then changed to the old glass I had from my Soundstyle rack and everything immediately snapped back into focus. I've not explored bearings and cups under the glass as yet, just RDC cones and Solid Spikes aluminium floor protectors as I already had them at hand.

All done for about £70 in total for raw materials so far, plus I reckon a weeks labour (on and off) in-between work etc. More expense to follow with Naim spec glass and bearings & cups. Next time I'd order a higher grade Baltic Ply as it has a greater density and a much more uniform layering of the ply and fewer flaws that need filling. The advantage of this system is that its so adaptable and if I ever need another or taller (NAP500!) shelf, its fairly easy to make a new one....

Spikes and cups fitted, the finished result...