# Engineer needed - Lumber Rack - Designed to hold a few hundred bf of hard maple etc



## Letorix (Jul 19, 2011)

I've been looking at the designs found here, and I really don't see any with a tremendous amount of wood stacked on it. I was planning on something like this: http://lumberjocks.com/LakelandDave/blog/13534 Dave claims he's put 1000lb of lumber on it before but it looks like he has his maple on the ground.

So have any engineers here figured out the cantilever forces involved? I want to have my boards up and sheet goods cart similar to what the wood whisper built.

Also I have 10' stick of 2×12 I'd like to use up was thinking of using it as the arms and sandwiching 2 2×4 on it as the vertical supports. With a 3/4 ply bracket to help transfer load to the length of 2×4 vs just through bolts.









I'm a hobbyist working in a garage so space is ever so precious.

Thoughts experience? Safety is key, hate to think my kids, someone else, or myself being injured due to weak bad design.

Would love to have 18 to 24" of shelf space…might be too much to ask.

Thanks!


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## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

Do you have any friends that can weld? We've got welded angle iron lumber racks at work and they are as space efficient as anything else I've seen.

As far as wooden racks go, I've seen one design someplace that looked pretty efficient but I forgot where I saw it.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

I built a cantilevered rack out of wood. After I few years, I got a load of lumber from a friend. Just put it all on the rack. That pretty much filled it up.

After a few months, I noticed that the supports were starting to pull free from the uprights. Caught it in time and added some plywood supports to strengthen it. I can now climb on them even when they are fully loaded.

Your design looks pretty good, kind of like what I started with. I ended up adding layers to each side of the supports and putting the plywood along the outside of the uprights and out farther along the supports.

Hope that makes sense.


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

I'm no engineer, but here's my version of something like you referenced above. I don't have a current photo, but it's got quite a bit more red oak and ipe on it now.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/26255


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## Letorix (Jul 19, 2011)

Steel would be ideal but I fear the cost would go from 50-75 to several hundred. I'm a CL junkie and have seen good buys on commercial items but they were all too big my garage.


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## Letorix (Jul 19, 2011)

Those look adjustable Darrell very nice.

Steve, I was going to glue mine…did you glue yours?


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Mine is something along these lines. I sandwiched three 2×4 for each column. The center of the sandwich had spaces into which the "shelves" fit. The shelves were nothing more than pieces of 2×4s that stuck out from the column. The lumber rack is in my basement. The columns sit on the floor and extend up past the floor joist (basement ceiling). I made the "bread" pieces long enough to capture a floor joist and nailed them in place with 16d nails. It hasn't moved, sagged or shifted in years and it is fully loaded.

Lew


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Here is a link to an LJ that used this idea and made it better-

http://www.birdmanusa.com/ProjectPage.html

Lew


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

A good rack here:










In use:










Pretty messy in that pic, but there's lots of lumber on it. If you're interested, i can send the pdf/plan.


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## Letorix (Jul 19, 2011)

Hi Lew good idea.

Thanks Smitty that picture says it all, and the diagram is good enough.

I'll post pics when once I build it, thanks for all the input!


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Any questions, just holler. FYI, I screwed and used construction adhesive on all areas of contact. It's a free-standing unit and has shown. No signs of sagging in 3+ years. I do have a wall built behind it now that I'll be lagging it to this spring, just for kicks.


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## LeeBarker (Aug 6, 2010)

In general, these appear to me to be way overbuilt. Nothing wrong with that, except the cost and the potential loss of capacity.

I think the tilting-back of the arms is a mistake. I want that surface flat when I'm flipping through boards.

Carriage bolts make for a fast, inexpensive and reversible method of attaching arms.

Before you go to the effort of making the arms adjustable, consider any cabinet you have which has adjustable shelves. How often have you taken advantage of that feature?

Kindly,

Lee


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

Sorry I took a while to get back to your question, I glued and used deck screws.

If you go to my workshop page , the first picture shows the rack. The top layer shows the extra support I had to add.


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

I went through the lumber rack design dilemma a few months ago. Ended up buying one; in the end it takes up less space and probably is stronger than anything I'd made of wood. 
This rack from Lee Valley is not too expensive and claims to be able to support 2400lbs:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32145&cat=1,43326


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

I used 4"x4"s & black pipe, drilled holes in posts with a 2* angle every 6" for adjustment. I also cut short & longer pipe and covered those with foam pipe insulation. Everything is achored to ceiling joists or tapconed into the floor. Cut extra pipe and stored it on side of first post.



















BTW: The posts, pipe & paint were FREE!!! A only had to buy a little hardware for anchoring to ceilng & floor.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Randy - Nice!


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