For a while I have wanted to build a rack out of plastic to see how it would come out. I have worked with Melamine and will never do it again. It was so heavy that I had to leave it when I moved out of my last place. I had a bunch of approx. 32qt boxes sitting around from the Melamine rack and after seeing a great thread on another forum decided to give it a go. Full credit goes to Gerry from Ssscales for the design and my buddy Phil for helping me figure out the cuts since I am terrible at that math stuff! I found 1/2" expanded PVC from a local supplier for $110 for a 4 x 8 sheet. They made the cuts for me for an additional $10. Here it is!

The top shelf and the 4 legs


A couple shelves done!


All the shelves done!


The back piece. I used 2 strips of 3" flexwatt for back heat


Then I wired them up. I chose wire them separately.


Here it is, done with boxes


A shot of a shelf with the heat tape at the back


The always exciting side view!


I liked working with the material and while not as cheap as Melamine, it's lightweight and cheaper than buying a prebuilt rack system. It's certainly not the amazing craftsmanship of an RBI rack but it suits my needs. Some things to consider when working with 1/2" expanded PVC. It scratches pretty easily. Not sure if this matters for anyone, it didn't for me. It's soft material so be gentle when drilling and screwing (I'll leave that comment alone now). Make sure you use a spacer when putting in the levels. I used what I think is a 1/8" piece of mason board. At least that is what I think Phil called it. Maybe he can post what it is. Anyway, that's that. It took less than 2.5 hours from start to finish and the total cost was:

$110 1/2" expanded PVC sheet
$10 cuts
$16 heat tape (might have been a few bucks less)
I had the boxes but 32qt boxes are pretty cheap if you use Sterilite.
$6 Box of 1 1/2" coarse drywall screws