February 14, 2020
Description
IKEA Ivar shelves are supremely versatile and robust shelves, suitable for pretty much all circumstances: be it a student room or a kitchen - and usually, a decade or so in, they tend to still be useful in the basement or the garage.
Somewhat surprisingly IKEA spends a lot of time explaining how to secure furniture to walls to avoid accidents, but doesn't sell any accessories (e.g. shelf lips) that would help to secure the contents of the shelf in case of earthquakes or similar, shake-like events, even in California.
So here is the very simple IKEA hack to change that: the cheap metal cross OBSERVATÖR Cross-brace) that is part of the IVAR kit can be used to create a metal railing, which is fixed to the front of each shelf , preventing items from doing a lemming-like walk into the abyss (when shaking). So just buy a spare cross brace (5$ in the US), cut to size and insert the printers holders into the pre-drilled holes normally used for placing individual shelves.
There are two different designs for the holders: one uses a dead-end hole, is probably a bit more robust but requires more precise cutting of the cross brace. The second design is more like a hanger, and probably more delicate - but if the metal rod is too long, it doesn't matter. The small holes on the printed parts can be used to screw them into the shelf for added strength.
Some hints:
for the wider 30"+ shelves, the center part of the cross brace is still present, and is a bit of an ugly weak spot. Can't do much about the weak spot, but the clip-on label is perfect for hiding it. Generally, the clip-on label holder that is part of this set is convenient for labeling the shelves.
As a reminder, make sure the shelves are secured to the wall - otherwise these won't help much - and if things shake enough, these won't help either. Be safe.
Next step, figure out how to make these bottle holders safer.
Category: Household
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
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