Storing 8x4 sheets..... Flat or on edge ?

[Woodielanger]

Just a simple one this time... :lol:

We have a wood rack about 4' wide and 4' high and 8' deep to store sheets in flat ( so the short end is showing). Even though we made about 4 levels to lay boards flat on, it's a pain to get a sheet out as the one you want is always under something!

My collegue said we should stand the boards up on the long edge ( to be 4' high) so we can pull out any size at any point. I'm not so sure as I like boards being flat.

What's the vote ? :? We can only access the short end of the board due to space.

Many thanks in advance

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Flat always if you have the option. There isn't really a convenient way to select boards as you wish and them not bend/bow.

 

[Howie]

Like you are asking I store my sheets on the 8 foot edge, with the 4 foot edge showing and have found it to be fine. My workshop is only a single garage and space is at a premium. I made a raised box about 1 metre off the floor which I slide my sheets into. I always try to keep the boards dead vertical and not leaning when in the box and this helps the boards from warping. This method is space saving and easy to pick out any sheet you need.

 

[joiner_sim]

If they are kept flat against one side of a purpose made vertical stand, then storing boards vertically will be fine. If you are storing boards flat horizontally, you need to ensure that the bearers or other type of support is able to take the weight of the amount of sheets you have stored. Where I am currently working we store all our sheet material flat, in industrial racking, on bearers and in my opinion we should store them on a solid metal sheet or more bearers, as the sheets have bent and warped, although the ply quality isn't exactly the best anyway... (We are storing alot of sheets in one stack though... possibly 200 in a stack)

 

[ondablade]

Hi W, here's another version. I was tight for space too and built a rack some months ago to store 8x4s vertically on their 4ft ends.

They are probably best held against a flat surface to stay that way, and it seemed best to let gravity help out. It was also a requirement be able to access a sheet anywhere in the stack without having to lift others in and out.

It ended up with two sides about 650mm apart at the base, and leaning outwards at the top by about 200mm in the 2500mm height to the exposed ceiling joists. The floor of the rack is a sheet of clear perspex folded in an inverted 'V' to the same angle as the sides, and supported on shallow wooden ribs - so that each side meets its half of the floor at right angles. This reduces the possibility of splitting veneers away from the edge of a ply sheet when moving it. Raising the sheets up a little on the perspex above the concrete floor guards against the possibility of damage in the event of a water spill.

The sides are ladder frames 900mm wide built in 75mm sq softwood strip - carefully made and bracketed in place using perforated roofing plates to provide the above flat surfaces.

It seems to work very nicely - you can easily walk the sheets in situ from one side to the other to access whichever one you want. An unexpected advantage was the discovery that it was possible (by virtue of the fact that it's double sided, and by wedging a strut between the opposing stacks of sheets) to use it to push a couple of previously warped sheets of ply flat....

 

[Lons]

Hi

I store all my sheets on the long edge as I don't have the room to do otherwise and I try to keep them absolutely vertical. Rack made out of shuttering ply and a flat base, all I do is use a long buckle tie down strap to hold them in an upright position against the vertical support sheet. Would take pics but can't get anywhere near it at the minute :? anyway it's self explanatory.

I had a similar system 25 years ago but VERY much better as I aquired a length of conveyor table from a factory (the type with loads of rollers) which I used for the base of the rack and the sheets were dead easy to slide in or out without damage. Worst thing I ever did was leave it behind when I moved house

Have been meaning to do something similar with a few rollers but not got aroundtuit

Bob

 

[Chems]

I saw something somewhere that was the best of both, it was vertical but there was a set of massive vice like screws that when you werent using it pressed the whole thing together keeping them all flat. A bit elaborate for the home workshop thou!

 

[sometimewoodworker]

My collegue said we should stand the boards up on the long edge ( to be 4' high) so we can pull out any size at any point. I'm not so sure as I like boards being flat.

What's the vote ? :? We can only access the short end of the board due to space.

Many thanks in advance

My mother-in-law with SWMBO built a flat rack for me but after 2 weeks I got it cut in half.

It was OK to get the top sheet but anything else was a pain.
It was too deep to store other stuff, it got lost :roll:

So I got this vertical rack built with wheels so it could be mooved.

The lessons I learned were that; it had such a narrow wheel width that, with a load, it was very unstable. This means that I have to unload it before moving it #-o not good. {SWMBO BAD (hammer) } I have kept sheets of ply, MDF, chipboard, hardboard, etc. on it for up to 3 years in hot humid conditions, none of them have warped.

I think that it has allowed the sheets to equalise their moisture content. Storing them flat will not let this happen so if there is an imbalance flat is worse than vertical

The reason that sheets get stored flat is that fork lifts can move them around and any quantity is stable. If you use only 2 or 3 varieties flat is not too bad.

YMMV

 

[Lons]

The reason that sheets get stored flat is that fork lifts can move them around and any quantity is stable. If you use only 2 or 3 varieties flat is not too bad.

Spot on!

I was in the plastics distribution industry for many years and a lot of the sheet products we sold are notorious for taking a "bend" and though most could be reshaped with heat, the customers just don't like it. :roll:

Everything came in on pallets and we delivered out flat because that's all our transport could take but like storing in the workshop, it was a pita if the warehouse had loaded and you needed to change route and get an urgent delivery off the bottom of the pile ( and there were ALWAYS urgent deliveries! )

We had a huge range of materials / sizes / thickness and colours held in rows of vertical "slot" stands in the dexion racking which were kept filled for daily easy removal with the excess stock on pallets above. Worked a treat and never had a problem with deformed sheets.

Bob

 

[OPJ]

A year ago - and, with a bit of help from the forum - I came up with this basic idea for storing sheets 'horizontally' alongside a wall:

Instead of sitting flush (vertically) against the wall, sheets would be slanted back at a slight angle, to prevent them toppling over and, also, to possibly help keep them flat... One modification I need to make is to angle the base support so that it is perpendicular to the slanted back.

I think I drew this by taking two 1.2m lengths of 4x2in, tapering them (one-third/two-thirds) and then splitting them in two. You may feel that a 'shallower' angle is required. Perhaps also a front frame (hinged?) to prevent sheets from falling forwards as you try to get at one that's in behind.

Another advantage is that this keeps the sheets clear of the wall and floor, which can cause problems if your workshop is uninsulated and suffers from damp.

I only drew the three narrow strips along the back because that's all I had available in stock at the time... Though, that's not to suggest that I've actually made any progress on this idea since!!

;-)

 

[Woodielanger]

Top advice from all. Many thanks. I had better get designing !

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Strange, I do keep mine stood on there long end due to space but they bow, so when I know im going to use some sheet material, (not often) I lay it flat and after a week the sheet is perfect again?

 

[Woodielanger]

What does {SWMBO BAD } mean?