Brainstorm: The cheapest 1 inch rod?

[esvee]

(Get your mind out of the gutter.)

I've got a ton of cables I'm trying to organize (literally hundreds to thousands of hdmi cables, DMX, XLR, TRS, TRRS, etc) and the idea we've settled on is making a board with a bunch of rods sticking out of it, each rod marked with a color corresponding to a length (ie all 50' cables have red tags) and stacking the cables on the rod. No more bins and no more unspooled cables.

My issue is trying to come up with a rod that is both sturdy enough (wood) and won't break the bank at 48" or less ($5 for a 48"x1" dowel. bummer. not wood.)

Anyone have any ideas for what I could buy in a decent quantity, say 100 for starters, but cheap? Open to any and all suggestions.

 

[Falcon67]

That's a tough one - try a "real" lumber yard because the home centers are NOT cheap. Example would be metal - I can buy 24' of steel tube or flat bar for around what I pay for 48" of something at HD or Lowes. I would imagine doweling is similar.

Another idea - what about light weight 3/4 or 1" aluminum conduit.

 

[Buckgnarly]

I just priced 1/2 rod at the local steel mill, 11 bucks for 20', 3/4" was 22 for 20'.

 

[brycez28]

Shelf brackets? Different sizes are available and are rated for 70-115 pounds depending on the bracket.

The tracked brackets are a little more expensive than the typical "L" type bracket, but you would have almost infinite adjustability with little wasted space.

 

[danfromsyr]

I buy round rod at the concrete isle.
but it's more of a 5/8 diam and has holes for tie wire to hold the forms/grid..
but for pins/pegs/posts it's fairly cheap

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

How long do they need to be and how are you going to attach them?
Conduit or PVC with a threaded rod or carriage bolt down the center might work.
If more than 1 ft long I'd use shelf brackets to get the additional support.

 

[My Old Tools]

1" emt

 

[Git]

Here is a pic of my "Drying Rack" that I use when I am spraying cabinet doors, etc

1/2 steel electrical conduit (10' lengths) - fairly cheap, fairly easy to get home (versus 20 footers) and fairly easy to cut. These are about 27" long and are drilled 2 1/2" into the edge of a 2x4 - so I have 24" or so to work with. Bought some plastic end caps and painted them

 

[theoldwizard1]

Shop eBay ! I found one seller who had 1/2" x 36" dowels for $1.49. The first one cost $3.99 to ship, the rest are FREE shipping.

For 18" long pegs you would need 50, $78.49 For 12" long pegs you would need 33, $53.16

 

[slow]

I would go with 8-10" carriage bolts and 1/2" pvc pipe. Cut PCV and insert bolt into the cut section, bolt to board. Strong, and the pvc will be smooth to not damage your expensive cables. You could even put caps on the pvc if you want to hide the carriage bolt head. (or reverse the bolts and put a nut/washer over the end of the pvc and insert cap to hide it all.

Ryan

 

[Fixed]

Just curious, why do you have that many cables?

 

[wrench409]

Ask a foreman at a construction site for some rebar cut offs. Probably swap them for a 6 pack of Keystone or Bud Lite.

 

[esvee]

Just curious, why do you have that many cables?

I run an interactive AV/fabrication studio. We've got hundreds of displays from 5"-80" and all sorts of other goodies to go with those cables.

 

[Gerald O]

PVC pipe. Cheap and glue-able.

 

[Jon_E]

Just to clarify, are you planning on having the 'rods' stick out of the board 48"? If so, 1" EMT should work perfectly. Might bend a little but not enough too be a problem,especially if you can angle the pieces upwards by 5 degrees or so. And it's cheap - less than $7 for a 10' piece at Home Depot, probably less at a wholesale supplier.

Just as an example, I built a lumber rack in my shed out of 1-1/4" EMT and 2x6's. The rack is 12' long, 5' wide and 9' high. It holds almost 8000 board feet of lumber when full. There is no visible deflection of the EMT.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Go to restore, they always have a bunch of closet poles and hand rail for stair cases.

 

[FTG-05]

Just to clarify, are you planning on having the 'rods' stick out of the board 48"? If so, 1" EMT should work perfectly. Might bend a little but not enough too be a problem,especially if you can angle the pieces upwards by 5 degrees or so. And it's cheap - less than $7 for a 10' piece at Home Depot, probably less at a wholesale supplier.

Just as an example, I built a lumber rack in my shed out of 1-1/4" EMT and 2x6's. The rack is 12' long, 5' wide and 9' high. It holds almost 8000 board feet of lumber when full. There is no visible deflection of the EMT.

Any way to get pic(s) of this?

thanks,

 

[bzinsky]

(Get your mind out of the gutter.)

I've got a ton of cables I'm trying to organize (literally hundreds to thousands of hdmi cables, DMX, XLR, TRS, TRRS, etc) and the idea we've settled on is making a board with a bunch of rods sticking out of it, each rod marked with a color corresponding to a length (ie all 50' cables have red tags) and stacking the cables on the rod. No more bins and no more unspooled cables.

My issue is trying to come up with a rod that is both sturdy enough (wood) and won't break the bank at 48" or less ($5 for a 48"x1" dowel. bummer. not wood.)

Anyone have any ideas for what I could buy in a decent quantity, say 100 for starters, but cheap? Open to any and all suggestions.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbrande...ron-Threaded-Floor-Flange-521-604HN/100129872
+
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-3-4-in-x-48-in-Black-Steel-Sch-40-Pipe-584-480HC/100192945

you're problem is attaching them to the board, this is one way to solve it

 

[esvee]

Sounds like EMT is likely the ticket. Bonus points for durability.

 

[wssix99]

EMT won't last you long if you are using this commercially. If you go with conduit, you'll want to use Rigid conduit. EMT will be too soft.

Attaching this stuff to a board will also be problematic. PVC makes that easy. With Rigid conduit, you could also probably thread it and screw it in to some flanges.

 

[Dmoen]

Use some rebar. Talk to a construction, or cement buddy. Likely get a pickup box of scrap free.