Bracket

This describes both ready made and DIY brackets.

Making brackets is useful when:

Something special is wanted
Quick basic brackets are wanted
Sufficient quantity of brackets are wanted to make a worthwhile saving
Decorative brackets are wanted

Selection Table

Type             Cost	Load	DIYable
----             ----	----	-------
Metal:
London           M       Med      no
Hi-load          £2      Hi       no
Microwave        £10     Hi       no
TV               £10-20  V Hi     no
Mitred           £2      Hi       no
Gallows          £1      Med      no
Corner Brace     10p     V lo     yes
Braced strip     ~ 0     V lo     yes
Shrinkage
Triangular       ~ 0     Med      yes
Floating                 Lo-Med   no
Splash           ~ £3    Low      no
Bookcase Support         Med      no
Slotted Shelving         Med      no
Rail Bracket             Low-med  no
Hand Rail                High     no
  
Wood:                             all yes
Triangle         ~ 0     v low    uber-easy
Braced           ~ 0     Med      easy
Sheet Braced     ~ 0     Med      Med
Lattice Braced   ~ 0     Med      an eternity
Compound         10p     Med      easy
Leg              £1-2    High     uber-easy
Wedge            ~ 0     Low      awkward
Square Frame     ~ 0     Med      so-so
Multi-braced     ~ 0     High     so-so

Plastic:
Ring             low     low      med

'DIYable' refers to ease of construction using only the more popular DIY tools. Welding kit will of course enable more types to be produced.
Prices are only a ballpark guide.

Terminology

The following terms are used here:

 ___________
|___________| <----- Support
| |     / /
| | <---------- Spine
| |   / /
| |  / /
| | / /  <----- Brace
| |/ /
| | /
| |/
|_|

Metal Brackets

London Brackets

File:London bracket 23-4.jpg

London bracket

Very popular
Low cost pressed metal brackets
Medium load ratings
Widely available in grey and white finish
Barely sufficient strength for mass storage
Unattractive

High Load Bracket

Brackets of any design with high load rating.

Microwave Bracket

A metal bracket with high load rating, extendable support and no brace. These are made from thick sheet to achieve the required strength, and thick steel requires much heavier equipment to work it, hence the higher price.

TV Bracket

Large metal high load bracket with swivel mechanism & equipment tray. Often extending and can fold flat against wall. Some have a second tray or strap for a video recorder.

Can be converted into a movable desk extension or bedside tray.

Mitred Bracket

A corner welded bracket. This enables larger profile steel to be used than bent brackets, giving higher load rating.

High to very high load rating.

Gallows Bracket

Braced metal bracket
Generally more decorative than strength oriented
Added strength from the brace, but these are often not high load rated brackets.

Corner Brace

File:Corner braces 24-2.jpg

Corner braces

Flat strip is bent 90 degrees to form a simple miniature bracket.

 ______
|
|
|
|

Well suited to very small brackets upto a couple of inches.
Such brackets are readily available from BMs for pence.
Small ones are easily made from scraps if stocks run out. (Fast grind the edges & corners for a few seconds to avoid cuts)
Can support heavy loads if the front of the load is also separately supported
Only support very light loads if the front of the load is not separately supported

If you really must have extra strong ones, these can be made by slicing heavy duty angle iron.

The angle brace is a short rounded version of the corner brace.

Braced Strip Bracket

This is as the corner brace above, but with an extra bracing section.

 ______       _____
|     /      |     )
|    /       |    /
|   /        |   /
|  /         |  /
| /          | /
||           ||
||           ||

The lower fixing screw also fixes the brace to the backplate.
The front part of the bracket should be bent before the rear.
A hole in the front enables screwdriver access for the upper screw
Twisting the brace 180 degrees stiffens it and strengthens the bracket further.

Shrinkage Bracket & Stretcher Plate

Miniature bent sheet metal brackets

Shrinkage bracket has 2 fixing slots at 90 degrees, allowing some movement.
Stretcher plate has slots in one direction allowing movement.

Triangular sheet bracket

   ________
 _|........|
| :       /
| :      /
| :     /
| :    /
| :   /
| :  /
| : /
|_:/

Cut sheet metal to the above template.
Fold 90 degrees along the dotted lines to form a triangle with right angle flaps along 2 sides.
Drill 2 holes in each flap for fixing.

