28qt black melamine rack.....A sneak peek

Recently I replied to another thread in DIY explaining how I was able to get 11 shelves and a top from one sheet of melamine for a 28qt rack as I am building two of them myself.

Well I had a little free time today so I was able to assemble one of them. Now keep in mind this rack is no where near complete. I still have the edgebanding to do as well as install the heat tape and the back of the rack.

I was going to wait to post anything about these until they were both completly done as I am doing a step by step "How To" complete with photos, but I am really pleased with how it turned out so far so I figured what the heck!!

Anyway I will post a few of the particulars, but will not go into great detail as I have to have something for the "How To" thread.

The racks are 11 shelves. You can check out the other thread to see how I did it or wait for my next thread.

I was originally going to do the edgebanding with black PVC banding, but thought of something else for all the edges. Sorry not going to tell what right now.

If you look at the side view there are only two screws holding each shelf. I still have two more screws to put in for each shelf for a total of four per shelf per side.

For those of you who have worked with melamine, it has a particleboard core. Particleboard is notorious for stripping out the screw holes if you over tighten the screws. I fixed this issue by pre-drilling every hole and countersinking. I plan on using 3/8 button plugs stained black to dress the holes. I did not strip one screw hole with this method.

Well that's about it so now how about a few pics....

Front view.....
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ck11172011.jpg

Angled side view....
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/...ck31172011.jpg

Well there it is. I hope to have them both done within the month. I only have a few hours of free time a week so it is slow going.


Larry

Nice:gj::gj:

Thanks.

The black really looks nice thanks for sharing I hope when you get done you put all the measurements in to one post so I don't have to search for it later

~ Karl

Thanks KL. I plan on doing a complete thread on how I built these. It will include exact measurements, cutting patterns for getting the 11 shelves and top from one sheet of melamine as well as everything else it took to build. I am actually doing the writing as I go in a word document. This way I hope to not leave anything out.

I should add that I am building these out of 5/8 thick melamine and not 3/4.

Cool I will keep an eye out

Hopefully the how to will be worth reading.

That is really nice.

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That is really nice.

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Thank You!

very nice work!

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very nice work!

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I thank you.

That looks great!

looks good.:gj:
what brand of tubs did you use? I just build a few 28 qt tubs using sterilite tubs and the shelf’s needed to be 16 1/8" x 22 7/8" to accommodate the tubs. even without taking into consideration the saw curf that's almost 30 3/4 square feet for 12 shelves and a sheet is only 32.

I used the Sterilite 1655 28 qt tubs. A sheet of melamine is
49 x 97. Shelves are 16 3/16" wide.

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Originally Posted by GHOST_584

I used the Sterilite 1655 28 qt tubs. A sheet of melamine is
49 x 97. Shelves are 16 3/16" wide.

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so 33 square feet then. I typically have to trim them back to 48 x 96 to eliminate chipping on the edges though.

any idea when the DIY is coming? i'm anxious to build!

very nice workmanship! :gj:
great job..

A+ !!!!!!! those look great. whats the aproxamate cost per build??
thanks
spooky

Nice, waiting for the write up.:D

Thanks everyone. I finally have a few days off from my job coming up so I hope to kick out some more work on them.

Don't have all the materials for the racks yet (such as the heat tape) so can't put a final cost on them. The cost of the entire project will be included in the how to tho.

I have been working on them both at the same time, since I now have all the material cut to size I will probably concentrate on one at a time as I really need to get one finished. I have a few females that are getting a little large for their current tubs!!

Once I have one completed I will work on posting the "how to", but can't give a definite thread date. As I said I usually only have a few hours a week to work on them what with my job and all the animals to tend to every day before work.

Thanks again for all the kind words.

Larry

very sharp looking! I have built some melamine racks as well.....where did you find black melamine?? it looks really nice! I put all of mine on casters.....when I got done, they weighed A TON!

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Originally Posted by tikigator

very sharp looking! I have built some melamine racks as well.....where did you find black melamine?? it looks really nice! I put all of mine on casters.....when I got done, they weighed A TON!

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I 2nd that. I built 1 for 28qt tubs too. Of all the tricky parts (and there were several)... the hardest to deal with was how/when to attach the casters. I decided to put them on and then stand it upright (figure that I had a better chance of putting them on where I'd designed them to be that way). It was so heavy that I had to block 1 end so it would not slide across the room as I stood it up. I look forward to seeing the DIY info, so I can compare and tweek the steps I took for the next build. CONGRATS !!!

I have a special plan in mind for making them easier to move if the need arises.

anything new?

Whatever happened to the follow up or did I miss that thread all together? Loved how it was turning out!