# New Steel Rack



## Entropy455 (Jan 20, 2013)

I have a small collection of steel, aluminum, and stainless that I use for various projects, and I needed a better method of storage. Thus here are some photos of my new steel rack during construction. The box tube is 3&#8221; x 5 &#8220; 3/8&#8221;, and the beams are 3&#8221; S-type.








The rack is coming together. The bottom horizontal legs are 3.5&#8221; x 3.5&#8221; x 1/4&#8221;square tube. I installed some 1/4&#8221; plate to reinforce the joint between the legs and the vertical supports. I stick-welded the rack together using 6011 rod. In this picture, I just finished eating a Costco hotdog that I warmed up within my new negative-temperature oven. It was good, but it made me burp. . . . .








When welding in the garage, you want a way to get the fumes out. I use a small 1-hp dust collector blower, with a 4&#8221; black-poly hose. The blower sucks the welding fumes right out of the air, and discharges them outside.










The bottom legs are joined with 2&#8221; x 4&#8221; x 1/4&#8221; rectangle tube. The tops are joined with 5&#8221; channel. I stuck some 1.25&#8221; x 1.25&#8221; solid square bar up top, so that I could store sheets on top of the rack. I&#8217;ve got some 2.5&#8221; steel ball bearings that I welded onto the end of 1&#8221; schedule 80 pipe. My thinking is that I can hang stuff on the ends of the rack also &#8211; like chain and such.








The S-beams are installed with a 5 degree angle, so that things will not roll onto my feet. The rack is sitting on some 3/4&#8221; plywood that I painted brown. My thinking is that if I ever drop something, or if a piece falls between the supports, it will be less likely to ding up the concrete. I put most of the heavy stuff on the bottom.











I welded some 1&#8221; Schedule 80 pipe onto the ends of the S-beams. I have some 7/8&#8221; sold round bar (not shown) that will act as vertical restraining bars. Similar to what Lowes and Home Depot use on their lumber racks. The sheets up top are 304L stainless, some 1/8", some 1/4". You can see my big lathe in the background. It&#8217;s got a 10-ft bed. The headstock is currently removed. I&#8217;m in the process of restoring this this lathe. It was manufactured in 1910.











I&#8217;ve got a few feet of 8&#8221; OD x 3.5&#8221; ID steel tube (hard to find), some nice 5.5.&#8221;sold bar, and a whole bunch of 4.5&#8221; bar. But the best part is, that the steel is no longer taking up floor space sitting on a bunch of pallets!









The shop is slowly coming together


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## gus (Jan 21, 2013)

Hi Entropy,

You make me jealous.You have my dream machine/fab shop. Gus used to run a fab and machine to assemble air compressors and make air receivers too. Cold press heads,roll shell and auto welding. My boss was Aussie.


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## Entropy455 (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks for the compliment Gus. The shop would not bepossible without support from my wonderful wife Caroline. We met in engineering school (she sat in the row in front of me in class). I must admit, its pretty cool having a wife that not only knows what gears are, but knows how to design them too! 

The shop is almost done. I need to install more lighting. Ive currently got about 40 lumens per square foot, and thats not enough lighting as the garage still feels dark with the doors shut. Im going to increase the lighting to 110 lumens per square foot, which should do the trick.

I do not like climbing ladders however  especially when myhead is 16 feet above a concrete floor.  Ive got a gas powered forklift (which happens to be the best purchase Ive ever made). I constructed a man-lift box. It started off as a wood pallet. I used plywood and 2x4s to convert the pallet into safe man-lifting box. This way Caroline can lift me up to the trusses with the forklift - for safe installation of the lights and wiring.

I really want to build an internal combustion engine, however Caroline is insisting that I finish the shop first (and shes probably right  as once I start tinkering with cool stuff, my other not-so-interesting projects will get placed on the back burner. . . . .)


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## gus (Jan 22, 2013)

Hi Entropy,

Please put Safety Belt with monkey rope to give your better half peace of mind when using the f/lift to work
high up. Gus had a lot of fun enforcing this rule in his former factory. Poor offender would try hard to hide in the
pallet box and I would spent 15 mins at f/l till he gets tired/bored. Offenders buys me,the boss lunch as penalty.


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## Tin Falcon (Jan 22, 2013)

Nice heavy duty industrial grade rack. 
Mine is a little more hobby sized for us mere mortals. LOL




Tin


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