Anyone come up with Levrack Alternatives?

[cohen]

These are super cool for saving space but very expensive. I like the idea of them and have been trying to find alternatives or even some thing like a heavy duty rack on wheels and then be able to move it around garage if needed to make space for a temporary project. Anyone do something with this in mind??

Levrack | 7ft Levrack | A place for all your storage.

Our 7ft Levrack is built for smaller spaces. Need to upgrade your storage but have limited space in your shop or garage? the 7ft Levrack is for you.

levrack.com

 

[kaymccampbell]

I've got a few cart like things that can be reconfigured for changing projects.
The CNC/dog cart. A parts cart, that I drag parts around the shop through their assembly process. My lathe and shear-brake-roll n grinder are on a pair of roller cabinets that are easy enough to move for larger metal shop projects. And there's the midrise lift, that makes a great impromptu workbench.

 

[sjvicker]

Two of the YouTube channels I follow recently posted up videos about Levrack within about a week of each other. Their shelving system looks like a great product but will always be out of my budget.

The structure of their systems appears to be standard commodity pallet racking and by me there's several places that sell this used. If you wanted to take on the project I think you could create everything but their sliding cabinets. From a safety standpoint I'd never put casters on the racking but they would be great on a workbench.

 

[trojandj]

Family Handyman had something similar a while ago where the shelves pull out instead of side to side. Cheaper, probably won't hold as much weight, but all depends what you are storing.

Garage Storage: Space-Saving Sliding Shelves

There's never enough storage space in garages, but rollout shelves and sliding bypass units can make more efficient use of sidewalls.

www.familyhandyman.com

 

[tuffinup2003]

Did anyone ever come up with something like this?

 

[jcarapet]

This one popped up on my feed recently. I am going to take the general idea and run with it.

 

[pcmeiners]

The best space saving storage is the use of food store racks.... No wasted space, no support bars to interfere with storage, reconfigurable, shelves support hundreds of pounds. A Levrack would drive me crazy.

Just looked at the price of the Levrack.

 

[Fryphax]

The best space saving storage is the use of food store racks.... No wasted space, no support bars to interfere with storage, reconfigurable, shelves support hundreds of pounds. A Levrack would drive me crazy.

Just looked at the price of the Levrack.

What do you mean 'food store racks'? Like Grocery Store Shelves?

 

[pcmeiners]

Yes

 

[mike93lx]

They always felt like a really expensive alternative to a pair of 5 drawer lateral file cabinets

 

[Colin Len]

These are super cool for saving space but very expensive. I like the idea of them and have been trying to find alternatives or even some thing like a heavy duty rack on wheels and then be able to move it around garage if needed to make space for a temporary project. Anyone do something with this in mind??

Levrack | 7ft Levrack | A place for all your storage.

Our 7ft Levrack is built for smaller spaces. Need to upgrade your storage but have limited space in your shop or garage? the 7ft Levrack is for you.

levrack.com

A bit of a needle in a haystack but over the years I've seen similar style storage on Craigslist (sometimes cheap, sometimes not). The systems I've seen have been sliding storage systems used in law offices, medical offices, libraries...etc. I wish I had some brand names or better search terms to share but I've always just stumbled on them.

 

[Fixr]

The Levrack requires keeping an open space to step into along with aisle space to approach it. A bunch of shelf units on fixed wheels similar to the FH idea that you pull out into the aisle would give higher density storage.

 

[nmballa]

This one popped up on my feed recently. I am going to take the general idea and run with it.

I'm building one like this now. I'll post up some pics at a later date. But its basically for my parts inventory. Picked up a pallet rack for $225 and using aluminum cleats in place of louvered panels for the parts bins.

 

[stickshift]

I'm building one like this now. I'll post up some pics at a later date. But its basically for my parts inventory. Picked up a pallet rack for $225 and using aluminum cleats in place of louvered panels for the parts bins.

How did this go? I saw that haxman video and was intrigued by this system (first time I'd heard of Levrack).

 

[southalabama]

This popped up on my YouTube feed yesterday. Saw the price. Ugh

 

[sizem]

Occasionally, used GEMTRAC cabinets pop up & may be snagged on the cheap. Similar to Levrack except they are paired to share the "when opened space"...very volume efficient. However, ridiculously expensive(if new), heavy and lots of fun to move. For me, they have been fantastic for managing fasteners.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I have wanted one of these ever since I heard of them, but each one is many multiples more expensive:

Imagine full trays of 4L80e, 454s, LS blocks, gasket sets, full sheets of 1/2” plate, 1000 bdft of mahogany, Mog axles, and her studded winter tires slowly streaming into and out of sight until the perfectly restored Chevelle dashboard and pad appears, ready to install and undamaged by stashing it in the barn out of the way six years ago.

