Pax build /w Acrylic doors and Glass Shelves - Finally Finished

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Shaughn

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Here is my Pax build, finally finished with it. Between moving, newborn and work, this took a whole lot longer to build than I thought. Hopefully it will help anyone else wanting to use Pax to display their statues.
First off I want to thank everyone that has posted info about Pax builds, because I would never have attempted this if it weren't for those of you who have posted your builds in the first place.
Special thanks to NullMind and Patriot666 who helped me the most by showing their builds and answering all my questions.

First off here are links to everything I bought and used to build these, along with pricing
Pax Wardrobe units (I bought the largest ones) $100 x 2
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90121583/

4 full shelves – 4 half shelves $15 x 4 & $10 x 4
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30277997/#/80277971

Lights & Cords (don’t forget your cords, I had to order them after I got everything in)
$30 x 6 (lights) & 1 power supply, 4 short cords, 1 long cord $26
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40267733/
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30121411/
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40119926/

Cord Covers $5 x 2
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Legrand-Wiremold-CordMate-Channel-White-C10/202059078

Shelf support brackets (couldn’t find the black ones online, but they are in the store) $6 x 8
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-68-in-Utility-Single-Track-Upright-FG4A7501UTLTY/100133076

Hinges $25 x 6
https://www.kitchensource.com/hinges/ha-344.89.730.htm

Handles $8 x 2
https://www.knobdeco.com/door-hardw...s-door-handle-zinc-nickel-matt-26-x-21mm.html

Door Magnet $8 x 1 (may buy more if needed)
https://www.amazon.com/Furniture-Fi...rd_wg=tMYoH&psc=1&refRID=XYJNY93BJY6V89FWFKTF

Pegs (if link no longer works search 12 shelf support Lug pins on eBay) $30 (I bought 3 packs)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-SHELF-S...474282?hash=item5d6087d96a:g:R04AAOxy7nNTXTxs
These are cheapest on ebay, don’t buy them from anywhere else

Doors $130 x 2
Purchased from a local Plastics company (no glass companies in my area worked with acrylic) door dimensions are 88¾ x 37¾ x ¼ inches. Definitely need ¼ thick acrylic 1/8 is to flimsy to use for doors.

Glass Shelves $40 x 2
Any local glass company can make you these $40 x 2
37 ¾ x 9 x ¼ inches (1/4 is to thin I recommend going 3/8 or even ½ in)

Glass Shelf support $2 x 3
https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-H...ed-Wood/1/2"-x-1/2"-x-36"-Balsa-Strip/p/72033

Tension Rods $10
https://www.amazon.com/Graber-16-In...8&qid=1479874940&sr=8-9&keywords=tension+rods

Now for the build....

Built the cabinets, cut the brackets for the shelves, mounted the lights underneath each shelf and added the cord covers after I painted them black. This is pretty easy to do it came out looking like this.

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You can see each shelf has brackets on front and back and you can see the 2 half shelves I installed as well. What I did not know is that the Pax shelf peg holes are not equal distance from each other. The back set are closer than the front set, as you can see in the picture. The half shelves I bought only fit the front half of this size of Pax. So I had to cut them down and drill holes in them so they would fit in the back half of the Pax unit.

The wiring for the lighting is not fun and pretty messy, here is a picture of how it all looks behind the Pax and behind my desk

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After all was built and lit, I start putting statues in to see how it all looks

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As you can see I ran into a bit of a lighting issue with the xmen and the sentinel statue. Those shelves cast a hard shadow and made it look horrible. Ill show you later how I solved for this, but first came the doors.

I had 2 acrylic sheets made for me of 88 3/4 H x 37 3/4 w and 1/4 in thick. These weigh roughly 40 lbs each, so finding hinges to hold these things up was not easy. I wanted to get Overlay hinges as opposed to inlay hinges. The overlay hinges allow the door to fit over the opening and not inside of the opening. if you use inlay hinges you will have to cut all of your shelves back in order to make room for the door. The only hinges I could find that would support the weight of the doors and were overlay were the hinges I linked you to earlier. The bonus about these hinges that I did not know is that they lock in place once closed, so the door doesn't swing open by itself. You don't need magnets or anything else to hold the doors in place. The white tab in the middle clicks the hinges shut, but also allows for easy opening of the door as well. Also of note the company you buy your plastics doors from will usually drill the holes for you for free. They drilled mine, but the did mess up on the measurements for one of them, but it still worked fine.

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Mounting the doors is a pain, I suggest you get someone to help you with this step. The next issue I ran into after the doors were mounted was that the doors were bowing out slightly. I think this was due to me having them on their side in the garage for to long before I was able to mount the doors.

