Need Ideas for storing steel

[Jetmekdc-10]

I am looking for some good ideas for ways to store stock in my shop. I keep a fair amount of steel on hand and I just can't find a way to store it that I like. I just tore my old storage rack out last night so I can finish the inside of my shop walls out. Most of the stuff I use is 2" or less. Most of the pieces are 20 foot lengths. Any ideas? Thanks

[cat]

I get all my stuff in 10' lengths so I can fit them inside my suv to transport. My "shop" is the garage and I just stack it all in the middle of the stall, and park my car over it.

[Richard]

one idea that comes to mind is you could make some hangers out of angle iron and store it up overhead. . . just slide the long steel pieces up in the hangers and let it lay flat. . I have seen lots of wood workers use this to store boards in their shop. . it could work for steel just be sure you make the brackets out of some Strong steel and attach them to some rafters

I also saw on the board one guy had a old 18 wheeler body container ( shipping container, that they use to ship goods here from overseas ) and he stored his steel in it. had the container beside his shop. good weather tight seals on the doors. made himself a rack inside the container.

good luck


................. Richard

[jworman]

I am looking for some good ideas for ways to store stock in my shop. I keep a fair amount of steel on hand and I just can't find a way to store it that I like. I just tore my old storage rack out last night so I can finish the inside of my shop walls out. Most of the stuff I use is 2" or less. Most of the pieces are 20 foot lengths. Any ideas? Thanks

I was lucky but this may give you an idea. A friend of mine was working for a fellow that dealt in electronic salvage. He bought a salvage document storage system that comprised of multiple racks on a track. A person could step into a opening between the racks to retrieve documents. The racks can be moved along the track to control where the opening is.

This fellow installed his racks in all his buildings and had two left over. He threatened to take them to the dump, so my friend gloomed onto them. He took one and gave me one.

The bottom of the rack has 6 steel wheels, 3 on each side. The 3 wheels are connected with a long rod that goes down each side. I built the rack on top of the base.

The advantage of the rod connecting the wheels is that you can grab the rack at the corner and it will move away from the wall straight as can be. This rack tucks up against the wall, but easily comes away so you can access both sides and the center for sheets.

You may notice I filled my rack with wood, but my friend filled his with steel. The rack works equally well for either job.

This is my first time to try to embed a picture in a message. I will attach them as well to make sure.

[Jetmekdc-10]

Thanks so far, My problem is space. I had my steel on a rack built against the wall similar to the one on the left in jworman's pics. I can't use the overhead idea cause my cielings are 15 feet and vaulted. I may just go back with what I had. Thanks Guys

[dabar39]

Steel rack

The one that I use sounds kinda like what you just removed. I built mine with 2x3x3/16 angle for the feet and the uprights with a slight incline toward the wall and lagged it to the floor, and 2" angle for the arms. I attached some pics but the are not really showing the rack all that well, as it's not the intended subject of the pics but it is there none the less. I have had this thing stocked up with a couple thousand feet of steel and it holds up quite well. Dave

P.S. Have you tried out the cage in your truck yet?

[monte55]

throw all your 2" pieces in a bucket and put in the corner and send me the 20 footers...Problem solved

[Jetmekdc-10]

Dave, yours looks a little better than the one I had, it was made from wood and kind of bulky. I 'll build it with some angle and see how that does, Thanks, Also, I'm taking the truck to the Superlift Off-road park in Little Rock at the end of October. I'll send a pic or two.

[HMW]

I store all my stock vertical. I cut then to 10' unless needed for specific project. I have 12' ceilings and it takes up less wall space that way. All the short pieces I put in a small rack.

[tdkkart]

Look at the space above your roll-up door, assuming you have one. My garage has 9-1/2' ceilings so there was a pretty good space up there between/above the door tracks directly above the door opening. I built an
18" deep by nearly 16' long rack up there supported from the rafters with angle iron brackets. Doesn't hold a huge amount, but a decent supply of long stuff.

[SkidSteerSteve]

If you did want to go with the suspended rack idea in a high ceiling shop, one way to build it would be to use hanger rod to tie into the roof structure and then cut it to varying lengths according to your roof pitch to make it level at the desired height above the floor. Our shop roof is built out of bar trusses, so it's a cinch. Just slide a piece of hanger bar, or whatever is on hand, between two trusses and then screw the rod into that.

SSS