Having a brain freeze on assembling Unistrut

[tominboise]

I want to make a tall, narrow rack system for my garage. It will fit between the two garage doors. It will be about 7' tall, 24" wide, 20" deep. With 4 shelves. I will be using 4 legs, as the top shelf needs to hold 250 lbs of rotary phase converter. The legs will sit on the concrete to bear the vertical load and the legs against the wall will be lag screwed to studs in the wall.

My conundrum - how to join the four pieces of unistrut that will form each shelf. I get using the 90deg brackets for the struts that meets on the side with the holes/open side. But how to join the other piece 90deg to that? It will be landing with an open end again the sides of the Unistrut with no holes.

What am I missing- is there a bracket that form that 90deg joint?

Of course, I want it as cheap as possible and strong.....

 

[gleman]

Have you tried any of the bracket catalogs?



Which way are the front legs facing?

 

[Beerhippie]

I want to make a tall, narrow rack system for my garage. It will fit between the two garage doors. It will be about 7' tall, 24" wide, 20" deep. With 4 shelves. I will be using 4 legs, as the top shelf needs to hold 250 lbs of rotary phase converter. The legs will sit on the concrete to bear the vertical load and the legs against the wall will be lag screwed to studs in the wall.

My conundrum - how to join the four pieces of unistrut that will form each shelf. I get using the 90deg brackets for the struts that meets on the side with the holes/open side. But how to join the other piece 90deg to that? It will be landing with an open end again the sides of the Unistrut with no holes.

What am I missing- is there a bracket that form that 90deg joint?

Of course, I want it as cheap as possible and strong.....

Two solutions I use for that: Weld or drill.

But I usually get the Unistrut w/slots and holes in the backside. Makes life easier.

 

[no704]

Get the kind on the left, and bolt together. Don’t think you need to support the shelves on all sides for such a short span.

 

[Sno-Pro]

Use an A1036 bracket

 

[finn]

I usually go to Menards and stare at the display / inventory (much to my wife’s chagrin) until I figure something out.

 

[Firebrick43]

I want to make a tall, narrow rack system for my garage. It will fit between the two garage doors. It will be about 7' tall, 24" wide, 20" deep. With 4 shelves. I will be using 4 legs, as the top shelf needs to hold 250 lbs of rotary phase converter. The legs will sit on the concrete to bear the vertical load and the legs against the wall will be lag screwed to studs in the wall.

My conundrum - how to join the four pieces of unistrut that will form each shelf. I get using the 90deg brackets for the struts that meets on the side with the holes/open side. But how to join the other piece 90deg to that? It will be landing with an open end again the sides of the Unistrut with no holes.

What am I missing- is there a bracket that form that 90deg joint?

Of course, I want it as cheap as possible and strong.....

The A2223 brackets are going to be the ones that you want to use to tie everything together properly. How ever you have to finds some one that carries them and they are 22 dollars a piece and you need 4 per shelf. Not cheap.

Are you stuck on unistrut?

Simpson Strong-Tie WBSK Workbench and Shelving Hardware Kit WBSK - The Home Depot

Climb and do your ceiling work by using this excellent Simpson Strong-Tie 5-step WBSK Workbench and Shelving Hardware Kit.

www.homedepot.com

Some clear 2x4 and ACX ply with these brackets makes a pretty quick, cheap, and solid shelving unit. Decent screws are included. Just make sure you screw the ply shelf top to the 2x4.

You can make them even cheaper if you mortice and tennon the 2x4's together which I did, but my neighbor did all his with these kits and its just as stable, stiff, and strong. And it will be stiffer than a comparable unistrut shelf

 

[tominboise]

The A2223 brackets are going to be the ones that you want to use to tie everything together properly. How ever you have to finds some one that carries them and they are 22 dollars a piece and you need 4 per shelf. Not cheap.

Are you stuck on unistrut?

Simpson Strong-Tie WBSK Workbench and Shelving Hardware Kit WBSK - The Home Depot

Climb and do your ceiling work by using this excellent Simpson Strong-Tie 5-step WBSK Workbench and Shelving Hardware Kit.

www.homedepot.com

Some clear 2x4 and ACX ply with these brackets makes a pretty quick, cheap, and solid shelving unit. Decent screws are included. Just make sure you screw the ply shelf top to the 2x4.