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to fix this I used a simple magnet from amazon and it closes perfectly now

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The second door I do not have a picture of, the whole door slightly bows off of the cabinet about a 1/2 inch, so I think I will take the door of and let it naturally bow back by setting it on its other side for a day or so. (I'll update after the holidays if this works of not)

Now that the doors are on I needed to figure out how to fix the lighting on the half shelves and get more depth for my sentinel. To do this I ordered 2 glass shelves and used Patriots666 idea of using Balsa blocks to use shallower shelves. When I bought the Balsa blocks they seem pretty flimsy but the are sturdy enough to get the job done.
Now I called a bunch of glass companies for shelf advice, told them how I was building it and they said 1/4 in tempered glass would work. 1/4 in is not think enough because there is only 1/2 support on either side with the Balsa blocks. My glass shelf start to bow slightly when I had 3 1/6 scale figures on it. So instead of buying brand new glass shelves and hoping they worked, I bought a couple tension rods instead. These work perfectly and are so thin you can hardly see them.

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It was a long process and here is how everything turned out.

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I wasn't going to build doors on my Pax but my wife convinced me to do it and I'm glad I did because this little guy will be walking soon

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I have a list of statues I am still hunting down so, these cabinets should be full in no time and then I'll have to try and figure out more space.

Please ask any questions you want and I can give more detail and PLEASE give any extra pointers, ideas and feedback on how I may be able to do things differently and possibly better.

Thanks
 
That Looks great. I wanted to get a Pax but I just don't have the time to find all the things I would need to make it work. Luckily you did a lot of that for me, thanks for the guide. I already went out and bought a case off of kijiji a few weeks back, but when my collection inevitably becomes too big for that case I might look into switching to Pax's because this looks AWESOME.
 
Looks fantastic! Love the Xmen display.

thanks, I hated it at first with the regular shelves, but once I got glass shelves and made them shallower it really looks good. Also added an extra light to the bottom of the display so its lit from top and bottom, which I think helps make it pop.
 
Dislike certain things but like others. Overall, a very good job. Also, doors/covers are a must in my opinion (for several reasons). Dusting is not an option. :wink1:
 
hey TRD, can you elaborate on what you dislike? Id like to make any improvements I can. I hate having to use the tension rods for support on the glass shelves, but I didnt want to spend another $100+ to order thicker glass shelves. I may order them in the future.
 
Awesome job mate !! glad it worked for you, these PAX with these types of doors are the perfect combo for me, I need to build quite a few more :)

I also grabbed a few non drill locks that I will be installing soon, while my kids are all grown, I do have a 5 year old godson .. and just to be extra secure he won't open the doors to get a closer peek ;)

Good job on the glass shelves, indeed the shadow was too harsh with the shorter PAX ones.

NullMind
 
Your display turned out great! Great idea with those tension rods too. I also considered mounting the light pointing up, looks good. The only other tips I can think of are...I found the lights to be a bit too bright. All my pics of statues looked blown out because of it. I solved this by using a strip of masking tape over the led strip. It tones down the light brightness. Also until you get your little one trained not to touch the acrylic, this stuff works great for cleaning and removing scratches: https://www.amazon.com/NOVUS-7056-P...id=1480601404&sr=8-7&keywords=acrylic+cleaner
 
Awesome job mate !! glad it worked for you, these PAX with these types of doors are the perfect combo for me, I need to build quite a few more :)

I also grabbed a few non drill locks that I will be installing soon, while my kids are all grown, I do have a 5 year old godson .. and just to be extra secure he won't open the doors to get a closer peek ;)

Good job on the glass shelves, indeed the shadow was too harsh with the shorter PAX ones.

NullMind


I wish I had the ok to build more. I only have clearance to build 2 from the wife. I want to build some wall shelving between my 2 pax for the 1/6 scale x-men and use the Pax space for more 1/4 scale I am hunting down, but that will have to wait will I convincer to let me do it. How many more are you planning on building? I remember you sayin gyou had a ton of stuff on pre-order. you will have to do a room tour video once you get them all in and more Pax built.
 
Your display turned out great! Great idea with those tension rods too. I also considered mounting the light pointing up, looks good. The only other tips I can think of are...I found the lights to be a bit too bright. All my pics of statues looked blown out because of it. I solved this by using a strip of masking tape over the led strip. It tones down the light brightness. Also until you get your little one trained not to touch the acrylic, this stuff works great for cleaning and removing scratches: https://www.amazon.com/NOVUS-7056-P...id=1480601404&sr=8-7&keywords=acrylic+cleaner

That masking tape idea is pretty good, I may do that in the future. I'm really impressed with how the Balsa blocks have held up for these glass shelves. When I felt them at first I thought you were out of your mind for using them for your clown display. Have you seen any bowing in your shelf that you had the alien statue on that you first used the metal brackets for? I have seen some slight bowing on the sentinel shelf but the brackets keep it from moving any further, so I think it will hold really well. If I see any other further bowing I will probably get a long metal brace to put under that shelf.
 
