Author Topic: Material Storage  (Read 16680 times)

Offline sparky961

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Material Storage
« on: November 17, 2011, 11:59:00 PM »
Does anyone have some cheap, functional ways of storing miscellaneous chunks, rods, rounds, tubes, pipes, longs, shorts, heavies, lights, and any other piece of metal not covered by the former?

My collection of material seems to be growing and so far I have a plastic milk crate for each of: steel, aluminum, brass, and plastic.  Long material lives in a pile under my bench and when I was sweeping the other day I came across a piece of angle iron I forgot that I had - never a good sign.  What I don't like about the milk crates is that smaller stuff falls through the openings in the bottom, and I end up digging through when I'm looking for stock.

I'm trying to envision something that organizes lengths from an inch or less all the way up to about 5' (this is a rule I impose on myself due to space limitations).  Maybe something like the "round rod" rack at the hardware store, but that doesn't account for the much shorter pieces.  I think everything I have is under 2" dia/sq., most under 1".  The thicker stuff is usually in short pieces.

Ideas, pictures gentlemen?  (Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a "lady" here).

-Sparky

Offline andyf

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2011, 03:30:02 AM »
If I had  the wall space to do it, I'd like to put up lengths of round plastic guttering, using home-made brackets to give it good support. This would take care of varying lengths of stock and allow easy rummaging. The fixings would need to be pretty solid to avoid the whole lot crashing down onto machinery and toes below.

Andy
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline AussieJimG

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2011, 03:40:49 AM »
I will be watching with interest. Like Sparky, my stock is mostly stored in milk crates but it is not very accessible.

Jim

Offline raynerd

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2011, 11:06:51 AM »
I`m in a basement and you can see the joists above you. I`ve screwed in some timbers across the joints so I can slide the lengths in. They haven`t fallen on my head so far in the last couple of years....

I haven`t room, but a chap I know has lengths of plastic tubing with all the metals sorted and sized....very nice but takes up a lot of room.

This thread does remind me...I`m running short of resources!!

Chris

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2011, 12:39:33 PM »
PTsideshow has some good methods of storing materials. He has a thread somewhere here. I will see if I can find it. Hopefully he will see this and respond.

Eric
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Offline sparky961

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2011, 03:02:02 PM »
If I had  the wall space to do it, I'd like to put up lengths of round plastic guttering, using home-made brackets to give it good support. This would take care of varying lengths of stock and allow easy rummaging. The fixings would need to be pretty solid to avoid the whole lot crashing down onto machinery and toes below.

Andy

Seeing how long it took for some people to chime in on this one, I'm guessing this is something that a lot of people struggle with.  I like the above idea.  I can see it taking up a fair chunk of wall space, but it wouldn't stick out from the wall a lot either.  I can also see it being a challenge to build something reasonably strong on a shoestring budget.  I guess when I do finally decide what to do, I'm going to have to spend some money.... <sigh>

-Sparky

Offline Swarfing

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2011, 05:30:33 PM »
My idea is to use soil pipe supports, stack a few 6" apart vertically up the wall until you have enough to support your longest length (assuming no more than  3' or 4'). this way they should catch most lengths and no worries about swarf and crap filling up your holes? you can easily pull out out bits as well without having to empty the whole container?

this is still on my list to do and the supports come in 3" to 8" diameters
Once in hole stop digging.

Offline andyf

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2011, 06:59:34 PM »
Soil pipe supports are a great idea! I only have about 7' headroom, but for stuff 4' to 6' long the upper supports could be fabricated with a sort of gate on the front so stock could be pulled forward, then lifted out.

Thanks  :thumbup:
Andy

 
Sale, Cheshire
I've cut the end off it twice, but it's still too short

Offline sparky961

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2011, 09:46:27 PM »
Seems like the wall is the way to go.  Definitely beats milk crates for visibility and accessibility!

