Easel Shelf Types Explained

31/08/17 | blog

Easel Shelf Mounted To A-frame

When the easel shelf has been mounted to the A-frame, the front shelf support sits in front of the A-frame, the back shelf rail sits behind the A-frame, and the redgum knobs tighten on the shelf bolts to fasten the shelf to the set position on the A-frame.

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The knobs, being 30mm cubes, sit higher than the shelf, and prevent the image slipping off.

Easel Shelf Types

We have three different types of easel shelf:

  1. The first type of easel shelf is the 280-Shelf-600.
  2. The second type of easel shelf is the 260-Shelf-600.
  3. The third type of easel shelf is the B-Shelf-600.

Easel Shelf Characteristics

All three easel shelf types share similar characteristics:

  • The front shelf support is 600mm wide (side to side) and 65mm deep (front to back). The image sits on the front shelf support. The front shelf support sits in front of the A-frame of the easel.
  • The back rail sits behind the A-frame. Bolts are inserted through the back rail, then through the front shelf support, onto which the redgum knobs are screwed.
  • Redgum knobs (30mm x 30mm) are used to tighten the shelf against the A-frame.
  • The back rail is tightened against the A-frame when the knobs are tightened, to hold it in place.
  • Mounting the easel shelf to the A-frame is simple:
    1. Loosen the knobs so there is space for the A-frame between the front shelf support and the back rail.
    2. Tilt the shelf – right side up and left side down.
    3. Fit the top of the shelf (i.e. right hand side) – back rail behind the A-frame, then the bottom of the shelf (i.e. left hand side) – back rail behind the A-frame, then drop the right hand side down.
    4. Leave the knobs loose for now – tighten them after the mast has been fitted.

280-Shelf-600

The 280-Shelf-600 is the original shelf designed for the standard easels.

The shelf bolts are spaced 280mm apart. The shelf is adjustable in height but at a certain point the shelf bolts touch the A-frame, and the shelf cannot go any higher.

Where a higher position is needed (e.g. because the displayed item is not large), the redgum knobs can be removed so that the shelf can be re-fitted higher with the bolts to the outside of the A-frame rather than to the inside.

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260-Shelf-600

The 260-Shelf-600 was developed in conjunction with the Model3 easel. The shelf bolts are spaced 260mm apart.

On the Model3 easel the 260-Shelf-600 is adjustable all the way from the centre cross rail of the A-frame, to the top rail of the A-frame. This is an improvement over the 280-Shelf-600 with the Standard easel (you don’t have to take the knobs off to adjust the shelf height to a higher position).

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B-Shelf-600

The B-Shelf-600 shelf has a wider back rail to provide greater support. The shelf bolts are spaced 260mm apart. The wider (taller really) back rail provides extra strength to resist bending when the redgum knobs are tightened, and also additional surface area to grip the A-frame.

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Shelf Spacer Block

Usually the 280-Shelf-600 and the 260-Shelf-600 will be used in conjunction with a mast which will sit between the front shelf rail and the back security rail of the shelf, in between the shelf bolts.

However, in some circumstances, there will be no mast used. In this case, when the shelf knobs are tightened, the back rail can start to bend. When this happens the grip on the A frame is lessened. To avoid this problem, there are two possibilities:

  1. the B-Shelf-600 has a double height back rail, therefore twice the strength and “grippiness” compared with the back rail on the 260-Shelf-600 and the 280-Shelf-600.
  2. On the 260-Shelf-600 and the 280-Shelf-600 a small spacer block can be placed between the front shelf support and the back rail to prevent the back rail bending.

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Summary

Normally you don’t need to worry about which shelf type to select – we will supply the appropriate shelves.

However, you may have a special requirement that suggests an alternative shelf should be used. For example, we were recently asked for an easel to display a very large, heavy, limited edition photographic book. For this requirement we selected the B-Shelf-600 for its extra strength and grip.