Home Improvement: Make Storage Racks for Tools and Accessories

I am in the habit of making things and doing minor repair works at home on my own. For carrying out these works I used to buy necessary tools and accessories from time to time. As the time passes, the collection of my tools and accessories increased and I could not find a proper place to store these items. Most of the tools I packed in card board boxes and kept under the bed. So, I have decided to make some short of mobile Storage Rack for keeping my tools and accessories, that is whenever I want I should be able to move the storage rack from one place to another without any problem.

After taking measurements I found that my room can accommodate a 6 ft x 6 ft rack with 15 inches wide shelving. But this will size make the rack heavy and create problems when moving from one room to another. The best option is to make two racks of 3 ft x 6 ft size with 15 inches wide shelving using slotted MS angles for the frame work and steel plating for the shelves. The slotted angle frame work is also very useful in adjusting the height of each shelf as required

I have purchased the following hardware items considering two racks of 3 ft x 6 ft size with 5 shelves each.

• Upright slotted Steel angles 6 feet height each : 8 pieces
• Steel shelving plates with slots at all corners of size 36 inches x 15 inches : 10 pieces
• Corner Connectors : 16 pieces
• Rubber / Plastic foot covers : 8 pieces
• Nuts and bolts : 125 Numbers (112 required + 10% extra)

• A Ratchet Spanner Set

I have started building the rack system in our tiled portico. If you look at the tiles you may find small squares with many lines at right angle to each other. These lines will help me aligning the racks without any tilt. First we will build one portion of the rack, that is 3 ft x 6 ft size.

• Lay two slotted angles on the ground at a distance of 36 inches from each other.
• Attach two foot covers at proposed bottom portion of the slotted angles
• Attach two corner pieces leaving two slots from the proposed bottom portion, only with bolts facing up keeping the bolt heads at the bottom. Do not tighten with nuts. Leaving two slots at the bottom will provide some ground clearance to the bottom shelf.
• Attach two corner pieces on top of the angles without leaving any slots, again only with bolts facing up
• Place a steel shelving plate at the proposed bottom over the already inserted bolts and temporarily connect with nuts with the corner pieces connected to the slots
• Place another shelving plate at the proposed top over the already inserted bolts and temporarily connect with nuts
• Place one slotted angle on the left side on top of the shelving plates
• Place corner pieces on top and bottom and temporarily connect with bolts and nuts
• Repeat the same on right side also.
• Now our frame work for the rack is ready. Do not fully tighten the bolts and nuts yet.

Once we have completed the frame work, we can add the shelving plates at the middle. Here you can fix the plates to the required height as per height of your materials.

• I have placed the middle shelving plates one at 20 inches from top and another at 18 inches from the bottom plates. The middle two plates have been placed at 16 inches height between them.
• Fix the shelving boards with bolts and nuts with the slotted angles. Do not tighten the bolts yet

Though the storage rack is fully assembled, it is only partially completed. Due to the elongated slots, the entire frame work may be skewed and not with a proper alignment. Now we need to align all upright angles and the shelving boards at right angles with each other. I have seen professional workers align the rack using a plumb line and commit mistakes. As I have mentioned earlier, I will use the cross lines on the tiles to align the frame work at right angles to each other.

• Place the broad side of the rack so that one side of upright angle and the bottom shelving plate are in alignment with the lines on the tiles.
• Align the other side upright angle and the top edge of the shelving plate with reference to the adjacent lines on the tiles by lightly pushing with your hands.
• Inspect all around and adjust the frame work if required and partially tighten the bolts and nuts at the bottom
• Turn over the rack and repeat the procedure on all sides. When you are satisfied that the rack is in alignment you can fully tighten all the nuts and bolts

You can see the fully assembled Storage Rack in the portico in first picture. Repeat the same procedure and assemble the second storage rack also. Once both racks are completed, you can shift them inside and store your tools and accessories in them.

Please see the last two pictures with the tools and accessories in card board boxes neatly stored in the racks. These type of home improvement works are much desired for storage when you do not wish to disturb any structures or walls in your already built home.