Uggg...... I Need suggestions for Metal Storage !

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Man, this is totally frustrating...  I've got SO many FREAKIN' Recycle Bins and Garbage Cans full of Metal...  How do you guys organize your stuff ?  Mine is taking up more and more floor space every other week.I've looked at a number of solutions (here) but they weren't easy to find and I didn't find that many....  Have you people got any photos you could post to give me some ideas ?(I have Metal of most every type and conceivable shape and size.  Many, if not MOST of those pieces are less than 4' in length.)Any idea are Greatly appreciated !BTW, If it helps;My shop is built pretty sturdy and has a concrete floor.  The walls are 2" x 4" studs, 12" centers with painted press-board.  Two of the walls are built into the hill and half of the 8' height is made of Concrete.Cheers,/Jman...
Reply:Long, full-length stock goes into a horizontal rack. 3 and 4 foot drops go into a divided bin vertically. Small drops of a foot or less are scrap-piled until sold (for scrap) or used, whichever comes first. Sheet metal is a horse of a different color! We don't keep much of that, the stuff we have is against the walls here and there. Full sheets of anything in any numbers takes lots of room. I did carpentry for a long time and plywood is stacked by size on pallets that get put into FULL-SIZED RACKS, loaded by forklift.City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:anything I have that is less than a foot goes into a milk crate(with a piece of card board on the bottom) and tucked under one of my workbenches. the longer stuff goes up against the wall, like tanglediver said.
Reply:Nice solution in this thread. I've now got something similar.http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=21446Yeah, I carry.House keys, wallet, some change, usually a newspaper, maybe a pen.
Reply:I don't know if you found my post from a year or two ago with my storage rack, but it works well for me. Here is a picture. I used heavy cardboard cores from carpet to let me sort the shapes in the horizontal cores and shorter pieces in the vertical pieces. Now I have much more stacked around, on top, and behind!  Burt _____________________Miller Syncrowave 250Millermatic 211Miller 375 Plasma Cutter Hobart Handler 12010FtDrillBit.com
Reply:We do just as much wood in this shop as metal, so our ideas try to incorporate both.  We are currently in the middle of completely redesigning the inside of the shop, as even though we have been here 4 years, our previous layout didn't work.  Thus, there is a huge mess in many of the pictures, and much of our material isn't on the racks yet.  Here, we have a freestanding, rack, suitable for up to 12 foot (would like it to be longer, but the size of the shop does not allow for a practical 20 ft. rack).  It was made from old pallet racking found at the scrapyard for 20 cents/pound.  Two sections, connected by the triangles from a third section (no need to butt two legs together).  Apparently, I cut off one end in the picture.Here is the backside of said rack.  Two slots go to storage for short boards, and one to smaller cuts of plywood.  On one wall, we have a 20 ft. long table, with the chop saw, and radial arm saw set in place.  The horizontal bandsaw rolls to the end, for steel cutting (matched height as rest of table.  Underneath, we put a series of angle iron supports, to hold our 20 ft. sections.  We don't have much of this, as that length is usually only bought with a project in mind, and goes straight to the bandsaw.For some of the smaller stuff (say 32" and less), it goes right on the bottom of the bandsaw cart.  We do our best to reuse anything and everything for cost reasons, thus our bandsaw table is a fossil of a table frame, that casters were added too.  For material storage, I whipped together a simple bottom platform, shelf, and sides out of some used flooring boards we had laying around, and hardware out of our catch all screw bucket.  Can't beat functional and free.  I will add in one more shelf at some point.  Again, it is empty, as I haven't yet put material in it - just a couple scraps for picture representation.  For short pieces of wood, I made a simple little shelf out of some 1.5 inch angle, and scrap flooring boards, placed right below the chop saw.  For small pieces of odd metals, we have bins underneath the big table.  These bins are exactly a perfect fit under the table (didn't plan it that way).  They are just short enough, coupled with the tapered fronts, that feet don't hit them.  There are casters under each one, so they roll out for easy reach of material.  We have nine of them, divided into steel shapes (angles, tubes bars etc), steel sheet/plate, aluminum sheet/plate, aluminum shapes, and then various odd brackets and metal knick knacks that may come into use at a later date.  Again, back to the keep and reuse everything.  For example, we had to hang a rather heavy framed bathroom mirror.  The stud was about 3 inches off of center, and the method of hanging required a center hanger.  A Datsun parking brake bracket, that dad had saved for 20 years, came to the rescue, and was the perfect piece.  Little things like that don't take much space to store, and years down the road can be quite useful.  For sheet goods, besides the partial ply section on one end of the orange rack, a Home Depot cart (obtained legally - not stolen) came to the rescue.  Full length sheets in the middle, partial metal sheets on either side.  Because our shop isn't huge, the ability to roll it around depending on whether we are using the table saw and making cabinets, or have a boat inside for some fab work is essential.  Obviously, there isn't a place yet for the medium size offcuts of metal (ones too long for underneath the bandsaw, yet too small for the horizontal racks).  That is one of my next projects, whenever I find time, and think up an idea.  For little bitty pieces that aren't useful, there is a five gallon bucket underneath both vertical wood cutting bandsaws, under the vertical metal cutting bandsaw, and near the horizontal metal cutting bandsaw, as well as a large trash can that is within throwing distance of any other saw in the shop.Who is John Galt?
Reply:Great idea for a thread. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has done.. I like small rack above with the cardboard tubes, nice..Just moved into a new shop space and looking for some ideas as well. I have most of the small drops, under 4 ft sorted out under the chop saw table (10ft x 2ft about 2 ft out from the wall). Longer stuff up to 6ft also goes under the table, horizontally. Small scraps under a foot constantly fall through, I have a box for mild and a box for alum. Mandrel bends are especially annoying to store. Longer 20ft sticks I'm going to have to build a large horizontal rack for the wall... Luckily we have 20ft ceilings, should be able to bang something out...I'll post a pic of the chopsaw table material storage soon... Not the best setup, but it works.edit: we just moved in, so things aren't in their final resting place.. stuff is everywhere lolLast edited by mello*vip; 11-18-2009 at 08:53 PM."hope for the best, prepare for the worst"Some of my equipment:Miller Millermatic 140Miller Syncrowave 200Lincoln PowerMIG 215
Reply:I like to keep my round stock on the floor, square stock I keep on a 2x4 on the floor keeping the ends at ankle height
Reply:Metal Storage--should be self-explanatory:
Reply:Originally Posted by riceburnerI like to keep my round stock on the floor, square stock I keep on a 2x4 on the floor keeping the ends at ankle height
Reply:200mphBusa, nice racks.  (Well, SOMEONE had to say it ...)  No, seriously, I like the way those are set up.  Are those bars on the front of your vertical racks attached at one end, notched at the other, so they can swivel up out of the way while retrieving pieces?
Reply:for short drops less four feet or less 55 gallon drums stacked on the side on top of one another with an angle iron fram works very wellwww.burdettenetworks.com
Reply:GREAT PHOTOS and GREAT IDEAS !Thanks to all of you....  I think I'm going to go with the Wall mounted 'Racks' but with 2 x 6's instead of 2 x 4 boards.  I'm also going to use the LONG RACK idea and the Pull out sheet-metal drawers on wheels !  Those will be great under some of my 'Existing' shelving.Thanks People !   Cheers,/Jman...