Steel stock storage / racking

[astro_al]

Right, I need to build something as its all over the floor. Come on then guys & gals, lets see what you've got!

I'm planning a horizontal plate / sheet rack to take up to 1.5 x 3m sheets, plus a vertical 'sheet offcuts' rack next to that for chopped up bits.

For lengths, I'm planning some square-tube shelf-stand things, say 4 stands on a row to support the 6 or 7.5m lengths - with open access from the side, rather than having to feed in lengths from the front.

So, lets see 'em! (Or any thoughts). Cheers, Al.

 

[mart]

Al,
I wanted to ask you (and other member on here), when you are keeping a stock of steel at this time of the year, what is your method(s) of preventing it from going rusty-even if just surface rust? Personally i spray mine with WD40, but i do not have huge amounts of stock. Maybe you & others need a large stock because of the work or projects that you are involved with. Maybe you use it fast enough that it barely has time to oxidise?

 

[wyn]

I made a rack type thing for storing 6 m lengths in work. It consisted of upright rsj's with a number of box section arms coming out at different heights...small stuff on the higher ones,bigger stuff down low. The bottom arms had conveyor rollers incorporated, with the saw at the end of the rack at the same height.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

lengths of 1", 25mm or 20mm box go on two brackets high up on the right hand wall of the workshop. I'll have maybe a dozen full length up there at any one time and I tend to cut it at 10 feet, so the 'off cut' is 9' 10" or so..

Bigger box, 40mm - 50mm plus some full length of flat go under the two benches on the left hand side. I have some market stall 'table-ends' that these pieces lay on and to keep them up near the underside of the bench top.

That allows smaller off-cuts around 2 feet or less to go under the bench on a shelf, separated into types, box, angle, pipe, etc. Anything in between these lengths, up to around 6 - 7 feet, gets proped up in a corner.

Sheets are a bit tricky but I have a few odds and ends under the benches on the floor, plus some stacked against the wall behind the bench and some more laid up against a tool cabinet.

Finally I have some real heavy angle, flat and bar around 10 - 14 feet long and the only place that'll hold the weight is the floor. It means I have to clean it up a bit before using it, but it's the best I can do.

I guess I'm lucky that the workshop doesn't get too damp, but a D/A sander sorts it fairly quickly if there's any rust on something that I need.

The real trick is knowing where everything is in the workshop!

Regards
Peter

 

[Robotstar5]

We used 2" angle uprights about 6' with 12" pieces of same material welded on at a slight angle, bolted them to side of container and used them to store light stuff (trunking etc.) at top getting heavier towards the bottom (Unistrut etc.)

 

[Hitch]

What sort of thickness sheets will go on it?
We use loads of different racks, UB feet and uprights, UB or box arms.

 

[Welderpaul]

We have vaious different methods of storage.....we try to buy just what we need for a job to minimise the amount of stock/spare materials paid for and lying around...although this doesnt always happen and we have a fair bit of stock lengths and sheets.
Big bundles of stuff is hiabed onto the floor next to the saw and mostly gets used up there and then. We then have some hefty box section racks fixed to the wall for storing anything up to 100mm box. Bigger beams lay on skids under the rack. Theres then a big untidy heap in the corner where offcuts (2m ish) get stood up. Following that theres a solid-sided stillage next to the saw where smaller off cuts go to either get used up, or emptied into the scrap skip. Steel sort of passes through each stage till its used up. I'm from Yorkshire, so don't believe in waste!
Nice to have everything handy so you know what there is. We've been guilty of buying lengths in when we already had it - just couldnt find it under everything else.
Sheets stand against the wall.

 

[astro_al]

Thanks for the inputs guys.

Hitch - anything from less than 1mm up to over an inch - to be loaded / unloaded by forklift. I'm planning a CNC plasma to take up to 3 x 1.5 sheets, hence the size.

Mart - some stuff does go rusty in my workshop (see my condensation reduction thread). Often I buy a length for something which only needs part of a length, so the rest can hang around for a while. Some stuff goes out straight after coming in, other stuff has hung around for ages and I have no idea when I'll use it!

I find any light surface rust gets linished / brushed / cleaned away when the stock gets used for something. No big deal. Yes, I find it useful to have extra stock lying around and usually order more than I need when I place an order.

Sounds like my plan is at least partially sound! Al.

 

[Hitch]

You want something heafty then...

A sheet of each 3-25 would be about 4 tons... 5/6 shelves...
We have one that houses 1/2mm galv,zintec etc, vertically.
Another that houses from about 3-12 (guilly-able stuff)
Then another that houses 15-50

When spacing your arms, allow enough to be able to put a couple stacks in, with some timber between, then a bit more for sheets bending when you lift them on the forks.

 

[Welderpaul]

We have a sheet metal workers over the way - they only deal with thin gauge stuff, but he has quite a selection of different materials and thicknesses.
He has some basic pallet racking then large timber pallets stacked on top of each other on the racks, each with the sheet type contained on it written on the edge. Quite a cheap and easy way of storing - obviously they have a forklift to get at them!

 

[English Steve]

Sheet material we store on edge to save space. We use a lot of 3mm thick 3000x1250 sheets and lift them out with a plate grab on the crane. Simple pressed channel base with RHS uprights. Larger deliveries of sheet for specific orders tend to come off the delivery wagon and go straight to the guillotine or brake.
Large sections and bars are on a rack similar to that Wyn described - heaviest at the bottom. The arms get shorter the higher they are to make it more stable. These are lifted on/off by forklift.
Smaller bars are in a pigeon hole rack and are simply slid out from one end by hand.

We inherited a load of raw material racking from a company we bought out last year. We were never going to need it all so I offered to buy some. There were also a couple of nice welding benches and some pallet racking. Next thing I knew was the scrap man was in taking it all away What a waste, but typical of some of our management.

Regarding corrosion, all our raw material comes in oiled and doesn't usually hang around long enough to get too rusty. Some of the heavier structural sections are stored outside for H&S reasons and as such do rust, but we have our own shot-blasting facility and accept the additional process will be required - it's cheaper than putting up another building.