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Wire Rope for a shelf base

pdude

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Nov 16, 2015
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San Jose, California
Anyone make a shelf base out of wire rope? Have already hanged some shelves from all threads in the ceiling. I would like to create the shelves to have a mesh base (i.e. instead of plywood as the base of the shelves).

Local Home Depot has coated welded wire which is too weak which is why I'm looking to just use wire rope to create the base.
 
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maxpat82

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Dec 9, 2012
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I have used laced steel rod to make stuff like shelves, but can't find the real name of that thing. (I'ved been given the "bent" steel rod and laced them myself.) :|

it's very sturdy....not sure how actual rope would do (been tightening them will be hard and can't easily weld multi wire cable)

edit: found it:
search for : Crimped wire mesh.
http://french.weld-wiremesh.com/pho...wire_mesh_for_making_barbecue_metal_grill.jpg
 
Last edited:

GMCGarage

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Jan 31, 2017
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Anyone make a shelf base out of wire rope? Have already hanged some shelves from all threads in the ceiling. I would like to create the shelves to have a mesh base (i.e. instead of plywood as the base of the shelves).

Local Home Depot has coated welded wire which is too weak which is why I'm looking to just use wire rope to create the base.

Wire rope is not stiff enough, unless you can tension it. I would use some screening or gating material.
 

LeeG

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Nov 29, 2012
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Phoenix, AZ
Would expanded sheet metal work for you? It needs to be supported at the edges, but would make decent shelving.

flattened-expanded-metal-17511.jpg
 

maxpat82

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expanded metal will be way cheaper then any form of wire rope or cable.
 
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pdude

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Nov 16, 2015
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San Jose, California
Btw, I'm not aware of a load rating for this material? I did a quick search and didn't see any data on most sites. I might have to ask each manufacturer.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 

samss

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Aug 20, 2014
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Location
Conway, AR
Maybe a frame made from unistrut and the coated cable/wire laced like old style lawn chair webbing?
 
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pdude

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Nov 16, 2015
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52
Location
San Jose, California
Maybe a frame made from unistrut and the coated cable/wire laced like old style lawn chair webbing?

That was sort of my original plan with using wire rope. Then using clamps or crimps to keep it tight. Two posters mentioned some possible issues with that plan which I'm still considering that as an option.
 

matt_i

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Mar 14, 2008
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10,728
Location
SE Michigan
You could use woven bike wheel spokes and tension them with the little round T-nuts.

Wire rope could work but you'd need many rounded "guides" and maybe some drops of oil to lubricate it and get the stiction out. Somewhere there would have to be a turnbuckle-type tensioner with a fair amount of takeup.
 
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pdude

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Nov 16, 2015
Messages
52
Location
San Jose, California
On one shelf that was against a wall I had just cut crossbars of half-deep unistrut that worked. But for this other shelf that is just dropped from the ceiling, thought about using allthreads as crossbars. I see they are rated at 600# or more, but that's holding it from end to end. If I use them as crossbars to build the shelf based is there a way to determine what load they could handle?
 
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