1x1 Square Tube Shelf - Support Question

[CalgaryJoe]

Hey All,

Long time lurker - great community here! I'm fairly new to metal working, picked up a welder around Christmas to try my hand at a Steveo inspired work bench (zero welding experience before hand) and after a fair amount of trial and error turned out pretty good. Now I would like to make some suspended metal shelving out of 1x1 square tube. One side the of shelf would be mounted to the wall and the open side of the shelf would be suspended by threaded rod run up into the rafters. I've attached a crude drawing (sketched it up at the office) - my concern is in spacing the threaded rod every 4.5', is this too much of a span for the 1x1? I wouldnt expect the shelf to hold more then 200lbs in between the span's - in all likely hood much less. Will this work?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Load capacity depends on the thickness of the wall of the tubing - need to post that info to get a good answer.

 

[CalgaryJoe]

Planning on using 0.095 tube wall, also have 0.125 available.

 

[toofart]

.095 is fairly thin to be supporting weight. I got some 1x1 .083 for a stair railing, and it's a bit light. Works, but I should have used .100.

I think with .125 you're good to go, but I probably wouldn't put more than 500 lbs on the entire assembly.

I suppose you're going to drill a 7/16 hole in the tube for the threaded rod? Might be good to reinforce those areas with some 1/8" plate since the hole will take out a lot of material from the 1x1 tube.

 

[jimgood]

Take a piece of your tubing and put it on a couple of blocks on the floor spaced 4.5' apart and stand on the middle of it. That will tell you all you need to know.

 

[CalgaryJoe]

Thanks for the responses - moving up to 0.125 wall makes since and cost increase is minor. I am planning to drill through the 1x1 for the threaded rod to pass through. The plan was to just use washers/nuts on both sides of the threaded rod where it passes through the 1x1 for reinforcement as each shelf will also be topped with expended metal. Still add 1/8 plate to strengthen the drill holes?

Dont have the tube at home yet to try and stand on it - the supplier I get the metal from has limited hours - requires taking time off work to get over to them. PITA but a 1/3 of the cost of everyone else who will sell to a consumer locally...

 

[toofart]

I have some 1x1 .125 ... I'll do the 4.5' test for you. It will flex, but it will hold it just fine.

If you're using washers and nuts tightened on either side of the tube you won't need reinforcement. The washers will help spread the load.

 

[welder4956]

With a 54" spacing on the rod supports, 0.125 wall tubing helps, but not much. The most effective change will be to shorten the span. Even changing from 54" to 48" will reduce the deflection by 30% with a 200 lb. load. Using 0.125 wall tubing at 36" span with a 200 lb. load would have less than 1/8" deflection, which would be fine.

http://metalgeek.com/static/deflection.php

 

[NUTTSGT]

I used this method for shelf where my TV sits in the corner. If the nuts on the bottom are anywhere close to "head height" I'd buy some rubber caps to fit over them.

 

[CalgaryJoe]

Great website welder4956 - thanks for the help everyone!

 

[sanddan]

Why not instead of the threaded rods, replace them with more 1" tubing creating a single structure. You could just bolt it to the wall and not have to tie into the ceiling. That's how I would do it.