Michael Richwine writes:
Quite a while back, I mentioned some drying racks
that let me work on up to 80 or so cabinet doors at a time.
Here's a picture of one of the two I made. This one has 38 slots, but
you can use a piece of 1/4" plywood or melamine to hold 2 or more
pieces in one slot. I took two arms off because they were too high
for me to reach conveniently, especially with awkward pieces.
Since I shot this picture, I have upgraded to 4" hard rubber casters
from 3". The rack can weigh several hundred pounds when loaded,
and the larger casters made it much more maneuverable.
The other thing I have yet to do is to taper the arms, and possibly
switch to 1 1/2" square stock. There is only 2" between arms,
and tapering them really helps in getting parts on and off the rack
smoothly. When I made these for production shops, I cut shallow
dadoes in the uprights for the arms to fit into.
Made them last a lot longer.
My racks are only about 20" across, between arms, and the arms
extend about 20" each way from the uprights. The design is easily
modified for specific situations.
You have to pay particular attention to the base, because if it is not
strong enough, it will flex when you hit a bump, and dump your load.
It also helps a lot to have the centers of the casters a little outboard
of the main supports, again, for stability.
In practice, I just roll the rack to my work station -- prep, sanding,
or spray -- and do one side of the rack from the top down, removing
a piece, processing it, then replacing it and grabbing the next.
Working alone, I get through spraying a rack in about 35 to 45 minutes.
With two people and the right setup -- one spraying and one loading --
you can cut that time about in half.
It took about half a day to build two of these.
Dadoing would take 1 to 2 hours more.
Hope this will help someone.
These racks are pretty common around here.
Think how much room 80 doors on sawhorses would take........
They're good for drawers, too.
Michael R
KC
