Working on Non Level Surfaces

[farmersamm]

If you don't have a nice level concrete floor to work on. Line sighting is the thing for you I suppose this could be done with a level, but it doesn't take distortion into consideration. Some of the members of your weldment have probably pulled a little bit. You may have to split hairs.

For me anyhow, in this situation, it's all eyeball, and using known straight edges, to align the structure.

Also, unitize if you can. Build in units that can be joined. Make sure the smaller units are SQUARE!!!! In this kind of deal, you can't rely on levels unless you want to make your life miserable.

This time around I leveled the second bay (remember, the first bay was already built square, it's a known factor) of the rack by laying a piece of tubing across all three arms of the shelf, then clamped the tubing to the middle of all uprights(it's a pretty good chance that you'll get an average of all the uprights). Next I sighted the uprights top and bottom, and added shims under the runners as needed.

YOU MUST PAY PARTICLAR ATTENTION TO MAKING ALL MEASUREMENTS CORRECTLY, AND BUILDING SQUARE BEFORE JOINING UNITS

Stand far back, and sight all planes. Horizontal, and vertical. Once you are satisfied, tighten the clamps, and tack it. Again tack on braces to hold it true while finish welding if possible

A little note on tacking. For me anyway, it seems to work best to tack on the inside of the "C" on channel. Tack each flange, squaring in between, the lock it up by tacking on the web. When leveling use shims, and have a helper standing by to assist with lifting the heavy stuff

[littlefuzz]

Lookin good!! Is the left upright leaned out or is that just the way it looks in the pic?

[farmersamm]

I think it's the distortion of the camera lense.

Now I gotta get up first thing in the morning and stress about it, and check it

[farmersamm]

[littlefuzz]

LOL, sorry

[farmersamm]

Choked on my brew. Geez!!!

It's square, I checked the diagonals.

Dude you're messin' me up

I think they use the same angle/distortion thing in porn shots

[duaneb55]

Sam I think the far lookout is 1/10th of a pixel off.

[littlefuzz]

Originally Posted by farmersamm

Choked on my brew. Geez!!!

It's square, I checked the diagonals.

Dude you're messin' me up

I think they use the same angle/distortion thing in porn shots

It can measure right diagonally and still be out of square.

[farmersamm]

Originally Posted by duaneb55

Sam I think the far lookout is 1/10th of a pixel off.

I just hope the whole thing doesn't collapse in my lap when I start loading it with steel. This is my first experiment with reinforcing the flange that's under stress, and I'm not sure I added enough meat on the stress side.

I thought, after looking at it, that I also need to add a crossmember across the front of the runners. It's gonna be sitting on soft ground, and the extra support will keep it from nose diving. It's gonna settle, but I'd like it to settle in a controlled manner

[duaneb55]

Have you considered backing it up to the 'machine shop' and tacking it to the outer wall?

[farmersamm]

Also, channel has a tendancy to roll to one side or the other without lateral bracing. There's gonna be a lot of force on the front end of the runners. It's a whole different thing than having it on a solid concrete floor. There's the possibility that not all runners will equally be supporting the weight depending on how it settles

[duaneb55]

I don't know what all you plan on throwing up there but I believe you'll find that channel will hold alot more than you would think.

[farmersamm]

Originally Posted by duaneb55

Have you considered backing it up to the 'machine shop' and tacking it to the outer wall?

The container is settling as we speak My luck, it would pull the crazy thing over backwards

I need a real building

[littlefuzz]

Assuming that both pieces are cut exactly the same it should be square.

[farmersamm]

Duane, I was looking at the shelves and spacing. It's gonna be real tempting to put a LOT of stuff up there. Ten full sticks of 3" 3/16 square tubing weighs around 1200 lbs. and that's not counting the other stuff that's gonna be on there.

Might just see my feet sticking out of the mess when it's all said and done.

I think a little prudence is in order

[farmersamm]

I may have seriously underbuilt the uprights

[Road Warrior]

Personally, I would have opted for an A frame design. Since it's going to be outside, space isn't really an issue (I wouldn't think so anyhow).

However, given what you've done so far, it looks good to me.
A place I worked at a few years ago had a steel rack made completely from 1.5" heavy wall sq. tube. It was bolted to the building posts, the horizontal members that held steel were about 18" long, angled slighty upward, with a short gussett (maybe 5" long) under them. It was loaded with 3" sch. 80 pipe 20' long, lots of 1,2,&4" sq. tube, misc. flat bar of various thicknesses.
Suffice it to say it was loaded to the max yet very solid.
I think you'll be ok. Your rack is built way more stout than what we had.

The only recommendation I would give you is to put a gussett under the horizontals that will be holding your material.

[Greyhorse]

If your container is off the ground any you can slide the back of it underneath. If it's on the ground then you might still be able to with a little digging. Those containers are amazingly stable, especially once you pack a bunch of stuff in them. I've got a 20' and a 40' side by side that I welded together for extra stability (figured it would be harder for wind to turn them both over than just one) mine are also on concrete blocks so I can re-level as they settle.

[farmersamm]

Might pay to add a gusset. Recently switched to 7018, and maybe I'm expecting too much from it.

The shelves are 26" . It's a pretty far piece considering the weight on it.

[Road Warrior]

I edited your picture, the red lines are the gussets I would add. Looking again, one up the back may be a good insurance policy too.

[farmersamm]

It would relieve the stress, I'm not sure about the ultimate benifit of the flange reinforcement I have now.

We're lookin' at basiclly the same thing as a jib crane considering the cantilevered load out front. Just how much will the upright resist the tendancy to bend

[Road Warrior]

Originally Posted by farmersamm

We're lookin' at basiclly the same thing as a jib crane considering the cantilevered load out front. Just how much will the upright resist the tendancy to bend

That depends on several key factors - the numerous placement possibilities of ferrous and non-ferrous metals on the rack, atmospheric density subcutaneously discharging multiple rays of gravity deflecting ions, the spinning motion of the earth in relation to the lunar phases, and well, I don't know!!

[farmersamm]

Originally Posted by Road Warrior

That depends on several key factors - the numerous placement possibilities of ferrous and non-ferrous metals on the rack, atmospheric density subcutaneously discharging multiple rays of gravity deflecting ions, the spinning motion of the earth in relation to the lunar phases, and well, I don't know!!

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by farmersamm

I think it's the distortion of the camera lense.

Now I gotta get up first thing in the morning and stress about it, and check it

It's called "fish eye" effect. Anything around the perimeter of the lens is especially subject to the effect.

[Tractapac]

Originally Posted by farmersamm

I may have seriously underbuilt the uprights

Samm, in my opinion that would be a first.

I may have missed something but does anyone recall when Samm seriously under built anything? Everything I've seen has looked pretty sturdy. The only shakey thing I've seen is the wheel change on the tractor.

You could put another set of shelves on the back and extend the feet too, of course and split the loading more evenly.