Making standard shelving tall

[N_Jay]

I am looking at stacking standard 24x48 shelving (Like Wallen, Sam' Club and lots of other brands) 3 leg segments tall (9') instead of only 2.
I am planning on securing it to a wall for stability, and will not be loading it any where near its normal max.

The problem is obtaining (or fabricating) the pieces that go in each corner to join the leg segments.
The are a simple "L" shape, which I can do, but have embossed bumps, I assume to help wedge them (and the shelves) in place.

Anyone know how to get them, know how to make them, or have other ideas.

 

[The Cobbler]

got a pic of the piece?

 

[nadogail]

Get something close and tack weld it.

 

[N_Jay]

I bought a piece of 1/16x1x1 aluminum angle.
It seems to work well in that it fits snug in the slot and stops tight against the spot in the legs made to stop the extension piece.
From what I can tell the bumps on the piece lock the shelf rails in place supporting the lower and upper leg.
I figure if I use the supplied piece on the front legs where there is risk of someone bumping the shelf rails.
Then I can use the aluminum pieces for the back legs. Those have very low risk of being disturbed, and those legs will also be supported by the wall.

I am probably overthinking this as I have built other shelves with much smaller connecting pieces without any locking in shelf rails.

 

[CraigStu]

Do you have any friends w/ a welder. I have several of the shelves like you are looking at and they have been fine but that joint is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. I looks like it would come apart if I leaned on the shelf too hard. If I were going to 9ft I'd like something better. I am thinking that w/ a small mig welder you could put two layers together as normal, weld on the outside of the joint, and then remove the joiner pieces and use them for the third layer.

 

[N_Jay]

I'm betting the joiners are stronger than a weld, as they transfer any load across several inches of the leg above and below the joint.

AND no, I am not going to do a destructive test to prove my point.

Again, since I am planning on tying the shelves to the wall, I am sure I am over-thinking this.

 

[N_Jay]

His a picture of the part

 

[yatg]

Pretty sure those pieces are mainly to keep the upright segments aligned during assembly. You're supposed to bridge the joint with the horizontal shelf supports. Don't expect the shelf unit to stay together unless you do that.

I have a room full of 9' shelves, 3 x 3' uprights, but they're the older style where the uprights are just a piece of angle with the teardrop holes in them. Same principle, the uprights are connected using the shelf rails.

 

[N_Jay]

It seems to do two functions.
1) align the shelves
2) Prevent (or at least resist) the ability to dislodge the shelf rails bridging the leg segments.

The last set I had used silly little plastic clips to align the legs, and I would not want to see those going to 9'

 

[isb cornbinder]

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[N_Jay]

Sometimes cheap is good enough.

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