Turning gorilla racks into cabinets

[Jayhawk_Aviator]

I have a bunch of the large metal heavy duty shelving units. To make things look a little cleaner, I would like to build sides and doors around them. Anyone ever done that and could share some pics? They are the large ones from costco

 

[gearhead1]

Subscribed, I would also like to see pics if someone has done it. Considering this myself......

 

[finn]

Menards sells matching doors wit locks for the racks.

 

[rubberrodder]

Build your own doors. You can get as creative as you want. Add some shelves to the backsides of the doors for rattle cans. Or, some hooks for extension cords and hoses. Maybe a fold down shelf to put your laptop on. Get as crazy as you want. If you can dream it you can build it.{If you can afford it that is}

 

[Tink]

I don't have pictures but have seen articles on doing this in magazines. The nicest way is to build face frames as would be done with standard cabnets and attach them to the rack then add the doors.

 

[Skyking1992]

I added sliding doors to the front of my pallet racks and closed off each end with peg board. Don't have any pics handy.

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

I have not it but if I were to do it, assuming it is not for security and is just for aesthetics, I would the do the following:

Make frames for the sides and back using furring strips and fill in the frames using 1/4 inch plywood.

Make door frames using the same method adding furring strips as needed for door rigidity.

Attach the side and back panels to the metal frames of the steel shelving using existing holes in the shelving. These can ten be taken off easily later if the needs change.

Attach door hinges to the door frame and frame of the side panel.

 

[zer01]

I have the gorilla racks from Menards. The ones you are able to purchase by the piece. I have a power tool cabinet and parts cabinet. Enclosed with pegboard and simple plywood doors. Just took some bolts, latches, and hinges. Still in the process of moving into our new house. Used a torch to burn the plywood for now. More cosmetic finishes may come later, just need them functional for now

 

[Jrose609]

I have the gorilla racks from Menards. The ones you are able to purchase by the piece. I have a power tool cabinet and parts cabinet. Enclosed with pegboard and simple plywood doors. Just took some bolts, latches, and hinges. Still in the process of moving into our new house. Used a torch to burn the plywood for now. More cosmetic finishes may come later, just need them functional for now

Looks good. Functional and strong. Thank you for posting up!

 

[Jayhawk_Aviator]

Did you weld the hinges to the rack frame?

 

[ezover]

I have the gorilla racks from Menards. The ones you are able to purchase by the piece. I have a power tool cabinet and parts cabinet. Enclosed with pegboard and simple plywood doors. Just took some bolts, latches, and hinges. Still in the process of moving into our new house. Used a torch to burn the plywood for now. More cosmetic finishes may come later, just need them functional for now

very neat ideal, I seen the sliding door thread before but I think I like this better.

 

[mitchtr25068]

I turned gorilla racks into cabinets with sliding doors. My garage is featured in a thread entitled Peace, Love & Lucas - British classics and Petroliana in Woodstock New York garage. Works out great!

 

[Voi]

I have seen these racks with sliding doors. You just need to attach tracks to the beams and then cut plywood doors.

The advantage of this is that you can pull the doors out completely or have them slid to one side without having them swung out into the room. Helpful for some of the wider pallet rack type shelves.

Disadvantage is trying to not ding the door tracks if you're sliding a heavy box out. You could add a rail to the face of the beam and mount the tracks on that, which would keep it below the plane of the shelf.

 

[Slednut]

The first thing I would do is install ply board to each end of the rack.

Then make a face frame that covers the front of the entire rack and the new end boards.

Make the doors, I would use melamine, and use masonite to cover the back of the rack.

All would be screwed from the inside through holes drilled into the rack.

The doors would be on hinges mounted to the face frame, the amount of doors would be decided by what the cabinet would be used for.

 

[Rickster]

I cut some some plywood - should say Home Depot cut some plywood to my specs. Added some cheap trim to frame the doors. Screwed on some hinges, magnetic cabinet latches, handles & garage signs... and there you have it!

 

[twowheels]

Looks good. Functional and strong. Thank you for posting up!