Drool.

 

[Keith_MN]

Being inspired by Levrack, I made something similar for my basement. I used pallet racking type shelving available in all the big box stores and installed V wheels on them. They simply ride on a piece of angle iron sitting on the floor.

This allowed me to fit 3 shelving units in a space where I would have only been able to fit 2. I installed steel cables under the bottom shelf to help keep the unit square when pulling on them to slide along the rails.

 

[stickshift]

Being inspired by Levrack, I made something similar for my basement. I used pallet racking type shelving available in all the big box stores and installed V wheels on them. They simply ride on a piece of angle iron sitting on the floor.

This allowed me to fit 3 shelving units in a space where I would have only been able to fit 2. I installed steel cables under the bottom shelf to help keep the unit square when pulling on them to slide along the rails.

Very slick!
I couldn't do this particular setup because the trip hazard for elderly is above my risk tolerance, though it will certainly be less of a trip hazard because of the 45* slope rather than 90*.

Do you think a variation of this where the angle iron (or whatever rail) is on top, wheels at top to ride along rail, and fixed casters on bottom oriented parallel to the rail, would work?

 

[Firebrick43]

I have wanted one of these ever since I heard of them, but each one is many multiples more expensive:

Imagine full trays of 4L80e, 454s, LS blocks, gasket sets, full sheets of 1/2” plate, 1000 bdft of mahogany, Mog axles, and her studded winter tires slowly streaming into and out of sight until the perfectly restored Chevelle dashboard and pad appears, ready to install and undamaged by stashing it in the barn out of the way six years ago.

Drool.

The last two places I worked had dozens of Kardex Remstars like this.

They are wonderful until something stops them while they are transporting. Or even worse, something breaks and they drop a drawer from the top. That was a very bad day

 

[Colin Len]

Love this, great creativity!

 

[loganb]

Very slick!
I couldn't do this particular setup because the trip hazard for elderly is above my risk tolerance, though it will certainly be less of a trip hazard because of the 45* slope rather than 90*.

Do you think a variation of this where the angle iron (or whatever rail) is on top, wheels at top to ride along rail, and fixed casters on bottom oriented parallel to the rail, would work?

Other solution I've seen to the trip hazard is the racks only ride on a single angle iron track that is out of the walk path...so here would be the back. Using non swivel casters on that v track and standard casters riding on the floor works to get them inline while reducing the trip hazard

 

[stickshift]

Other solution I've seen to the trip hazard is the racks only ride on a single angle iron track that is out of the walk path...so here would be the back. Using non swivel casters on that v track and standard casters riding on the floor works to get them inline while reducing the trip hazard

That's a great workaround that eliminates the trip hazard.

Ideally, I wouldn't have to make holes in the basement or garage slabs to bolt an angle iron track. Potential workarounds for that:

1. Use 4 rigid/non-swivel casters per shelving rack. I'm guessing if this works, many people would already be doing this. Any deviations from perfectly straight, and it would be a real pain to get the shelving rack back on the line.

2. Similar to the solution you mentioned in last post, but maybe we can avoid lag bolting the angle iron to the floor by making the shelving racks at either end fixed. Then angle iron is secured to rear of both fixed racks. All the interior racks get 2 V-groove casters at the rear that ride on the angle iron. All interior racks get 2 swivel casters at the front that ride on the floor. Seems like this could work, but maybe a bit tricky to get load balanced between front (swivel casters on ground) and rear (V-groove casters on angle iron).

3. Use 4 swivel casters per shelving rack on bottom. Use 1 angle iron track on top - either mounted to ceiling or, if you have fixed shelving racks at either end of the array, mount the track to top of these end racks. Then have 1 V-groove caster per moving/non-fixed shelving rack that runs along the track. Seems like this could work, and possibly easier than #2, since load is naturally balanced on 4 equal casters, and track bears no weight and is only used to guide the swivel casters. Use only one angle iron track because (1) you only need one to guide the swivel casters to the correct orientation, and (2) you avoid all the hassle of ensuring the second track is perfectly parallel to the first track (if not near perfect, the V-groove casters will bind).

Any of these, assuming they work, would eliminate trip hazard and be non-permanent/no holes in slab.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

[Jeepster04]

Sorry, I don't mean to derail the thread... But whats up with that garage door opener? I've never seen an offset garage door opener, I like it!

 

[kaymccampbell]

Sorry, I don't mean to derail the thread... But whats up with that garage door opener? I've never seen an offset garage door opener, I like it!

I'm not even sure how my post got in here. I don't remember seeing this thread.
Anyway. Hijack here we come.
My garage doors were chosen for their ability to have an offset opener. They are the Clopay Coachman series, IIRC. They're a heavier, insulated, semi-custom door. You can add some reinforcement to the top panel of a regular garage door. And it'll work.