Simple & cheap if you have basic metalwork equipment.
Thin metal brackets are easy to make, thicker ones less so.
Load rating varies widely depending on material and size.

Where highest possible load rating is desired, adding a 90 degree flap to the 3rd side increases rigidity, but is not as easy to fabricate.

Template:

   ________
 _|________|
| |       /\
| |      / /
| |     / /
| |    / /
| |   / /
| |  / /
| | / /
|_|/ /
   \/

Floating Shelf Bracket

These brackets lack a spine and slot entirely inside the shelf after fixing, thus being invisible when the shelf is fitted.

Load rating is low to medium, and the shelf must be thick to accomodate the bracket internally. The lever effect puts relatively high stresses on the wall when the shelf is loaded, requiring a strong fixing and a reasonably hard wall material for medium shelf loads.

Splash Bracket

These consiste of a short bulbous spine & support with an extra lip that sits above the shelf. These support a shelf only at the rear, giving low load strength.

Bookcase Supports

These consist of perforated strips fixed to the carcass plus metal tabs to support the shelves.

Load: medium
Adjustable

Slotted Shelving Strips

Popular adjustable bookshelf support systems. Consist of slotted metal strips plus shallow metal brackets that slot into the strips.

Adjustable
Medium load rating
Twin slot steel strips bear more load than single slot or aluminium strips
Wood versions also available
Supports usually survive single point fixing failure

Rail Bracket

Extruded strip providing support at the back of the shelf. The strip should run the full length of the shelf for good support.

Medium load

Hand Rail Brackets

2 metal discs joined by a cranked metal rod. Popular for supporting stair handrails.

High load rating for loads close to wall
Pleasant appearance

Wooden Brackets

Wood is not as strong as steel, so wooden brackets are bulkier to achieve the same strength. This makes them a good deal more visible. Also wood is relatively easy to shape, and because of these factors wooden brackets are often decoratively styled.

Wooden brackets are normally braced. Where lower profile is necessary, choose metal.

Simple Triangle Bracket

        /
       /
      /
    |_
 ___________
|          .'
|        .'
|      .'
|    .'
|  .' <----
|.'

This is just a triangle of wood, minimum 3/4" thick. The 2 arrows show the position of screws, for which clearance holes are drilled.

The main advantage of these brackets is that they can be made in seconds.

Low load rating
Requires large screws (3" for a 5" bracket)
Very simple
Extremely quick to make
Suitable for very light shelves
Best suited to small bracket sizes
When these brackets are fitted under the supported load, maximum strength is obtained with grain horizontal.
When fitted above the supported load, maximum strength is obtained with grain parallel to the 45 degree side.

Fitting them with the bracket above the supported shelf:

|'.    
|  '.  <---- screw
|    '.
|      '.
|        '.
|__________'.
    _
   |
     \
      \
     screw

Variations

Thick Plywood improves strength
Quarter round shape may be used instead of a triangle.
A fairly large round hole may be made in the centre of the bracket
A square bracket supports 2 shelves, but load capacity is very low. Sufficient for spice jars etc.

      screw
      /
     /
   |_
 _______ 
|       |
|       |
|       |
|_______|
    _
   | 
     \
      \
      screw

 _____
|    /
|   /
|  ( 
|   \
|____\

 _______ 
|  ___  |
| |   | |
| |___| |
|_______|

 ______ 
|      |
|  /\  |
| /  \ |
| \  / |
|  \/  |
|______|

 _______ 
|       )
|      (
|       )
|      (
|_______)

Braced Bracket

Sheet Braced Bracket

 ___________
|___________|
| |       /
| | <----/
| |     /
| |    /
| |   /
| |  /
| | /
| |/
| | <----
|_|

Here sheet material is used as a brace. The spine is wider than the sheet to enable the bracket to be screw fixed to the wall.

Use glue or multiple piloted screws when assembling
Quarter round wood may be used instead of a triangle if preferred.
Stepped shapes can also be used for a somewhat 1930s look.

