How to Build a Self Rotating Can Rack

This is the story of how I built my self rotating can rack. It is 6'6" tall, 34" wide and 8" deep. It holds 430 various sized cans.

I built mine out of used wood that was given to me.






To build one just like mine, you will need:

2 4x8 sheets of 3/8 " plywood
1 4x8 sheet 1/4"tempered hardboard
4 8' long 2X4's
3 8' long 2X2's
2 8' long 1x2's

There will be a little bit left over, but I tried to keep that to a minimum. If your math will let you come up with all the parts you need using less wood, feel free.

You can adjust your own measurements to fit your available space, and needs. The important things to remember are:

For every 12" of shelf, there should be a drop of 1".

The diameter of a soup can is 3"
The diameter of a vegetable can is 3 1/2"
The diameter of juice/stew/fruit cans is 4"

Here are the steps I went through:

Cut plywood to make shelves:









I cut:
7 - 28" x 18"

These will be the receiver shelves

and
2 - 28" x 13"
3 - 28" x 14.5"
2 - 28" x 15 "

These will be the feeder shelves

Make sure you use a push stick whenever you use a table saw:



A close up of the bottom of my push stick reminds me why I'm glad I used it instead of my fingers.



Next, I ripped a 2x4 into five equal strips roughly 3/4" x 1 1/2".



I set the angle of the saw at 3 degrees and beveled one edge of each strip.





These piece will serve as a can stop on the receiver shelves. I cut them to 28" and glued one to the front of each of my seven receiver shelves.

Although wood glue is pretty strong these will have continual repeated jarring, so I turned them over and put several small brads in each one, to hold it in place.

Next, I split the 2x2's into 4 equal strips roughly 3/4" x 3/4".



I used a miter saw to cut them into 18" lengths. I needed a total of 90 pieces 18" long. These will be the can guides that create chutes on the shelves.


I paired up a receiver shelf with each feeder shelf and numbered them with a Sharpie to keep them straight. The two with the 13" feeders will be on the bottom, so they were numbers 1/2 and 3/4. The 14 1/2" feeders came next, 5/6, 7/8 and 9/10, finally, the 15" feeders 11/12 and 13/14.

Using empty cans as guides, I laid out chutes, and glued the guides in place, making sure that the guides on the feeder shelf lined up with the guides on the receiver shelf.

At this point, I had 7 matched sets of shelves.



I used both glue and nails (brads) to hold everything together. I stacked them all up, put a heavy weight on them and left them to dry over night.

Now, I needed a frame for the shelves.

I had 2 2x4's that had been ripped up the middle to create approximate 2x2's although they were slightly bigger one direction than the other. I decided to use them as my four legs.

Now, I needed shelf supports. I cut 2x4's into 6ths, by first cutting each one into 3 equal width strips and then cutting each strip down the middle.




Back to the miter saw, I cut my shelf support into lengths 18 1/8" long with a 3 degree angle at each end.



I cut one the way I wanted it, then used it to set up a jig, so I could just slide the wood up to the jig and make the cut.



I needed 28 shelf supports.

I cut the legs to 6' 6" long.

I cut 4 pieces of 1x2 18" long as braces and glued them to the legs, to create two sides. I put one brace at the top, one 6" up from the bottom.




Then I put the shelf supports in place. I started from the bottom, put one end of a shelf support where I wanted the front of the bottom receiver shelf, and put the back 1.5" higher. (1":1' slope ratio)

I used an empty can to mark the space I needed between shelves, and put the back end of a support there, then put the front end 1.5 " higher again.
I continued like this, all the way up the side, until all 14 supports were in place,

then, I lined up the other side and using the first side as a guide I made a mirror image.

Two more pieces of 1x2 34" long this time at the top, and two at the bottom gave me a skeleton frame.




I cut a piece of tempered hardboard 70 1/2" x 33"for a back, not necessarily vital, but it keeps the cans from banging against the wall.
I also stuck an extra piece of 1x2 on each side, on the outside, so I would have something to hold on to when I lifted it up the stairs. These aren't necessary, but they don't hurt anything and they made carrying it much easier.
I also put a piece of plywood on the top, 33"x19 1/2" so I could stack things on top of it, also optional.

Once I had the frame upstairs and put into place in the pantry, I started putting the shelves in.

I had them all numbered, so I just had to start with "1" and work my way up.



This isn't to scale, but from the side, imagine it looking something like this:



Once inside our pantry, I can't back up enough to get a full length picture of it, but here is as much as I can fit in the picture.



So I have a rack that works kind of like this:



Our cans are now all organized, and straightened.



My cost out of pocket was $6.21. I paid $2.49 for a bottle of glue and $3.72 for three packages of nails at $1.24 each. I had some other nails on hand that I used as well. If I hadn't had those I would have paid $2.79 for another box of nails.

I didn't have any idea what I was doing so it took me about a week to build, working on it until I got tired each day. Someone who knows their way around a woodshop could probably turn this out is two good afternoons.

This was a good size project for me to get done and I have to admit, I am pretty proud of myself, LOL. So, I am linking to a lot of "project" parties this week. Here are the cool blogs that I am linking this post to throughout this coming week:

Saturday:



Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Monday:



Metamorphisis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Tuesday:



DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Wednesday



Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family

Thursday



Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Friday



Get R Done at Expressly Corgi

1721/1856/2028/2146/2423/2544

Troys' Workshop-- Mystery Project - Step 1

Things on the gardening front are a little slow right now.

