Steel storage racks

[Snip]

Question for those of you that have built ( or bought) your own steel storage racks, how far have you used for spacing the uprights? What are you allowing for overhang past the last upright? Most of my material comes in 20' lengths, some 24, but always wind up with "shorts" after a project that I would like to store on it. Tired of having stuff stored all over the shop. Rack will be single sided cantilevered style up against the wall. TIA.

 

[Duker]

This style has worked pretty well for my shop. I buy 24' lengths and cut them into 12' or 10/14' lengths which covers most of the projects I make. It works fine for 4' and longer stock. Anything shorter I have stacked in some bins. The back side of the rack I use for Grinder storage as my saw and cutting tables are on the other side of it. The rack sort of acts a separation of my auto bay where my lift is located.




with everything

 

[TurnipTruck]

The orange racks on the wall are on 4’ centers, the homemade rack on the floor is on 5’ centers. Anything longer than 16’ starts to intrude into the side door (left of view).



Outside, I have cantilever racking on 6’ centers.

20’+ lengths and oddball stuff that won’t blow away are just a snow shovel away, on top of the garden connex:


four to nine foot drops live outside on this roofed bunk:


two foot or less go under the weld table.

 

[jack stand]

When I grow up I hope to be as organized and disciplined as you 2 guys!

 

[NUTTSGT]

I took down the steel rack I had on the I-beam but left up the side for the aluminum stock

I used 2' centers but I also used some expand metal as a front and bottom to keep anything shorter from possibly falling through.

Just wanted to offer that information as you could incorporate it on one end for any shorts or drops.

 

[Snip]

Thank you to all for your details and pictures, gave me some ideas and inspirations. I have enough 3.5 3/16" square tube to build 4 separate posts with a forward foot. 8'tall with a 18" foot, 2x2-3/16 for the shelves/ pins. I think I am going to set them up with different spacing between them. I don't know why doing different spacing never occurred to me, just me being **** about symmetrical i guess? Maybe something like 4, 5 and 6' centers? Still would work with minimum overhang on 20', 24' should still be ok. Most of the time I pick up steel as i am starting a project so storing 24 footers would by not to often, well unless I find a great deal,lol. I like the idea of the expanded metal shelf for shorter drops.

 

[slodat]

I hung mine from the wall to conserve floor space. I don’t, and won’t store lots of thick or heavy steel. All thin wall and not a lot of it. Worked out perfect for my needs.

 

[Snip]

Nice looking rack. Usually when I say that i get hit, lol

I like the Ellis saw, mine is not that nice and shiny. Is the infeed table a Ellis item or something you built?

 

[slodat]

Nice looking rack. Usually when I say that i get hit, lol

I like the Ellis saw, mine is not that nice and shiny. Is the infeed table an Ellis item or something you built?

The infeed is the Ellis item. I’m really happy with the infeed. I added this tray a while back. Really nice addition.





And I recently added the Biltwell Iron Company hydraulic mod. It’s a stop toggle valve. It’s not cheap, but I’m very happy with it!





It replaces the original needle valve. Puts the control out front, and the toggle valve starts/stops the down feed. You don’t have to change the needle valve to move the saw.

I also made my own blade air blast. The Ellis air blast setup is $300. Mine was under a hundred.





I cut a lot of material with this saw. Some days it runs all day. These mods have made it a much more usable saw.

 

[Snip]

Nice updates, thank you for sharing them. I have seen the biltwell unit just recently, nice unit. Might do something similar with mine. I also have a vertical gravity feed bandsaw, Workamatic made by Dake, that could benefit from valve relocation. My Ellis is an old 1000 model, still uses a "leather " type blade wiper instead of a wire brush

 

[Mike65]

I just use the "off the shelf" type from Home Depot or Lowes that have the interlocking shelf beams into the uprights. I just replaced the pressed board shelfs with 1/2" plywood. I have 4 of them in my Shop/garage & 1 in our basement. They are like this style.

Husky 4-Tier Industrial Duty Steel Freestanding Garage Storage Shelving Unit in Black (77 in. W x 78 in. H x 24 in. D) N2W772478W4B - The Home Depot

This excellent Husky Black 4-Shelf I-Beam Welded Garage Shelving Unit is ideal to gas, fuels, fire protection and general plumbing and HVAC applications.

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