Storing Plastic and Acrylic

[Tim Baude]

Hi all,
I have been getting more requests for jobs using plastics and some acrylic. Due to this fact, I am purchasing more and need a good way to store it. I know that it should be stored horizontal but don't want to use up a full shelf when the stack of color will be only a few inches. I didn't know if anyone out there had an idea. I was thinking slots like you would find for teachers mailboxes in a teachers room or maybe what they use at places for paintings or pictures. The problem, is I can't find anything to hold 12x24 size. Will I need to have some custom built to accomodate? Any help or input will be appreciated.
Tim

[Dee Gallo]

Tim, I have an old printer's chest which has a dozen thin drawers which are about 1" and 2" high each. The drawers are about 36" wide and 24" deep. These are not that common, but you can find them at antique shows or places where a printshop is getting rid of old tech type. I found mine at an antique show for $150.

As an old art teacher, I am always looking for flat files. They make them still but they are very expensive new. They come in all kinds of sizes. Schools which are renovating sell them sometimes at auction. Old map drawers, architect and engineer files, county records file drawers are also similar. They come in metal and wood.

I also bought an art cabinet that came from a school with 60 14" x 18" plastic totes in it which holds an awful lot of tools and stuff.

So keep your eyes open and look for school/college/institutional auctions, they are a great source of inexpensive high quality storage.

Good luck, dee

[David Fairfield]

Redneck solution-- go to Home Depot, have them cut sheets of 4x8 plywood into fourths or whatever you think will work, then go to the garden department, get some bricks. 1 brick in each corner of the plywood, plywood sheet on top of that, and so on.

Its ugly but you'll have a cheap shelf for each type of sheet material, and you can take it down as you use up your material. You can use the plywood for a laser job! Just don't pile it too high! :)

Dave

[Scott Shepherd]

I went to Home Depot, bought some material used to make shelves. It's a white laminated material and they have an entire section that has the stuff in it. It has 2 rows of holes down the entire length and comes in various sizes.

Cut two of those (make sure they are cut in the same place in reference to the holes-cut at a hole, or between holes, etc.). So you have two side pieces that have a ton of adjustable holes.

Get 1/4" MDF (cheap, cheap, cheap) cut to the size you want the back, then cut 1/4" MDF shelves, as many as you want. I think I have about 18-20 of them in a 4' tall unit.

Put a top and bottom on it however you'd like.

Order yourself a box or two of 3/16" dow pins (NOT roll pins, dow pins) that are 1 1/2"-2" long.

You can take the dow pins and put them in the holes anywhere you want and have shelves any height you want. Biggest pain is cutting the shelves. I made my opening about 24 3/8" wide, and the shelves are just 24" wide so I could maximize the use of the sheet. That's the need for the longer dowel pins. If you make it 24", then most material won't fit. In fact, when I make another one, it'll be 24 1/2" wide.

All in all, it costs less than $50 to make and it holes a great deal of material.

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

I went to a used office furniture place, and picked up 2 used sets of stackable blueprint filing 42" X 36" drawers, and it lets me use the top as a work surfice as it is just the right height. If I recall, about $35.00.

Just another of many ways to do the same thing.

[Rudy Ress]

Just curious why you can't store vertically. For instance a 1/2" - 1" wide "pigeon hole", and line up like a shelf of books. This way you could separate by color, thickness, etc. Would be much easier to pull out what you need, then if all the sheets are piled on top of each other. Granted if the width of the enclosure was too wide you would get bending or bowing of the sheets. Obviously am new and just getting my feet wet and don't have the luxury:) or need for a large stock of material. Still learning.

[Doug Griffith]

I store uncut 12" x 24" material on end in a heavy duty shelf unit. I use a piece of 3/4" MDF of the same size pressed up against it with pressure like a book end. This keeps the material straight up and not leaning which may cause warpage. It also makes it easier to grab pieces without having to dig through stacks. Small pieces are kept in artist flat file drawers.

Cheers,
Doug

[James Rambo]

the first picture is what I use. I got this from the hospital I work at they throw away a lot of good stuff. I think they are or close to what Dee is talking about. The second is what I used to use, good but the file cabinet type is better

[Barb Macdonald]

Dee, you are a genius. I have several of those darn things, they've been holding film art for eons, in the screen printing room, and gathering dust.. Nice big heavy things, too:)
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