I'll have to think of exactly which way I'll run with it though... might come up with something to be fabbed at work but along the same principle as the hangers.  I'd like to have some smaller spots for small pieces as I tend not to scrap anything larger than .... ah, hell... I really don't throw anything out that I MIGHT use again some time. :)

-Sparky

Offline Swarfing

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2011, 04:45:33 AM »
Do'nt forget you can just make the rings/ squares any size you want, about was just to get a picture  :smart:
Once in hole stop digging.

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2011, 06:08:19 AM »
PTsideshow has some good methods of storing materials. He has a thread somewhere here. I will see if I can find it. Hopefully he will see this and respond.

Eric

Found the thread Eric  :thumbup:  Glen has some good ideas for shop storage  :med:

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=95.msg152#msg152


Rob

Offline sparky961

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2011, 11:20:36 AM »
Found the thread Eric  :thumbup:  Glen has some good ideas for shop storage  :med:

Excellent post - thanks for pointing it out!

Offline ksor

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2011, 02:31:04 PM »
For the small dimension of all kinds of material I use this:

http://kelds.weebly.com/mine-maskiner.html

the 2. picture.

You can let Google do the translation for you !
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Offline AussieJimG

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2012, 05:17:53 AM »
That is a good system Ksor, and I didn't need translate to understand it. Thanks for the posting.

Jim

Offline sparky961

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #14 on: January 01, 2012, 01:32:50 PM »
For the small dimension of all kinds of material I use this:
http://kelds.weebly.com/mine-maskiner.html
the 2. picture.

Also not a bad idea. 

What happens if you accidentally drop a piece in a tube that's a lot longer than the piece?  Seems it would take a while to extricate it!

Offline ksor

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #15 on: January 01, 2012, 04:57:11 PM »
--> Spatkey ... you got me ! :Doh:
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KSor, Denmark
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Offline AussieJimG

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #16 on: January 01, 2012, 10:28:01 PM »
How many ways are there to retrieve a bit of stuff that is too short?

1. Use a longer bit with superglue on it,
2. Magnet on a piece of string (for steel)
3. Take out all the longer bits and remove by hand,
4. Leave it there and put a note on the tube so it can
    be removed when it is REALLY needed
5. ?

Offline ksor

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #17 on: January 02, 2012, 01:30:30 AM »
I should say - it never happened to me yet ! :)
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Offline PeterE

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #18 on: January 02, 2012, 07:33:12 AM »
My version of storing very different lengths of rods and bars is a small trolley-like thing as shown below.



The bottom tray has a small drawer unit for small ends, bits and bobs, and behind that just two shelves with large holes at two levels to support the bars at around half-way or so. I never included sides to provide better access when the wrong stuff falls down the holes.

The long rods are around 1 m and the lower support shelf allows rods up to some 40 cm or so.

The whole thing rolls on swivelling wheels and can be pushed aside to be out of the way wherever I will be working (or searching for lost nuts and bolts  :doh: ).

BR

/Peter
Always at the edge of my abilities, too often beyond ;-)

Offline ksor

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #19 on: January 02, 2012, 09:05:55 AM »
I mode one of them too, not so big - it's standing beside mu STANKO lathe: (4. picture)

http://kelds.weebly.com/mine-maskiner.html

To drive around !
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Offline DICKEYBIRD

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #20 on: January 07, 2012, 09:15:39 AM »
I built a large drawer from old cabinet parts I had lying around to go underneath a workbench and mounted rollerblade wheels to the bottom rolling directly on the floor.  It worked great until I loaded it up with metal and the urethane wheels blew up into a zillion pieces.  I then turned up some aluminum wheels from scrap plate and bored them to fit the skate bearings.  Works a treat now and utilizes a space efficiently that was filled with junk & dust bunnies before.










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Offline ksor

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #21 on: January 07, 2012, 09:26:53 AM »
-> DICKEYBIRD

Oh - not good for the rubber wheels - I never seen them crush like that !

The alu-ones are maybe better - but I think a small stone or something like that on the floor will stop them - right ?

Why did you place the "angle-iron-peaces" like you did ?