As installed, both doors had a center opener. I only modded one. I had to move the opener over and readjust the top rollers. I may have had to fiddle with the cable timing on the off side, to get the one side to drop evenly. It's been ages since I did it. The idea was to get as much headroom as possible in an 8' garage for lifting cars.

 

[stickshift]

In this video, you can see how Levrack implements the track and trolley. Looks like no-flange, no-groove casters riding on the inside of an angle iron track. Two tracks, and side mounted wheels to keep the vertical plate of the trolley holding the load wheels from rubbing on the edge of the track.

This seems reasonably doable. Used pallet racks are available for cheap. Seems like this could be done for quite a bit less than what haxman paid for the materials for his DIY Levrack (in video in 6th post of this thread). Two pieces of angle iron. Casters, maybe have to fabricate the trolleys that hold the casters.

As for the cabinets, maybe tall lateral hanging file cabinets would work? I've never used those to store any weight on the drawer bottoms, so I'm not sure they're up to the task of being loaded, though obviously the drawer sides and overall frame are capable of heavy loads. If file cabinets would work, those are cheaply available on used market. And they're going to get beat up during use, so why bother with new.

 

[Keith_MN]

That's a great workaround that eliminates the trip hazard.

Ideally, I wouldn't have to make holes in the basement or garage slabs to bolt an angle iron track. Potential workarounds for that:

1. Use 4 rigid/non-swivel casters per shelving rack. I'm guessing if this works, many people would already be doing this. Any deviations from perfectly straight, and it would be a real pain to get the shelving rack back on the line.

2. Similar to the solution you mentioned in last post, but maybe we can avoid lag bolting the angle iron to the floor by making the shelving racks at either end fixed. Then angle iron is secured to rear of both fixed racks. All the interior racks get 2 V-groove casters at the rear that ride on the angle iron. All interior racks get 2 swivel casters at the front that ride on the floor. Seems like this could work, but maybe a bit tricky to get load balanced between front (swivel casters on ground) and rear (V-groove casters on angle iron).

3. Use 4 swivel casters per shelving rack on bottom. Use 1 angle iron track on top - either mounted to ceiling or, if you have fixed shelving racks at either end of the array, mount the track to top of these end racks. Then have 1 V-groove caster per moving/non-fixed shelving rack that runs along the track. Seems like this could work, and possibly easier than #2, since load is naturally balanced on 4 equal casters, and track bears no weight and is only used to guide the swivel casters. Use only one angle iron track because (1) you only need one to guide the swivel casters to the correct orientation, and (2) you avoid all the hassle of ensuring the second track is perfectly parallel to the first track (if not near perfect, the V-groove casters will bind).

Any of these, assuming they work, would eliminate trip hazard and be non-permanent/no holes in slab.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Just a point of clarification, on my shelves shown above, I did not secure the angle iron to the floor. Just gravity is holding everything in place.

I am not sure how well a top track would work with the weight on the casters at the bottom. My gut tells me the shelves would bind up a bit.

 

[ybnormal]

The Levrack requires keeping an open space to step into along with aisle space to approach it. A bunch of shelf units on fixed wheels similar to the FH idea that you pull out into the aisle would give higher density storage.

also, only 200lbs per shelf.
I've got wire rack shelving on wheels, 4'w x18"d x 72"h that will do the same or better, imho. I can make the shelves taller or shorter, add more shelves or remove, and fit oddball sized pieces, all for under $300 new. I picked up a bunch of similar used ones in chrome with no wheels for $60/ea. lined up along the wheels, have got 10 of them in the garage.

 

[Fixr]

also, only 200lbs per shelf.
I've got wire rack shelving on wheels, 4'w x18"d x 72"h that will do the same or better, imho. I can make the shelves taller or shorter, add more shelves or remove, and fit oddball sized pieces, all for under $300 new. I picked up a bunch of similar used ones in chrome with no wheels for $60/ea. lined up along the wheels, have got 10 of them in the garage.

200 lbs a shelf? That's a joke, right? If not, it's pitifully bad engineering.

 

[loganb]

200 lbs a shelf? That's a joke, right? If not, it's pitifully bad engineering.

From their website it's 200 pounds for each horizontal shelf. The rolling sections have 4 shelfs with 800 lb limit per section.

 

[scooby074]

From their website it's 200 pounds for each horizontal shelf. The rolling sections have 4 shelfs with 800 lb limit per section.

That seems shockingly low, especially for the price. Looks like yuppie duty shelving sprayed with a cool color and a high cost.