I have several herbs that I want to research out and write about once I am back at a desktop, but I'm not completely comfortable with a laptop, so it gets real distracting. Not to mention the fact that this laptop doesn't have MSWorks on it. That's the program that I have always written in, then I move it over to Blogger once I have it all written. My laptop has some kind of freeware that works, but it's not the program I'm comfortable with.

So anyway, all that adds up to me needing something to blog about, while my herb research is on hold.

I am working on my Garden Project 2010. Using some of the strategies and techniques I have learned in the last year or so. I am planning a low impact garden.
By low impact, I mean low impact on the environment, low impact on our wallet, and hopefully, low impact on our time and lifestyle.

So in theory, what I want to do is plant a garden that doesn't cost anything, that takes care of itself, and is environmentally friendly. The ultimate, optimal, dream “GREEN” garden.

I understand that what I want and what I get will not always match, but I am giving it my best shot, so I have been scanning Craigslist, Freecycle, and whatever other resources are out there for the things I need for a garden. I will be implementing the concept of plot sharing. In other words, I will be growing on someone else's property and sharing the harvest with them.

We'll see how it all turns out. I have started writing up the details so far, Once I get a few more details figured out, I hope to start a regular post about it. Watch in the future for Garden Project 2010.

While reading Craigslist, a week ago, I found an ad offering a whole bunch of wood/lumber free. All I had to do was pick it up.

I did a couple of quick calculations and determined that this would be enough to completely build a project I have been meaning to build, so I called the number and made arrangements to pick up the wood. I didn't have the camera with me when I unloaded my truck, so I don't have a picture of a truck full of wood, but after I got it unloaded I got the camera and took a couple of shots.



There was a whole stack of OSB board, and another stack of dimensional wood, mostly 2x4's and 2x2's.

I also got a bunch of laminated MDF shelving and some vinyl coated wire shelves, complete with brackets that didn't make it to the picture.

So, I made out like a bandit, and decided that there was no time like the present to start my project.

Now first of all, let me point out that building things is not my strong point. I was the kid who spent the whole semester in 7th grade working on a birdhouse and was never able to get the corners square. I just never quite understood why the birds cared if the bird house was an irregular quadrilateral trapezium.
I figured the fact that I knew what an irregular quadrilateral trapezium was, and could identify my birdhouse as such made up for the fact that I couldn't join two pieces of wood together at a 90 degree angle to save my life.

But Mr. Singleton, my shop teacher didn't see things that way. He seemed to think that it was important for the birds to have a proper house, with cute little angles and all the sides the same side, and no big gaps or anything.

I have since been to more than one art exhibit where I realized that my birdhouse was just being graded by the wrong teacher. I should have taken it to the art teacher and got my grade in contemporary abstract sculpture.

But I digress. My point was that I don't do well following a set of blueprint. But I have discovered that if I take a saw and some wood, a pencil, a hammer and some nails I can build some basic things, and each time I build something I learn new things. Every once in a while, something will click, and I say to my self. “Aha, that's what Mr. Singleton was talking about!”, so I guess, it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks after all.

But I do know that I still am better off without a blueprint. I see it in my mind, and try to put it on paper, but somewhere between brain and paper, there is a short circuit, then, between paper and hands there is another one. Much better for me to go straight from brain to hands, and cut out the middleman.

I did a little research on the internet, to see if anyone else had ever built one of these, and if so, if they had any pointers. I then dismissed about 90% of what they said, since it didn't apply to me, and, armed with the other 10%, I sat back and imagined what it would look like when it was done.

I saw a mental picture of the project I wanted to build, and I started picking up pieces of wood, and deciding which ones would go where.

When I was a kid, I remember working on projects with my Dad. Sometimes I would know what he was making, but sometimes, he would just start measuring and cutting. If I asked whet he was making, he would just give me a vague answer. I would guess all sorts of things, but he never told. But he would let me watch, and from time to time he would let me make a cut, or pound a nail, or hold a the other end of a board while he was cutting.

I used to think he was being mysterious, but now I have some insight. I think he didn't tell us what he was making, so that if it turned out different than he planned, he would be the only one that knew.

I often will start a project, now, but not tell anyone what I am making, or how I plan for it to look.

So, if you want, over the next few days, visit the workshop with me, and see if you can guess what I'm making.

First, I took a bunch of the OSB board, and ripped it down to 18” widths.

I may not be Norm Vila, and I am still not completely at ease with every power saw, but I do know enough to use push sticks.

One look at my push stick and it's plain to see why it's a good idea to use them!

Next I did a few test cuts to see how many little pieces I could get out of one 2x4.

I divided it into thirds first, then cut each third in half.

It took a couple of tries, but I was able to divide a 2x4 into six strips each roughly 1 1/4” x 3/4”.


At this point, it was time to clean up and call it a day. I wonder how much I can get done tomorrow?

This post is linked to the following Blogs:

Expressly Corgi -- Get R Done Friday

Funky Junk Interiors -- Saturday Night Special