I think you would get a better support to the wheels if you place the vertical flange as CLOSE TO THE wheels as posible - right ?
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Offline DICKEYBIRD

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #22 on: January 08, 2012, 10:08:00 AM »
-> DICKEYBIRD

Oh - not good for the rubber wheels - I never seen them crush like that !

The alu-ones are maybe better - but I think a small stone or something like that on the floor will stop them - right ?

Why did you place the "angle-iron-peaces" like you did ?

I think you would get a better support to the wheels if you place the vertical flange as CLOSE TO THE wheels as posible - right ?
The skate wheels are a 2 piece composite consisting of a urethane cover molded onto a polycarbonate core.  The core would probably be plenty strong with the urethane cover peeled off but I'd already finished the whole thing based on the original O.D. of the wheel and didn't want to mess with making spacers or re-designing the thing, hence the aluminum wheels made to the same O.D.

So far no small stones or debris have stopped them.  It's been in use for several months now with no problems.  I sweep up fairly often.:)

I don't remember why I put axle brackets on the wrong-way round originally but when I took them off to replace the wheels I switched them around the other way.
Milton in Tennesee

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Offline Lew_Merrick_PE

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Re: Material Storage
« Reply #23 on: January 08, 2012, 02:30:46 PM »
I don't have pictures and (right now) everything is buried behind the current project, but I use several solutions.  My baseline is a triangular frame made from 1 X 2 boards that allows me to lean (up to) 8 foot long pieces of bar, rod, and angle in sections (similar to http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/JARKE-Bar-Storage-Rack-Shelves-Only-4UK82?Pid=search).  Beware of making them too big as: (A) they become a real pain moving pieces around to access and (B) they become too heavy on one side and tip.  The areas between the "triangles" get shelves for smaller pieces (though keeping the sides free for access can be a problem).

I have several racks made up from left-over PVC pipe that allow me to store short pieces (3 feet in length or less).  Various sizes of pipe (picked up for free at construction sites) make the storage holes.  Lengths from (about) 2 feed down to (about) 4 inches provide a quick visual access to things stored.  The "short pipes" go on the outside of the unit mounted to wooden shelves with pivots so I can look straight down the pipe to see what's there.  I notch the base ends sufficiently so I can reach a finger in to push out the part I want.  They get mounted on casters so I can move them around (lesson learned from the Mark I version).

I also used the cheap particle board bookcases for storing small pieces of plate.  Each shelf has an ID on it for the material/alloy (etc.) so I can limit my digging.  These are currently bolted to walls, but I think that mounting them on casters in a "back-to-back" arrangement might be better (subject to trial) as they regularly get buried behind projects and become a PITA to access.  Obviously, a "back-to-back" arrangement will need a "separator" between the cases.

I have yet to find a good system for storing sheet-type materials.  The 12 X 4 foot sheets of material (UHMW, ABS, etc.) are far from trivial to deal with.  My best to date solution is a pair of (15°) tapered bases that support the material length-wise allowing me to "tip out" to sheets that are "on top" and slide the one I want out sideways.  However, this requires keeping the "side" clear for access -- not something that works out well over time.

I admit I am a wuss.  I deburr everything going into storage.  I hate getting burr-cut!  Additionally, I wax all my (non-scale coated) steel and iron for storage.  Treewax wooden floor wax works well.  If you ever read Sometimes a Great Notion you will know how quickly things rust here in the pacific northwest of America.  Waxing solves that problem.  (Though, when I store project parts made from steel or iron during process, I spray them with oil and wrap them in saran wrap -- it cleans up more easily.)  (Also, muriatic acid and one of the long shallow plastic storage containers works quite well for removing scale from HRS stock for those knowledgeable and comfortable working with acid.  About 15 minutes of "dip" (I use small diameter PVC pipe as a "stand-off" in the "tank") followed by a dusting of baking soda and a thorough water rinse -- followed by a quick waxing does wonders.)

Hopefully this helps.  I will try to get some pictures after the current machine build project is cleared out.  My shop fits nicely in 2500 sq ft and it is currently crammed into 880 sq ft.  Every task starts with the how do I clear out the space I need confusion...