FILENAMES: metalrack1.jpg metalrack2.jpg DESCRIPTION: These are pictures of a shop built metal stock storage rack. Posted by Mike Graham . Mike provided the following description: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The files METALRACK1.JPG and METALRACK2.JPG show the rack which I recently built in an effort to better organize my metal. I needed the rack right away, and as such it is unpainted. I haven't even knocked the slag off of the welds yet. 8-) In a few years I'll probably get around to painting it. I like brightly coloured stuff in the shop, so it'll happen sooner or later. The basic idea of the rack was making the most of a 16' section of wall. I don't like metal stored near the floor, because it sucks rocks to pull out lengths from a low level, and shorts are 'out of sight, out of mind'. Since I had a bunch of equipment that was about 4'6" tall, I decided to make the first shelf 4'6" off the ground. Two more shelves are spaced above it, plus the top of the unit is available for storage. The unit is 8' tall. Under the rack is stored one of the OA rigs, the plasma cutter, the small stick welder, and the scissor lift cart. Behind these items, against the wall can be stored stuff that isn't used very often. Since you have 4'6" of headroom under there it isn't *too* miserable to have to get stuff from against the wall, like a bucket of HDX engine oil or something. The bottom shelf is for shorts. It's close enough to eye level to give you a very good view of the ends of the material (see METALRACK1.JPG). Without seeing the profile of the material, you really don't know what it is. This was my problem, previously. Now I can see all of my 1"x1/8" angle pieces, or 1 3/16" round, at a glance, then see if any are long enough. I had planned to use 1/2" plywood for the bottom shelf, but on a whim I checked my pile of old doors, and found a solid wood door that fit like it was made to go there, so I use it for the shelf. Looking from the end of the unit you can see all of the long stock. The top shelf is stuff I don't need often - blackiron pipe, conduit, stuff like that. I'm also planning to built a brace farther down the wall on the other side of the door. This way I can store full length 24' stock fully supported, and since it will be 8' off the ground it won't be in my way. It *will* be a bit of a prick to get up there; I'll likely come up with a set of stairs of sorts that will facilitate putting up long stock. The stock is supported at three points. The ends rest on 2" square tube. The central support is a bit higher than the end supports. This is so that it is easier to slide pieces in - if you don't have them crowned in the middle they sag down and ram into the far side support instead of riding over it. The middle support is made from angle iron with the corner facing up, so stock automatically rides up over it. 1.5" slices of 3" angle were welded onto the front of the rack to give me 'outrigger' storage for stuff like strips and long roundbar, which suck to store on a regular rack. The sharp-eyed will notice that the angle which forms the bottom shelf is overlength. One end has been converted with some chunks of 2x6" lumber into a table for storing 'exotic' machining stock. You'll see some 4"x8"x3/4" angle, 2.5" thick plate, 2x2" bar, a 6" cube, 2" hex stock, lots of 1/2"x6" bar, and a few other 'goodies' along with 1" drill rod and the like. The *realy* sharp-eyed will notice that the space between the rear uprights and the cross-brace has been filled with sheet material. I have a big rack for full sheets of sheet metal, and I've got an aluminum washtub full of sand that I use to store small scraps of sheet metal (just stick them in on edge; works beauty; great for thin chunks of bar and drillrod on whatnot, too) but I didn't really have a place for pieces in the 1'x1' to 2'x4' category. Now I do; I stuff them back in there, and they're always available and taking up virtually *no* room. Well, I think that's about all I can say about this rack. It's not a wee thing, but you need the width for the short pieces. If I hadn't had my grandiose visions of storing 24' material I might not have made it so tall. It was easily made, and does the job very competently. I'm quite happy with it, and it has loads of 'expansion' possibilities still to explore. If anyone wants detailed measurements, I'll try to invent some. Either that or I'll take a tape-measure to it. I tend to invent sizes as I go along. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Mike Graham | Metalworker by trade mikegraham at sprint dot ca | Weld to live, like to weld. Caledon, Ontario, Canada | Weird by nature -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "By Fire and Iron doth he make Bread."