You can make them even cheaper if you mortice and tennon the 2x4's together which I did, but my neighbor did all his with these kits and its just as stable, stiff, and strong. And it will be stiffer than a comparable unistrut shelf

I built a reloading bench using those brackets and it works like a champ. I will consider this approach. Thanks.

 

[tominboise]

Get the kind on the left, and bolt together. Don’t think you need to support the shelves on all sides for such a short span.

I will look around to see if that is available locally. If so, then it solves that problem.

I am using strut on 4 sides as I will storing lathe chucks and stuff like that on the lower shelves. My OCD to have all 4 sides of the shelves supported.

 

[Beerhippie]

Have you looked into used warehouse shelving in your area?

Sometimes goes dirt cheap.

You're in Boise, right? I can talk to the Powers That Be about selling some of our surplus units.

 

[tominboise]

Have you looked into used warehouse shelving in your area?

Sometimes goes dirt cheap.

You're in Boise, right? I can talk to the Powers That Be about selling some of our surplus units.

Not yet but I will. The local to me scrap yard has quite a pile of warehouse racking. I would have to figure out how to cut it down to the width I need but it's probably not impossible to do so.

 

[u2slow]

Lumber (often used) tends to win for me on these projects. Use blocking between shelves to keep up the strength.

Strut and brackets gets costly fast. Warehousing racking is tough get around here, and then still needs extensive modification for small projects/spaces.

 

[tominboise]

Lumber (often used) tends to win for me on these projects. Use blocking between shelves to keep up the strength.

Strut and brackets gets costly fast. Warehousing racking is tough get around here, and then still needs extensive modification for small projects/spaces.

Using wood is looking more and more like it's the way to go. Like $100 vs a lot more then $100....

 

[Beerhippie]

Using wood is looking more and more like it's the way to go. Like $100 vs a lot more then $100....

For the shelves that will be bearing a lot of weight, just go up in size on the wood beams--from, say, 2X4 to 2X6. IIRC, resistance to deflection is relative to the square of the depth of the beam.

 

[u2slow]

2x4 should be fine for a 2'x2' footprint shelving unit. I usually make a series of shelf frames skinned with plywood. Screw one edge to the wall. A pair of uprights on the front. Blocking between shelves for heavy use.

 

[Firebrick43]

2x4 should be fine for a 2'x2' footprint shelving unit. I usually make a series of shelf frames skinned with plywood. Screw one edge to the wall. A pair of uprights on the front. Blocking between shelves for heavy use.

My 2x4 shelves have a 6' span with a lot more than 250 lbs load on them. Your summation is correct with my experience.

 

[Stelzer]

For the shelves that will be bearing a lot of weight, just go up in size on the wood beams--from, say, 2X4 to 2X6. IIRC, resistance to deflection is relative to the square of the depth of the beam.

I believe resistance to deflection is relative to the cube of the depth of its beam. Even still, I bet you could build much better shelves than I.

 

[Beerhippie]

I believe resistance to deflection is relative to the cube of its. Even still, I bet you could build much better shelves than I.

It's been a long time since I learned that. You may be right.

 

[tominboise]

The moment of Inertia of a rectangle is I = (bh^3)/12, so yes, it depends on the cube of the depth.

 

[u2slow]

This is some of the lumber shelving I've built. Mostly 2x4, often doubled up.

 

[tominboise]

This is some of the lumber shelving I've built. Mostly 2x4, often doubled up.

Yeah, that would do it. I still have a lot of 2X6 from the pallet that the lathe was on for all of the shelve supports. I will be moving forward with something like this.

How do we feel about screwing the support on wall, over the sheet rock? I don't think it should be a problem but I might be missing something.

 

[Beerhippie]

Yeah, that would do it. I still have a lot of 2X6 from the pallet that the lathe was on for all of the shelve supports. I will be moving forward with something like this.

How do we feel about screwing the support on wall, over the sheet rock? I don't think it should be a problem but I might be missing something.

I'd lag a rim joist into the studs--two lags per--and support the shelves on top of the joist--just like building a deck.

Overkill is my trade.