Having a collection of coax cable, wire, rope and cordage of various types can get unwieldy without a means to organize the spools and keep them accessible. My collection was scattered all over the workshop on shelves and the floor. Inevitably, the first ten minutes of any project requiring one of these components was spent searching.
After researching and rejecting commercial ready-made spool racks as too expensive and not easily configurable, I decided to build my own. Some of the requirements were to use readily available parts, make sure the rack could handle heavy loads, easily movable and to be quickly reconfigurable to accommodate new spools of various sizes.
The main parts are perforated steel from the local Lowe’s. The bottom frame is 1 inch square tubing and the A-frames are 6 foot lengths of 2.25 by 1.5 inch slotted steel angle. A box of 5/16 bolts and nuts holds it all together.
Two-hole pipe strap of various sizes mount the axles to the rack frame. Some of the support strap holes had to be drilled out to accommodate the large bolts used in assembly. The spool axles are appropriate diameters of EMT conduit and steel rod.
The finishing touch is the addition of Harbor Freight casters to the frame bottom. I use these everywhere in the workshop and radio shack. It is convenient to easily move heavy stuff out of the way to make the best use of space for the next project. Even my shack operating desk, which is an 8 foot multi-level DIY desk, uses these casters. I can move it around to access the wiring behind the radio and audio equipment.
Version one of the spool rack required no cutting of the steel parts. The bottom frame was 3 feet square. I used steel wire to make some cross-bracing to keep it all square. I mounted several spools and the concept was proven. The one design flaw was that it would not fit through any doorway in the shop.
Version two narrowed the rack width and added more stability. After discussing the needed improvements with AJ KD2ENV, he agreed to complete the re-build.
The first step was to cut one of the square steel tubes in half. This gave us a rack width of 18 inches plus the 4.5 inch width of the two A-frame angles. This will fit through any standard door in the shop.
The steel cutting went smoothly by using a Milwaukee portable band saw and a SWAG Portaband table. This combination of products is what I recommend for metal cutting in the home workshop.
AJ added a shelf made from a scrap of OSB and mounted some square tubing near the top of the A-frame for stability. These also act as convenient handles for moving the rack.
I will post some pictures of the completed version 2 spool rack. It is nice to get all of these materials organized and accessible.
73,
Randy WU2S
Photos courtesy of KD2ENV are posted on the WU2S.com web site and ComTechGroup at Yahoo Groups.
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