That masking tape idea is pretty good, I may do that in the future. I'm really impressed with how the Balsa blocks have held up for these glass shelves. When I felt them at first I thought you were out of your mind for using them for your clown display. Have you seen any bowing in your shelf that you had the alien statue on that you first used the metal brackets for? I have seen some slight bowing on the sentinel shelf but the brackets keep it from moving any further, so I think it will hold really well. If I see any other further bowing I will probably get a long metal brace to put under that shelf.

I also saw a slight bow, but only a little and it didn't get worse with time. I'm sure it would've gotten worse without the brackets. Under shelf bracing isn't a bad plan though it bothers you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Shaughn, excellent DIY post!! I just bought 5 of these PAX units and I'm following your walkthrough on building these cabinets. You've saved me at least a week of research and trial and error. If you're ever in LA I owe you a beer LOL!!

Quick question, did you buy 1/4" extruded acrylic or 1/4" cast acrylic sheets? I've read the cast are much sturdier but they do run about 25% more in cost, but based on the bowing you've shown I may go the cast route and bite the bullet on the added cost.

thanks
Art
 
finally finished installing the doors. Very happy with how this came out and big thanks again to Shaughn for posting his detailed DIY!

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Getting all the lighting installed for the cabinets was a full day project. And I highly recommend installing the metal reinforcement for the shelves, as well as the metal pegs.

The other note is that the hinges are excellent, but installation is a challenge. a notch has to be cut in the acrylic doors to accommodate the hinges, you can do this with a Dremel tool but it is time consuming and requires some skill. But when it's all done the finished product looks great!

I've got 10 additional 1/4 scale statues on preorder, I should be able to get them all into the 5 PAX cabinets before having to expand out on the other side of the room :)

Cheers
Art
 
finally finished installing the doors. Very happy with how this came out and big thanks again to Shaughn for posting his detailed DIY!

View attachment 318325

Getting all the lighting installed for the cabinets was a full day project. And I highly recommend installing the metal reinforcement for the shelves, as well as the metal pegs.

The other note is that the hinges are excellent, but installation is a challenge. a notch has to be cut in the acrylic doors to accommodate the hinges, you can do this with a Dremel tool but it is time consuming and requires some skill. But when it's all done the finished product looks great!

I've got 10 additional 1/4 scale statues on preorder, I should be able to get them all into the 5 PAX cabinets before having to expand out on the other side of the room :)

Cheers
Art

ART your setup looks so awesome! That is one amazing collection and 10 more on order!?! Cant wait to see those cabinets filled to the brim. The fact you have more room to expand is mind blowing especially living in LA (have a lot of family that still lives there).
Also your Deathstroke and Batman 1/3 Prime 1s just helped me out because my friend is building a pax and he has both statues on order and was wondering how they would fit together in a PAX. Do you have any problems displaying deathstroke with the staff?

Glad all the info helped you out. It is pretty much all info i collected here from other guys experimenting before me. I had the plastics company drill my holes and dremel out that notch for the hinges. That was a project I did not want to tackle on my own.
 
Looks great Art!

Thanks Patriot!

ART your setup looks so awesome! That is one amazing collection and 10 more on order!?! Cant wait to see those cabinets filled to the brim. The fact you have more room to expand is mind blowing especially living in LA (have a lot of family that still lives there).
Also your Deathstroke and Batman 1/3 Prime 1s just helped me out because my friend is building a pax and he has both statues on order and was wondering how they would fit together in a PAX. Do you have any problems displaying deathstroke with the staff?

Glad all the info helped you out. It is pretty much all info i collected here from other guys experimenting before me. I had the plastics company drill my holes and dremel out that notch for the hinges. That was a project I did not want to tackle on my own.

Thanks Shaughn, I'm very happy with how this came out. And no problem displaying Deathstroke with the bow staff, the cabinets are huge and very deep. And I definitely recommend getting the plastic company to cut and install the hinges, I didn't fully appreciate that the notches had to be cut directly into the acrylic until I got the doors delivered. But the hinges themselves are hefty and definitely the right ones for these heavy doors, plus they are overlay so you don't have to cut the shelves!
 
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