Pallet Racking to Shelves or Workbench

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Has any one installed a type of middle beam that on a pallet rack? If so how did you do it? I bought Dexion pallet racks second-hand. None of the beams are stepped.

Pallet racks have beams that clip onto the front and back face of the vertical frames. I would like to convert some levels of racking into shelves - without having to chew up space with installing pallets and then laying a sheet of ply on top of the pallet. I bought some pallet racking and a pallet rack-based workbench. The bench is similar to the one shown in the YouTube clip - accessed 20th December 2019 from, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weT3m2k4ae8).

As seen in the video there are no parallel beams that run through the middle of the racking for either the bottom shelf or the bench top. The bench top and shelf rely on the integrity of a sheet of particle board/MDF. I would be a lot more comfortable with this approach if there were more support under the sheet of manufactured board.

Alternatively, is there some form of brace that spans 90 degrees between the two beams? If so what are they called and who makes them?

How have you approached making the pallet rack shelves or workbenches more robust by putting in some extra rails or cross-bracing?

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I have just been searching on the internet and found one approach at on eBay and it is called a "pallet rack support bar" There are also mesh shelves which have their own built-in supports.

I found a couple of YouTube clips where people have had stepped beams. I found a clip by DeepNHocK that shows lengths of "2 x 4" inch timber are cut off to span between the beams YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5DRtUhuuIc) . Another clip by "DeepNHock" then shows his fitted custom made metal benchtop sheeting YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4ucI6a-ss) Each bay has its own light and independent switch - really nice!

Are there any other ways to provide extra support under a sheet of manufactured board that forms a shelf?

Kind regards
Lionel

[Tombie]

Lionel, I have Dex as workbench and shelving.

I use Yellow tongue.

Never had a problem. I don’t run bracing.

[AndyG]

I would screw some ribbing to the underneath of the board, maybe you can find some scrap. 25 * 25 angle iron would be my starting point.
Unless your planning a super heavy load like multiple batteries

[grey_ghost]

In my shed build, I:

* When I built my workbench from dexion, for the top I just used MDF and screwed it into the main beam. I can't remember how thick the MDF was, but I could measure it up.

* I then used chip-board on the main dexion, and have various parts on the shelves - without using support braces.

* True - I wouldn't want to put an engine on these shelves, but all other parts worked fine.

* At work we have used the cross beams that you found on ebay - they work well.

* At work - we have also just attached hard-wood support beams, underneath the chip board - that fit between the main rails - when a heavy load is put on these shelves the chip board dips slightly, forcing these hard-wood pieces to touch each side of the main rails. It spreads the load and works quite well....

Cheers,
GG.

[1950landy]

We used 19mm ply as shelving in our pallet racking.

[aussearcher]

I have Dexion pallet racking in my shed (and have just built a mezzanine floor using racking as support). Yellow tongue sheet by itself as shelves is quite sufficient to support decent loads (such as a gearbox & TC), the mesh panels from memory are rated at 500kg. Dynabolting the feet of the racks to the floor makes for a significant improvement in overall stability.

[aussearcher]

Lionel,
I was out in the shed today and had a look at my shelf loading to give you some confidence. In one bay which has two wire mesh gizzos topped with a piece of yellowtongue I have 1 x 2.25 Rover engine, 2 x BMC "B" series engines, 1 x Rover sedan twin cam engine, 1 x Disco diff, 1 x Series O/D and 1 x Disco TC. Whilst the yellowtongue obviously provides some additional strength the main reason I added it on top of the mesh was to stop sump plugs etc. getting caught. And yes, I know I'm a hoarder...
Alan

[ian4002000]

I am not sure if it helps , but Bunnings uses a lot of different middle beam combintaions to achive smaller double sided shelves for displaying smaller objects.
You may be able to copy their method and build your own as required.

Ian
Bittern

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Can some one please provide a rule of thumb spacing for the pallet rack support bars along an length of 2590 mm and a width of 840 mm? They will supporting ply or yellow tongue sheeting to form shelves. I am trying to calculate how many support bars to buy for my layers of pallet racking that I want to turn into shelves.

The main weight of the pallet racks including such things as engines and gear boxes are already stored on pallets located on the lowest shelf. However, the load the support bar assisted shelves will be storing will not necessarily be an all that light load.There will be an accumulation of weight from other mechanical bits and pieces.

Thank you for your replies

Kind regards
Lionel

[Tombie]

I don’t run any underneath my Yellow tongue.

I run heaps of Dex in my workshop and never used the support braces.

[Toxic_Avenger]

In a commercial warehousing situation, these shelving units are installed and certified by dexion for a load. This is relative to the spacing of the supports, and load rating is reduced for the higher levels (up to 4m height).

Pallet loading on the compliance plate for the unit I have in a comercial setting is up to 2500KG per level, and this would also include a margin of error (I have loaded with goods with a irregular centre of gravity).
Even if that max value is assumed to be equally loaded between front and rear horizontal supports, would your load be likely to exceed 1250KG on a single span? Or less?

The right thing to do would be to get you to contact dexion and get them to inspect your setup and certify it. You'll pay for it.

Realistically, just make it happen, and chances are you will well and truly be under the design capacity if you have your heads screwed on.

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

After checking out a number of hardware stores for their prices, I bought 8 sheets of 3600 mm x 900 mm x 19 mm Green Tongue particle board flooring for the pallet shelves. Since the width of my pallet rack is 840 mm I had to buy the longer sheets to be able to get the width spanned.

With the aid of an endless chain hoist; some straps, rope, chain and some rectangular box section I was able to position the shelving - without any support bars. I lay on some of the sheeting when I positioned the higher shelves so that was a good test of its weight bearing capacity.

I will Tek Screw the sheets in place tomorrow. Still no power in the shed so I was restricted to just positioning the sheets today.

Thank you for all your contributions. Hopefully within a couple of days of Tek screwing I will have the storage issue in my shed sorted out and I might be able to find things the first time I go looking for them! You know things having their proper place and being able to found within minutes. No shuffling through piles of detritus to find something an hour or so later. Or just giving up and going to a hardware store and buying a replacement item because it is quicker and cheaper to do so.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Tombie]

Nice work.

Wish I’d done the block and tackle lift [emoji6]
I put the sheets in position by hand. That was one hell of a workout!

[Gav 110]

Hello All,

After checking out a number of hardware stores for their prices, I bought 8 sheets of 3600 mm x 900 mm x 19 mm Green Tongue particle board flooring for the pallet shelves. Since the width of my pallet rack is 840 mm I had to buy the longer sheets to be able to get the width spanned.

With the aid of an endless chain hoist; some straps, rope, chain and some rectangular box section I was able to position the shelving - without any support bars. I lay on some of the sheeting when I positioned the higher shelves so that was a good test of its weight bearing capacity.

I will Tek Screw the sheets in place tomorrow. Still no power in the shed so I was restricted to just positioning the sheets today.

Thank you for all your contributions. Hopefully within a couple of days of Tek screwing I will have the storage issue in my shed sorted out and I might be able to find things the first time I go looking for them! You know things having their proper place and being able to found within minutes. No shuffling through piles of detritus to find something an hour or so later. Or just giving up and going to a hardware store and buying a replacement item because it is quicker and cheaper to do so.

Kind regards
Lionel

Save the green tongues for the sparky you get to power the shed
Always good when the customer gives you a new cavity king[emoji106]