Pegboard storage

[Puckdropper]

The local model railroad club has a lot of scenery materials in bags and peanut butter-sized (and slightly larger) containers. The existing pegboard is already overloaded, so I was thinking about a way to maximize the storage in a small amount of space.

What I came up with is a series of cabinets, 4-6 inches wide, 24 inches deep, and 6-8ft tall with pegboard on one side. The pegboard could house shelves or hooks. Each cabinet would sit on fixed casters with some kind of guide bar at the top. Like books on a shelf, when you wanted to access something you'd pull it out and then push it back. One of the requirements is to keep the aisleway clear when these are pushed in.

I'm not sure what I'd use for that guide bar, some form of pipe would seem to work, but how do I make sure it doesn't extend into the aisleway? Wood? Would drawer slides be reasonable in price and strong enough to handle the load?

Thinking about this, I'm building giant drawers turned on their side.

I'd appreciate any feedback you guys have to share.

Puckdropper

[Iggy]

replying to Puckdropper, Iggy wrote: If it was a 2-sided block you could make Pocket Door hardware work extremely well. However 1-sided, I'd agree with the Caster idea over Slides or Glides, they just don't hold up but they do look good (as pictured). Casters avoid any catastrophic tipping incident if or when multiple units are open.

Make the roll-out carcass a few inches shorter and put the back casters on a block attached to the roll-out's carcass, to maintain alignment. Also, do a block at the top for an alignment rail of rod, angle, c-channel, pipe or wood within a deep-dado, c-channel, angles, cleats or do drawer Slides/Glides up there.

I think you'd be best served by constructing each locker individually as a standalone unit, rather than a big singular piece of furniture...if you were considering it. Being modular means lockers can be added or deleted. And, they can even be job-specific lockers, to be simply rolled where most convenient and eliminate fat drunk guy traffic tie ups. You may even want some lockers with storage on the left, instead of on the right.

Although, I might prefer a Clamshell set of lockers on out-set casters that can unlock (locking might be desired if the club rents space) to open up flat and thin, but offer the most space and be the easiest build. You could leave them open and even face each side with sliding Plexiglas panels to keep Mr. Clumsy under control.

[krw]

Casters on the bottom of the "drawer" and a 1x2 guide on either side on the frame on top?

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The 1x2 guide sounds like a good idea. I'm a little concerned about a "drawer" getting a little tipsy, but if I put the stop far enough back it should keep things from tipping.

Puckdropper

[Iggy]

replying to Puckdropper, Iggy wrote: Just a few inches would be needed for a multi-locker (4 or more) single piece of furniture. But, for a 1, 2 or 3 locker unit, it may require a stop at almost midway (kind of useless storage). If you go that route, consider adding gym Weight Plates, cast iron scrap or concrete to the back bottom of the unit, so you can still achieve almost full pullout lockers for best use of space.

[krw]

I was thinking of the 1x running the depth of the cabinet, on either side of the drawer. This would help keep the drawer from tipping as long as the drawer wasn't extended past the cabinet top (a stop could be included with a bit more work). The 1x could also be the separator between drawers. If the casters are fixed (not swivel), there will be less chance of the bottom sliding sideways (upside-down "tipping"). They'd have to be aligned pretty well, though.