Off-Cut steel storage, rack

[mar]

Has anyone got any good ideas/photos on how to store off-cuts of steel neatly so you can see everything you have at a glance without pulling it all out and making a bigger mess

 

[Jameshenry]

Depends how big your offcuts are, a sheet of ply fixed to the wall and some strong magnets might work,
or you could be like me, chuck it all in a heap on the floor, look at most of it for years on end, then get fed up with it and weigh it in

 

[Gulli]

I've got mine on one story of some old tower scaffold, long bits on top and short bits underneath

Has morphed into a large pile of other assorted things too because people cant keep things tidy around here

 

[Pan mixer]

I have 3 systems - depending on length;

Bits over 2m long go onto horizontal racks, sorted by type - box, round pipe, solid bar, flat and angle.

bits over 18 inches long and up to about 2 m stand upright against a wall in groups according to type.

Small bits up to 18 inches stored on a set of shelves behind the saw and sorted by type.

It all sounds terribly anal, I know, but surprising how many bits you can just pick up that are just right for the next 'quick job' without even having to cut them

Sadly other people who use my workshop don't use the same system......

 

[Bobthebuilder]

Make a rack out of your off cuts

 

[Andrew]

I have 45 gallon drums split in half lengthways. Weld a bit of 1" box on one end to stop it rotating. One is for box, one for plate up to 10mm, one for plate above 10mm, one for angle and channel, another for round. If it's short enough to go in the drums it does.
If not it goes on a rack I made.

 

[Campbell]

It all sounds terribly anal, I know, but surprising how many bits you can just pick up that are just right for the next 'quick job' without even having to cut them

So true, only floor sweepings qualify as scrap here....

 

[cb387]

https://www.stepsandstillages.co.uk...-red-mesh-steel-stillage/category_pathway-128

 

[roscoe erf]

https://www.stepsandstillages.co.uk...-red-mesh-steel-stillage/category_pathway-128

ive got two like that and every time the bit I want is buried

 

[Pan mixer]

It was so horrible outside today that I went into the workshop and photographed it without tidying.

Above - very short bits and bits over 6 foot or so.

Below, bits between 18 inches and 6 feet as well as the racks of 6 - 7.5 m lengths

I told you it was a bit anal.

 

[Robert K]

It was so horrible outside today that I went into the workshop and photographed it without tidying.

Above - very short bits and bits over 6 foot or so.

Below, bits between 18 inches and 6 feet as well as the racks of 6 - 7.5 m lengths

I told you it was a bit anal.

I'll come and see you next time I need steel

 

[Robert K]

Small lengths under the bench and anything long up the side normally we just order steel when we need it

 

[Niall310]

45 gallon barrell cut in 2.

One half for tube

One half for plate and angle


I've thought making a shelf out of them to save floor space and put one above the other but I've never got around to it.

 

[Bigribber]

I used the ibc with out the tank put steel straight through the holes

 

[JohnBoy]

I've a pretty small workshop at home where I do most of my cobbling together so space is at a premium. Made this last year. tub for really small bits, mesh shelf for bigger, brackets below for bigger again and then biggest stuff can rest on the bottom.

Around the back has space for some smaller bits of plate which are supposed to have a bungee around them.

As may be obvious from the ugly appearance it was all made from offcuts too.

The whole thing parks under a shelf at the back of the shed.

Longer stuff goes on top of the cabinets/shelves on the left hand wall. not ideal to have steel up high, bit of care is needed in handling it, but nowehere else for it to go, shed is only 20x13.5 inside.

 

[clbarclay]

There was a neat off cut store in Profi a while back, made out of an old mesh stillage, with the mesh taken off the side and put on top. Similar principal to the one below, but larger, could be moved about by a handler and had shelves under shorter length off cuts for trays holding lengths too short to stand upright through the mesh.

 

[clbarclay]

I made a frame out some surplus RSJ and channel to hold most of the larger flatter stuff like sheet steel, weld mesh, perspex etc.

 

[davieh3350]

I made a rack for sheet metal, it's about 1400 high by about 900 wide, 6 vertical pieces of 50x50x5 angle with a piece of 100x6 top and bottom. Sheets sit vertically between the uprights. Very simple and cheap to build. A rack for long lengths, medium pieces that can stand upright go against a wall and the short pieces are placed in a heap in the corner. Used to use a half barrel cut round the circumference, but chucked that as you couldn't find the bit you needed.