 

[Sumboodie]

I have wanted one of these ever since I heard of them, but each one is many multiples more expensive:

Imagine full trays of 4L80e, 454s, LS blocks, gasket sets, full sheets of 1/2” plate, 1000 bdft of mahogany, Mog axles, and her studded winter tires slowly streaming into and out of sight until the perfectly restored Chevelle dashboard and pad appears, ready to install and undamaged by stashing it in the barn out of the way six years ago.

Drool.

They have one over at SLB. I could definitely use one.

Power tools storage, one shelf metal working stuff... dry cut saw, chop saw, grinders, etc, etc.

Next wood working, next electrical machine tooling, etc.

Next one is a mattress, may as well sleep in it

But pretty sure that thing costs more than my whole shop.

 

[rsanter]

Long before I ever saw the lever rack, I had the idea to use some shelving on wheels like the wire rack shelving you get at Costco.
Line them up against the wall but standing out.
Attach a piece of plywood on the end with handles as well as labels as to what’s on the shelf

 

[mike93lx]

As for the cabinets, maybe tall lateral hanging file cabinets would work? I've never used those to store any weight on the drawer bottoms, so I'm not sure they're up to the task of being loaded, though obviously the drawer sides and overall frame are capable of heavy loads. If file cabinets would work, those are cheaply available on used market. And they're going to get beat up during use, so why bother with new.

A good lateral file cabinet is likely going to have a capacity of somewhere around 100ish lbs per drawer. I have a 5 drawer and a 4 drawer stuffed with power tools, fasteners and other hardware and they are doing fine. I particularly like them for awkwardly shaped items like circular saws, sawzalls, drills, and grinders as I can pile them in a drawer without falling onto the floor like they would in a shelf.

$25/drawer is pretty common

 

[stickshift]

From their website it's 200 pounds for each horizontal shelf. The rolling sections have 4 shelfs with 800 lb limit per section.

While we could all easily build much stronger shelving units from 2x4s and OSB, 200lbs/shelf seems pretty good to me - a chop saw and portable table saw combined is under 100lbs. Different story for those who need to store transmissions, engine parts, etc, but for most home gamers, 200lbs/shelf is plenty.

 

[ybnormal]

200 lbs a shelf? That's a joke, right? If not, it's pitifully bad engineering.

the 200 was in reference to the Levrack stuff. Metro shelving is more like...

"....stationary Metro shelving units have a per-shelf weight capacity up to 800 lb (363 kg), depending on shelf length, but the per-unit weight capacity is 2,000 lb (907 kg). On the other hand, while mobile units have the same per-shelf weight capacity as their stationary counterparts, they have a per-unit weight capacity of 600-900 lb (272-408 kg), depending on the caster choice."

I actually have the heavyduty version with casters so my weight limit is about 500lbs per shelf

 

[loganb]

While we could all easily build much stronger shelving units from 2x4s and OSB, 200lbs/shelf seems pretty good to me - a chop saw and portable table saw combined is under 100lbs. Different story for those who need to store transmissions, engine parts, etc, but for most home gamers, 200lbs/shelf is plenty.

Agreed, and the 200 lbs likely has a safety factor built in so if you overload one you're likely ok. Anyone storing trannys/engines etc in mass will probably be putting them on pallets/racks and storing on pallet racks so they can easily use a forklift or small pallet handler...some ******'s you can muscle up and onto a shelf...harder for the non-extreme weightlifter to do that with an assembled small block!

 

[Skellyii]

Long before I ever saw the lever rack, I had the idea to use some shelving on wheels like the wire rack shelving you get at Costco.
Line them up against the wall but standing out.
Attach a piece of plywood on the end with handles as well as labels as to what’s on the shelf

Hmmn...I've been thinking about something like this for my fiancée's china resale business. Not heavy stuff, but it can take up a lot of space.

Did you get this done, and if so, do you have some pictures you can share?

 

[rsanter]

Hmmn...I've been thinking about something like this for my fiancée's china resale business. Not heavy stuff, but it can take up a lot of space.

Did you get this done, and if so, do you have some pictures you can share?

I did not, maybe one day

 

[stickshift]

Just a point of clarification, on my shelves shown above, I did not secure the angle iron to the floor. Just gravity is holding everything in place.

I am not sure how well a top track would work with the weight on the casters at the bottom. My gut tells me the shelves would bind up a bit.

Thanks for the clarification.

Do you think a modified version of your setup, with only one angle iron track (at the rear, with V-groove casters) and swivel casters at the front, to eliminate any potential trip hazard, would work? I'm thinking the swivel casters may want to rotate when changing directions, and that may cause binding if they can't rotate without trying to pull the V-groove caster off the angle iron. I suppose fixed casters might work, but each caster (2 per shelving unit) would have to be perfectly parallel to the angle iron. What do you think?