load carrying capabilities of lumber/steel

This doesn't seem so OT to me, so I have removed OT from the subject. Quoting "Clint Wolff (VAX collector)" &lt;vaxman(a)qwest.net&gt;et>: I have thought about this same subject to prepare for the arrival of my first PDP-11 (boy am I excited!). This is how I came to a ballpark figure. The floor of my future machine room consists of 2.25"-wide wooden slats, of varying lengths (approx. 4'-6'), suspended above a crawlspace. I plan on putting a few layers of plywood (anything better for this?) on top of the floor to help spread the load evenly across the slats. Let's say I want to support 3 rack cabinets. Well, that's a width of 21" * 3 = 63", which, in slats is 63" / 2.25" = 28 slats. If the system weighs 1500 lbs, then that's 1500 lbs / 28 < 54 lbs/slat. I think my slats can handle 54 lbs. -- Jeffrey S. Sharp jss(a)ou.edu