Boltless garage-type racking or shelving

[News]

Looking at a quick shelving solution, in particular something like eBay item 401015345112.

Any particular thoughts? Pros/cons? Thanks.

[John Rumm]

I have several examples of what appear to be similar stuff in my garage and also shed. I normally pick them up when on special offer at Makro for £25 ish.

All in all they are OK and will take a decent load. Slightly tedious to put together (each bit has tabs that engage with lugs on the uprights - but sometimes you need to tweak the tabs slightly to make them easy to engage with the matching slots.

Some kind of rubber or soft blow hammer helps assembly greatly. Over the years the wood seems to have got more flimsy in later versions. The first ones I got were 1/2" chipboard. The later ones 9mm MDF. The shelves deform a bit if loaded in the middles.

[News]

Excellent. Thanks John. I assume you are paying 25 per bay, which makes the eBay ones at 100 for four bays about right.

OK, noted. I assume (always dangerous) that each bay is freestanding, and that 4 bays could therefore be 2+2, 3+1 or whatever. Given that you seem to buy them individually, that sounds correct.

[The Natural Philosopher]

get galvanised

e.g

[pinballpiers]

elves-r2b6646g-pbe

I have various of the rapid racking ones - including the design TNP posted, plus some cheaper ones. The ones TNP posted are good quality - only probl em I have is given they're in unheated outbuildings sometimes the chipboard swells and can be hard to remove/reinsert if I need to dismantle. I felt the cheaper ones and they were a bit flimsy, but frankly they do the job to o.

[News]

Noted, thank you, although substantially more expensive. My plan is to use the shelves in a storage room within the house, so damp/rust should not be a problem.

[John Rumm]

Yup.

They would appear to be free standing like mine... I don't recall them coming with anything that would let you join them together - but the ebay ones might I suppose.

[News]

Thanks for all the comments. The post was really to see if anyone said 'Pile of poo. Don't touch with a bargepole' or similar. I'm reassured.

[Nightjar]

The ones I use have two vertical rows of holes on the uprights, so that you can fit shelf bearers on either side. They come as a starter bay, with shelf bearers and two uprights, and extension bays, with shelf bearers and one upright. No idea of make though. They came with a business I bought many years ago.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Bought something like this through eBay, where more likely to be post free.

Works well as advertised, though I note the price is coming down.

[alan_m]

I have some cheap ones which also deform (go out of square) if a heavy load is not distributed equally on the shelves. Solved by screwing on a diagonal brace across the back and sides.

[News]

In message , alan_m writes

Useful, thank you, although my planned load will be fairly evenly distributed. However, best laid plans ...

[tabbypurr]

Such shelving should always be braced unless screwed to the wall. Many ignore this and have unsafe shelving.

NT

[News]

Yes, I fully intend to screw them to the wall.

[John Rumm]

TBH I have not screwed any of mine to the wall, and none have gone out of square.

[News]

Thanks all. The shelving arrived yesterday, and has been built. At first, my heart sank. I thought I could build something better from Meccano but, as they were assembled, they stiffened up nicely, and I'm delighted. These are 45cm deep (some are 30cm), so little chance of toppling forward, but I'll probably put a couple of screws into the wall, at the top, just in case.

Only problem is one shelf which is about 1/4 inch wider than the rest, and therefore does not fit betwen the uprights, but a saw will fix that in short order. Other than that, delighted, and happy to recommend.