 _____________
|_____________|
| |        |
| | <--- __|
| |     |
| |   __|
| |  |
| |__|
| | <----
|_|

Lattice Braced Bracket

 _____________
|_____________|
| |  .  .  __)
| | * <> /'
| |  _  (
| | (_) )
| |   /~
| |_/
|_|

The supporting triangle is latticed and may be made into a fancy shape to give a light and pleasant appearance.

Wood grain of 1 piece latticework should be horizontal for best strength
Using ply for the latticework makes the bracket stronger.

Compound Bracket

This uses wood and steel together to achieve good strength, a simple quick to make design and low cost.

This is an easy way to make large brackets with high load ratings from standard London brackets.

 _______
|_______|  <--- wood
,--  / /
| <-/ / ---- Metal bracket
|  / /
  / /    <--- wood brace 
 / /
/ /
 /
/

This is of course a variation of:

 ___________
|___________|
| |,--  / /
| ||   / /
| ||  / /
| |  / /
| | / /
| |/ /
| | /
| |/
| |
|_|

The metal bracket is able to take much higher than its rated load because

Nearly all the loading is close to the wall, avoiding a lever effect
The load is applied to the strongest part of the bracket
The weakest part of the metal bracket is effectively bypassed

The compound bracket takes even more load because a lot of the load is carried by the brace and wooden support.

Timber may be anything from 2 x 1/2 for lightweight use to 2x3 for heavyweight loads. 2x2 is big enough for almost all household loads.

Leg

Legs are sometimes used in lieu of brackets. They are a simple way to achieve a high load rating.

Leg Support:

 ________
|________|  <-- Load
 _      |
|       |   <-- Mini bracket on wall
        |
        |   <-- Leg
        |

Wedge Bracket

A cube of timber is cut into 4 to make 4 wedge shaped brackets. Describing and drawing are both difficult, maybe someone will come up with a clearer diagram later.

Hold the cube of wood like so, and cut along the dotted lines as shown:

  /|\
 / | \
/__|__\  ...... cut horizontally
\  |  /
 \ | /
  \|/
   :
   :
cut vertically

Each resulting bracket has only 4 sides. In use the end user sees a wide angled wedge.

 /|\
/ | \     View perpendicular to the brace edge
\ | /
 \|/

 _______
|      /
|    /     Side View of bracket
|  /
|/

________
\      /
 \    /     Rear View (as if looking through the wall)
  \  /
   \/

Suitable for small decorative brackets.
Invisible fixings recommended.
Relatively big timber needed - a 4x4x4" block makes 2.7" brackets
Nearly impossible to clamp for cutting
The block may be held in place with screws, and the one of 4 brackets with holes in then sacrificed.

Square Frame Bracket

These are braced square frames, and may be used to support 2 shelves, one above and one below.

Strength depends on bracing detail.

Examples:

 __________ 
|__________|
| |    / | |
| |   / /| |
| |  / / | |
| | / /  | |
| |/ /   | |
|_|_/____|_|
|__________|

 _________________
|_________________|
| |//         \\| |
| |/           \| |
| |             | |
| |\           /| |
|_|\\_________//|_|
|_________________|

 ____________
|____________|
| |\ \  / /| |
| | \ \/ / | |
| |  \/\/  | |
| |  /\/\  | |
| | / /\ \ | |
| |/ /  \ \| |
|_|_/____\_|_|
|____________|

 ___________________
|___________________|
| | //\\    //\\  | |
| |//  \\  //  \\ | |
| |/    \\//    \\| |
| |\    //\\    //| |
| |\\  //  \\  // | |
|_|_\\//____\\//__|_|
|___________________|

 ___________________
|___________________|
| |      | |      | |
| |      | |      | |
| |______| |______| |
| |______   ______| |
| |      | |      | |
| |      | |      | |
|_|______|_|______|_|
|___________________|

 __________________
|__________________|
| | //  //  //  /| |
| |//  //  //  //| |
| |/  //  //  // | |
| |  //  //  //  | |
| | //  //  //  /| |
| |//  //  //  //| |
|_|/__//__//__//_|_|
|__________________|

