# Metal stacking stand - floor based and low profile



## joco-nz (May 20, 2017)

In an effort to control the disaster of lose metal stock in the garage which is a significant impediment to getting the wife's car back in the garage I came up with an idea to stack the metal on some floor based racks that were low profile, stable and reasonably simple to make.  I'm not sure how well these will work out but if you don't try stuff you don't learn.

Pic #1:  screenshot from Fusion 360 of the concept.




Pic #2:  one stand basically done other than some caps to close off the end of tube and the second started



Pic #3: drawings to viewing on this side without having to grab the pdf.  You will notice from this and the pdf the Fusion doesn't do frames as nicely as Inventor so as long as you ignore the box section going into the vertical part it should all make sense.  The dimension are not hard and fast and I tweaked some of the part locations as I was welding stuff up to be more to my liking.



Pic #4:  the pdf file of the drawings.
View attachment Stand-Treestyle Drawing v10.pdf


Cheers,
James.


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## joco-nz (May 20, 2017)

Did some more welding this evening in the garage even though its only about 4C in there and finished up the main construction of the second stand.  Now I just need to put some end caps on the SHS.


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## joco-nz (May 20, 2017)

A good morning this morning.  More TIG practice putting the end caps on. More tungsten grinding as well.  I'm now at the point I can regrind to a nice point in about 15 seconds tops.  Now if my welds could only be that good.

Anyway ... here is a pic of the cleaned up steel pile in the garage. You can see from previous pics the mess in the background well now its all nice and tidy and these racks are working a treat.  I'm going to try and scrounge enough steel to make another to give some better mid span support and to make it easier to hold shorter stock.

I have deliberately left the tops of the vertical open in case I decide to add some more height and arms. I'm also going to see if I can find a plastic cap to just finish it off.


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## bazmak (May 21, 2017)

Do away with the feet and fix to a wall.Take the wall brkt down to ground
to take the load off the fixings.3 or 4 will give you a range of lengths


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## joco-nz (May 21, 2017)

bazmak said:


> Do away with the feet and fix to a wall.Take the wall brkt down to ground
> to take the load off the fixings.3 or 4 will give you a range of lengths



Yup - that's what I wanted to do. However since I share the garage with SWMBO  I just don't have any wall space to put it on hence this approach.

J.


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## DJP (May 22, 2017)

My wall space and floor space are already filled so any stock that I need to store remains vertical in a corner. Mostly I have sort cut offs that sit in a steel pail. I need to be practical so my storage for steel is the local scrap yard. He keeps the material on racks or in bins and I buy what I need when I need it. Initially I thought that this approach would limit my creativity but over decades I have found wonderful pieces of scrap in the yard with value added machining already done. My designs became more fluid as a result. 

I noticed in one of your pictures, cans of paint and solvent that I consider to be too close to the welding operation area. I too have converted my garage to a shop and that was my first consideration to give max distance between sparks and paints, oils and solvents. A fire extinguisher at each exit should also be a requirement. Only once I had hot welding slag set fire to a shop rag nearby. That was the wake up call. 

While you still have room to work on the infrastructure of a garage/shop consider lining the interior (ceiling and walls) with barn tin. It's tough, fireproof and it makes the shop cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Like you I still keep vehicles in the garage for dry safe storage. With a hoist on one side for car repair I can store two vehicles and a motorcycle while still having room for lathe and mill work. The vehicles are moved out when it's time for a big fabrication project and the large flat concrete floor space becomes available again.

I have been watching your creation of a garage/workshop as it mirrors mine. The difference is that it has taken me 40 years. I'm impressed with the speed of your implementation project.


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## kvom (May 22, 2017)

My approach to this problem is pieces of C-channel supported with steel rods through the lower holes in the legs of my shop press.  The channels hold lengths of round stock too long to fit in drawers.


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## joco-nz (May 23, 2017)

In fairness this isn't the only stash of steel I have.  In desparation I had earlier found a place to hold a my engineering steels.  Ideally I will move them out of the wood stand into the new steel stand.  But to do that I need to make a middle support so as to support smaller lengths and spread some of the weight some more.  I might also take the opportunity to extend the height a little to get another arm to hold lighter material at the top.


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