New wall lumber rack (pic)

[Kent Parker]

Using ideas from various other racks (thanks to Dick P and many other great SMC'ers.) I put this together over the weekend and can now begin to get my wood off the floor. The idea was to still have space available under the rack for usable space. I may end up building a long cut off bench with either a chop saw or my Dad's 40 year old Craftman radial arm saw (still a good heavy accurate tool, believe it or not!) set in to it. Drawer storage will eventually follow under the bench. I'll have vertical storage to one side of the rack for 4' to 5' lengths.

Did a "swing" test from pipe to pipe and it didn't come down:) .

Kent

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Looks like some good lumber storage! You should be able to get at what you need to. Also looks like you will be able to see at a glance what you have.

[Brad Knabel]

That looks good - nice job!

I'm thinking of doing something similar and have a couple of questions for you.

1. Are your holes drilled at an angle? It looks like your pipes tilt upward a tad which seems like a good idea. But it could just be an illusion from the photo.

2. How deep are your vertical members - did you use 4x4s or 2x4s? I just can't quite gauge from your picture.

Thanks for posting.

[Kent Parker]

Brad,

The pipes are at a slight up angle (about 3-4 degrees). I get a tad more head space under the ends of the pipes and thought that as the 4 x 4's dry, the pipes might sag a bit with all the weight.

The horizontal pieces are 2 x 4's lag bolted to the walls studs with 3/8" x 5" bolts. The vertical pieces are 4 x 4's dado'ed to fit over the 2 x 4s and then lag bolted with 5/16" x 3 1/2" bolts. There's about 50 lags here total.

Additionally, I bought a 10" 3/32" metal cut off wheel, stuck it in my chop saw and presto...It worked. Much better than a hack saw. You just have to accomodate the sparks. (see photo)

Cheers

Kent

[Jeff Pilcher]

Nice work Kent.

What ... no pictures of you playing Tarzan? ;)

[John Miliunas]

Nice setup, Kent. Wood storage always seems to be an important issue to deal with. Good idea in leaving some room below for active use, but you sure you have enough outlets there???!!!:D :rolleyes: :) :cool:

[Brad Knabel]

Kent - Thanks for the response. Have fun filling it up!

[Byron Trantham]

Nice design. Very inventive for the cut-off saw!

[Dick Parr]

Kent the wood rack looks great. That should give ya plenty of room for storage and access below. Looks like ya did a really good job of alignment with the pipes.

Great Job :)

[James Carmichael]

Kent,

What kind of pipe is that, I can't make it out in the pic? How long did you cut them?

The up-angle is probably a good idea, I've been pondering the wall-stud/half-lap type racks and figured I'd cut them at about 2*. But I think I like the looks of this system better.

Looks good, but I wish you'd add a few outlets.

[Brian Jarnell]

Kent - Thanks for the response. Have fun filling it up!
An angle grinder with a 1mm cut off blade works well.

[Kent Parker]

James,

The pipe is standard 1" water pipe (~1 5/16" OD). Home depot sells 10' lengths so I thought two feet would be a good length.

KP

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Nicely done!! I like the huge mitersaw turning into a metal chop saw!! Good idea.

[Mike Holbrook]

You can even put a metal cutting blade on your Circular Saw and hold the pipe with your Ezy Smart :)

[Kent Cori]

Great design Kent. Thanks for sharing it with us. I could definitely see adapting your design to my own needs. Where :) do I send the royalty check?

[Wayne Watling]

Hi Kent,

Nice job on the rack, I'm in the process of making one very simular to yours. Did you drill 1 5/16" or 1 3/8" holes for the pipe? How is the wood directly under each pipe holding up, any sign of crushing? I'm using 4" x 4" (3.5" x 3.5" beams) and am a little causious about crushing under load, if the pipes fit tightly then it would help. Lee Valley sells a 1 5/16" saw tooth bit (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=42245&cat=1,180,42240) that might be just right.

One other question, now you have been using the rack for a while would you have done anything differently?

Best,
Wayne

[Kent Parker]

Wayne,

Time has errased the memory of what size bit I used. I did end up using a fly cutter (spade bit) for the holes as this made quick work of the many holes that needed cutting. I had worried over the accuracy of the holes and thought of a few other bits however, the spade bit worked just fine. I suggest you experiment first.

Don't fret about compression under the holes. The end grain of Fir is more than adequate. The lumber load is distributed over the length of the rack, as long as the pipes are in alingment. If the holes are somewhat off you can easily shim under the pipes. The rack is now full. I would not change a thing to the design. It works well for me. If a rack is too big, it take too long to empty to get that special plank off the bottom. :D

Cheers,

Kent

[Wayne Watling]

THank you very much Kent, that helps alot. I have tried both a 1 3/8" spade bit and the 1 5/16" saw tooth bit. Using the spade bit there is a little slop in the fit, but its quite a job to get the pipe into the hole using the saw tooth bit however if the pipe is threaded then it goes in easily and is a nice and tight fit. Based on your experience which would you go with.
I'm using 4" x 4" cedar.

THanks,
Wayne