Coffee shelves

Inspired by/ ideas stolen from 1705.net

Was seriously missing surfaces for the evening time, especially if the top is down. Cooker top is no use as you have to move everything when you brush your teeth. There is just the tiny area in front of the cuttlery drawer.

Wanted a small shelf that never got in the way. Although the idea started from the larger shelf on 1705s blog, I wanted something shorter. I had a failed carbon fibre project that was using 5mm Nomex honeycomb so decided to use this with some home made CF sheet to make a small, thin lightweight shelf. Some bits of bent ally with CF reinforcment completed this one. Works well for phone, keys etc.

The first coffee shelf

1705.net also had a reduced clip in shelf, using bracketry from their second unused table. My van only came with one table, so although this looked like a nice idea, I didn’t have the spare bracket to use for it. I searched high and low for an aluminium profile to match with no luck but recently came up with a way of simplifying the bracket using a hook and and a single stopper (the original having a stepped stopper section).

Bent some 3mm acylic to make the hook sections and aluminium corner to make the stopper section. Shelf constructed from 2 layers of CF and aluminium honeycomb (about 10mm thick total).

Has a bit of give in the brackets but then so does the original table bracketry! Could possibly reinforce the angle if it comes to it.