Hinged Plywood Rack - Comments?

[Lewis Cobb]

Right, well I have pretty much run out of wall space in my workshop and I never have a lot of plywood kicking around - but when I do it's a hassle - I am constantly shuffling it from leaning against one thing or another. On the weekend I had a bit of a brainstorm and realized that there is one 9 foot wide stretch of the "wall" that still exists and it's recessed a bit as well - the roll up door.

My workshop is a room built on the back of my attached garage on the house. The roll up door to get into the workshop is on the back wall of the car garage, and it rolls up into the garage, not the workshop. So standing in the workshop and looking at the roll up door is like standing outside a house and looking at the garage door - there's a recess on the wall and it rolls away from you, not into the room.

Here's what I came up with - a plywood box of sorts with one side cut open. A big hinge on one end fashioned from some 2x8's and pipes that's fastened into the opening of the door, and a couple of big honkin fixed casters underneath. This should allow the thing to swing out and back very easily.

The only thing I can think of as to why this contraption might cause problems is if the floor is real uneven and the whole thing ends up reefing on the door opening should the wheels try to come off the floor in part of the arc, but I'll check the floor carefully before spending any time (and money) on this project. Perhaps if the hinge had a bit of slop in it, it would take care of any small pertubations anyway.

I like it in general - it will hold 6 or 7 sheets of plywood (a massive amount for me) at a time, and it takes up no space in the workshop. By placing the full side of the "box" on the room side, I might even be able to hang some stuff on it such as clamps or larger jigs and fixtures.

Anyone seen something like this in use before and/or have any comments like "uh oh - better think about....".

I don't use the roll up door often as there is a man door to get into the shop, so the torment of pushing it out of the way when entering the shop via the roll up door should not be an issue for me.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Rob Russell]

My only comment would be that you're going to put a lot of stress on that top hinge when the plywood is leaning one way or another in the rack. Perhaps a piano hinge, alhtough I'd think that you need something that would allow the swinging end of the rack to float up and down as you roll across the floor.

If you use large (6") hard rubber castors, you shouldn't have much problem rolling it one way or another.

[Lewis Cobb]

My only comment would be that you're going to put a lot of stress on that top hinge when the plywood is leaning one way or another in the rack. Perhaps a piano hinge, alhtough I'd think that you need something that would allow the swinging end of the rack to float up and down as you roll across the floor.

If you use large (6") hard rubber castors, you shouldn't have much problem rolling it one way or another.

I never thought of that floating up and down idea - that's a great one. I think that if I come up with something that uses a pipe and blocks of wood for the hinge I should be able to handle that torque produced by the leaning plywood. The box is only going to be about 7" wide so it might not be a huge amount of torque .....then again, if it was all MDF at 100 pounds a sheet I might be in for trouble. Will think about this issue some more - thanks very much for the input Rob.

[Chris Padilla]

Lewis,

Yep, you got it. Just use electrical conduit and pipe hangers as your hinge. It'll be sloppy enough to allow movement but hold close enough to do what you want.

I had this idea for a section of wall in my shop for such things but so far, I have not done it.

The larger the wheel, the easier and smoother the movement. I'd say at least a 6" wheel but maybe even an 8". Go see what your local h/w store has. An old wheelbarrow wheel could work as well.

BTW, that is an amazingly detailed rendering of your shop in SU!!

[Justin R Thomas]

Look at Fine Woodworking magazine #196 page 12 "Methods of work"
this article is similar in theory but uses a bit different design...............

They use a fence hinge to solve the problem of an uneven floor. The rack is held on the hinge by the weight of the rack and follows the action of the hinge pin which doesn't have a top on it to stop it from moving up.

[Lewis Cobb]

Look at Fine Woodworking magazine #196 page 12 "Methods of work"
this article is similar in theory but uses a bit different design...............

They use a fence hinge to solve the problem of an uneven floor. The rack is held on the hinge by the weight of the rack and follows the action of the hinge pin which doesn't have a top on it to stop it from moving up.

Justin - thanks for the tip. I'll have to go on a search for that FWW article as I don't have that magazine. Sounds similar though as to what I am trying to do. The pre-fab hinge would be great if it could work for me.

Chris - That SU picture is just a tiny piece of the "master plan" I have in SU at the moment. My wife is telling me "why do you even have a workshop when you spend all your time in SU working on it". I tell her that you cannot put a timeframe or price on happiness - hasn't worked yet though.

Thanks folks,

Lewis

[Chris Padilla]

Lewis,

I was pretty sure that was a small shot of it!! I want to see the wires IN the conduit, however! hahaha

I didn't catch your thread where you are designing your shop. With this kind of detail, me wants to see!!

[Lewis Cobb]

Lewis,

I was pretty sure that was a small shot of it!! I want to see the wires IN the conduit, however! hahaha

I didn't catch your thread where you are designing your shop. With this kind of detail, me wants to see!!

Chris -
There's no shop design thread on the go due the glacial pace at which things are proceeding. I'll see if I can scare up a few shots of the "master vision" when I get back to the house tonight and load 'em up here for you. I have a 20' x 20' space and when I added it onto the house a few years back it was "all the room I will ever need" - yea, right.... That's when I discovered Sketchup and life has not been the same since. Nothing gets bought or built for the shop now until it's modelled first. I haven't got the wires in the conduit yet in Sketchup though . They do however exist in reality . Stay tuned....

[Danny Thompson]

Here is a link to the article Justin mentioned (I think):

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworki....aspx?id=30031

[Ken Higginbotham]

I would consider having the hinge in the corner that way it will swing completely out of the door - ?

[Chris Padilla]

Here is a link to the article Justin mentioned:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworki....aspx?id=30031

Doesn't help when you need to be a subscriber....

[Lewis Cobb]

I would consider having the hinge in the corner that way it will swing completely out of the door - ?

Hi Ken - It would be great if I could do it but the corner is already jammed in real life with a cabinet. I don't think the little bit of the opening being taken up will cause me any problems though - I don't roll vehicles in there or anything like that.

Thanks

[Lewis Cobb]

Doesn't help when you need to be a subscriber....

I see that - well I will just have to find some kind soul to scan it for me I guess - at least the picture of how they did it so I can compare to my creation....

[glenn bradley]

Doesn't help when you need to be a subscriber....

You don't mean to tell me they make you pay up to get the good stuff just like us do you .

[Ray Schafer]

This article has an example of exactly what you are talking about:
http://www.rd.com/18207/article18207.html