 __________________
|__________________|
| | /\  /\  /\  /| |
| |/  \/  \/  \/ | |
| |\  /\  /\  /\ | |
| | \/  \/  \/  \| |
| | /\  /\  /\  /| |
|_|/__\/__\/__\/_|_|
|__________________|

 _______________
|_______________|
| | \\     // | |
| |  \\   //  | |
| |   \\ //   | |
| |==== O ====| |
| |   // \\   | |
| |  //   \\  | |
|_|_//_____\\_|_|
|_______________|

etc

Multi-braced

 _______________
|_______________|
| |/ /   \ \/ /
| | /     \/ /
| |/      / /
| |      / /
| |     / /
| |    / /
| |___/ /
| |__/ /
| | / /
| |/ /
| | /
| |/
|_|

This construction increases the strength of large brackets primarily by reinforcing the joints, but triples the fabrication work. For high load applications only. Glue & screw for max strength, using a glue intended for loadbearing use.

High load
Large Brackets

Timber Bracket Information

Grain

Avoid the main load stresses pulling timber across the grain, as wood is weakest in tension across the grain. Grain orientation is thus important.

Timber Types

Softwood

Most wooden brackets are made from softwood. It is very cheap and readily available. In most cases the wood is already to hand and costs nothing.

Hardwoods

These are generally significantly stronger than softwood, but are still weaker across the grain than along it. Hardwoods are mainly chosen for appearance and durability.

Ply

Wood brackets may be made from plywood to substantially increase their strength. Plywood has good strength in 2 directions, whereas plain wood can split due to weaker tensile strength across the grain. Beware of using non-WBP ply in damp locations, this can result in the ply delaminating where screws are used, and thus failing.

Chipboard

Chip is a relatively weak timber product, and is not suitable bracket material.

Assembly

Wooden brackets may be nailed, screwed or glued.

Nailing is a weak option not recommended
Screws enable immediate use
Gluing brackets saves time when making quantity. However a glue suited for load bearing applications should be used, or failures may occur. Its not worth skimping here, one failure can cost more than the glue.
Glue plus screws is the strongest option.

Pilot Holes

Where wood brackets are assembled using screws, clearance & pilot holes should be drilled to avoid splitting or prestressing the small size wood. If no pilot holes are used, choose thin shank screws and reject anything that begins to split.

Plasterboard screws are a good option, with these it is not usually necesary to predrill a countersink.

Invisible Fixings

For wood brackets only

Screw fixing screws into the rear face of the bracket, leaving around 1.5" protruding
Cut heads off screws
Drill fixing holes in wall
Put resin in the holes
Press the brackets into position
Support each bracket with a stick while the glue dries

For very lightweight brackets, it may be simpler to screw a wood strip to the wall then glue the bracket to it.

Plastic

Ring Brackets

Rings cut from PVC pipe are solvent welded into bracket shapes.

 _  _  _         _  _  _         _  __  _
(_)(_)(_)       (_)(_)(_)       (_)/  \(_)
(_)(_)          (_)(_)(_)        _(    )_
(_)             (_)(_)(_)       (_)\__/(_)

 _   _   _
(_)_(_)_(_)
 _(_)_(_)
(_)_(_)
 _(_)
(_)

Light duty
Can be painted wth household gloss topcoat
Good for lightweight shelving in kids' rooms.

There are several options for fitting:

A fairly large pipe size enables standard fitting method. Hexagonal screwheads are driven with a socket or ratchet spanner, or allen heads with an allen key.
Where small pipe rings are used, keyholes can be cut in the plastic and the bracket is slotted onto the screwheads.
The first row of rings are glued together and screwed to the wall. Then the remaining rings are glued in place. (To remove the bracket in the future, cut it & unscrew.)
Deep screwdriver access holes are drilled from the front
Deep screwdriver access holes are drilled from the top, thus will be out of sight once fitted. This means driving the screws into the wall at around 45 degrees.
The column of rings next to the wall is wider and tapered, giving the bracket this profile seen from above:

\______
       |
 ______|
/

Ring size

Bracket strength is proportional to the length of the rings.
Bracket rings may be tapered or stepped sizes for added visual effect.

For more information and ideas, see Make Things from PVC Pipe