I’m trying to store long pieces of aluminum stock and wondered if anyone had any creative solutions.
PVC pipe is a great way to help keep different types organized:
If you’ve got the “airspace”, storing upright by turning that setup on its side is usually what I see
Alternately, fabricate a holder like this:
The really long stuff can be either A) cut to a reasonable length for robots before storage or B) laid down behind desks or anywhere along a wall really. It’s a bit messy but might be the only 12-ft-long out-of-the-way area you have?
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When 3946 was working out of “the shed” (2016-2017), along one ten to twelve foot stretch of wall, we had shelf brackets every couple of feet at I think three different elevations. Only long stuff went there, (both lumber and metal stock) because short stuff wouldn’t stay. For pieces between one and four feet long, we had something halfway between @gerthworm 's pics - an open-top box with cuts of PVC inserted vertically, longer to the back shorter to the front. For even shorter pieces, a retatively flat bin or two. I’ll see if I can find pics.
Largely we’ve benefitted having some upright storage for longer things. I built a rack from wood and cable racks a couple years ago to help better manage it for us. I built some room for scrap bins (totes) underneath, and then a row of useful length (~2 ft) boxes below the upright section. Long upright stock tends to lean enough in wide bins that if was harder to place against the wall, but we use the space behind for flat stock pieces.
This does take a big area, but largely was unused anyhow. Now rid of a bunch of minimally useful material would help us, but it is easy to gather all sort of things, and hard to let go.
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I’ve used this screwed into a brick wall with Tapcon screws. It worked well. https://www.amazon.com/PortaMate-PBR-001-Organizer-Storage-6-Level/dp/B004DGIZMW
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I have the Grizzly equivalent in my basement to manage the random 2x4s and other things, amazing how much stuff you can store and how much it cleans up your space. Definitely recommend the hammer drill though, a masonry bit and a regular drill will eventually get it done, but you’ll have a bad time.
We got one of these. Works well.
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We needed a moveable cart to hold our stock and sheet goods. We built a custom one that has served us well for a number of years. Sheet goods and rods are stored on one end and tube stock on the side.
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We made this:
2x4s, 1-1/4 dowels and a sheet of 1/4 plywood as a wall protector. It holds a lot of long stock. We try to limit our long stock to 8’ sections. Easy fall project.
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