I have the gorilla racks from Menards. The ones you are able to purchase by the piece. I have a power tool cabinet and parts cabinet. Enclosed with pegboard and simple plywood doors. Just took some bolts, latches, and hinges. Still in the process of moving into our new house. Used a torch to burn the plywood for now. More cosmetic finishes may come later, just need them functional for now

+1 very nice. I've got some gorilla racks and would like to do something similar. Your doors seem very strong given the weight loaded on them. Any tips/details on how you did this appreciated!

 

[zer01]

+1 very nice. I've got some gorilla racks and would like to do something similar. Your doors seem very strong given the weight loaded on them. Any tips/details on how you did this appreciated!

3/4 plywood, 1x2 framing around the perimeter spaced 1/2 from the edge, I used heavy door hinges bolted to the uprights. One set of doors has pegboard inserts, the other just has bin hangers. The 1x2 framing keeps the door really square and plumb.

 

[Rewind97]

3/4 plywood, 1x2 framing around the perimeter spaced 1/2 from the edge, I used heavy door hinges bolted to the uprights. One set of doors has pegboard inserts, the other just has bin hangers. The 1x2 framing keeps the door really square and plumb.

Very nice!!! Would you mind posting up more pics maybe some close ups of the hinges, latches and such? This is worthy of a thread of it's own!!!

 

[twowheels]

Thanks zer01 makes sense. Gives me some inspiration for what I can do with my gorilla racks!

Tim

 

[zer01]

As long as you don't mind drilling a couple holes for your hinges it works great. I could not come up with a hinge idea with the materials I had that did not include drilling holes.

 

[snaware]

I have the gorilla racks from Menards. The ones you are able to purchase by the piece. I have a power tool cabinet and parts cabinet. Enclosed with pegboard and simple plywood doors. Just took some bolts, latches, and hinges. Still in the process of moving into our new house. Used a torch to burn the plywood for now. More cosmetic finishes may come later, just need them functional for now

Oh man this is a dream, love all the space to hang quick access to tools and all the items I have trouble finding all the time. I like the work space inside the cabinets too!! Was very curious with the type of hinges and the pic shows how to - do you have any suggestions?

 

[driftpin]

A suggestion, I use thin Masonite cut to fit on-top of the wire racks of the shelves, to provide a solid surface and to make it easier to slide heavier things in/out. Presently I don't have doors, I thought of them, but don't have any yet. The Masonite shelf pieces do make moving things easy.

Before cutting the wall depth:


After cutting the shelf depth to fit in the OH garage door returns:


How I narrowed the shelf depths. You can see the aluminum box section pieces which are through-bolted underneath the front-to-back U-shaped steel shelf support pieces.

The end of shelf stanchions got PT lumber, you can see the PT lumber protrudes down well-below the end pieces, which are welded in-place from the factory. I chose to use the bolt-together method instead of welding things, which was my first idea. the bolt-together saved me considerable time sanding, grinding, welding, and painting.


The shelf support brackets with the aluminum box-section reinforcements. The 4-hole steel piece was a template for drilling the holes. Hex bolts are SS 1/4" X 20 tpi


Narrowing the shelf depth makes them fit the side wall depth. If something fits between the OH garage door sides, it's not gonna catch on the side shelving.

 

[snaware]

Thanks so much!

 

[zer01]

Oh man this is a dream, love all the space to hang quick access to tools and all the items I have trouble finding all the time. I like the work space inside the cabinets too!! Was very curious with the type of hinges and the pic shows how to - do you have any suggestions?

I used leftover interior home door hinges. They are surface mounted to the face of the doors and bolted to the inner lip of the uprights.

 

[zer01]

It keeps evolving. If you zoom in you can see the hinge attachment points.

 

[outinthetallgrass]

Menards sells matching doors wit locks for the racks.

It’s a spring project I’m starting on, got the doors, and a drawer for the shelf. I have gotten as far as attaching 1 side. Next is back and top, then adding some wood instead of the wire rack. Then some shelves inside, and some lighting.

 

[driftpin]

adding some wood instead of the wire rack

I posted about using masonite on-top of the wire shelving. Strong because of the welded wire, and easy to slide things in/out because of the masonite. Plus, nothing falls through or catches on the wire shelving.