need different record holding rack

leftwinger57

Since going full the monty w/2-chll I've been buying up very clean LPs from E-Bay, garage sales and our friend George G. Now my 3 racks are full w/ over 100 and I have no other place to put any more albums. What I'd like to have is a graduated rack going up about 46'' wide and not to high because my tv is close by. Sort of like a large magazine rack you see in libraries. Of course this would have to be used do to financial constraints but I have not seen anything that works. I can't go bigger w/ my console,

then the 2Bs would not fit. Any ideas out there ??

mhardy6647

Did you consider the Expedit replacement from IKEA? Their new line of record-compatible units is called Kallax. I put together an assortment of the Kallax shelves for a small store in Newburyport, MA last summer and they're every bit as stout (for better or worse) as the Expedit units were.

I keep many of my records on two 4 x 4 Expedit shelves (and have for years) and they work well.

DSC_8958 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
They're not fine furniture, but they're fit for purpose & they're cheap.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=kallax

MrBuhl

^^ +1 for the Kallax option ^^ I have one of each (one Expedit, one Kallax), both in the 2/4 shelf configuration and they are both sturdy - the Kallax has smaller overall dimensions on the outside by a little but internal shelf space is identical. I reinforced both with some corner angle and 1/8 plywood on the back just to be extra robust and to keep records from sliding back (*plus I needed them to support a little extra weight!) but I'm not sure that's needed frankly. Hard to go wrong for the price.

mhardy6647

MrBuhl wrote: »

... I reinforced both with some corner angle and 1/8 plywood on the back just to be extra robust and to keep records from sliding back (*plus I needed them to support a little extra weight!) but I'm not sure that's needed frankly. Hard to go wrong for the price.

Indeed. The worst thing about the Expedit/Kallax vis-a-vis record storage is the lack of a 'stop' on the back of the shelving. This is, as implied above, straightforard to rectify.

Nice ursine ;- )


EDIT: oh, and one other thing -- these shelf units are very strong (i.e., have great weight-bearing capacity) when the full-width shelves are horizontal. This is no big deal for the 'square' versions -- but in the 4 x 2 version shown above*, re-orienting the shelf unit vertically would result in shelves that aren't up to a full load of records -- only small wooden pegs hold the 'divider' shelves into the 'main' shelves.

There are numerous photos of collapsed Expedits on teh webs -- but in most if not all cases, it's just due to this 'issue'.

I guess the take-home lesson is that a little reinforcement would never hurt.

* actually - I cannot tell for sure -- is the 'wide' center shelf horizontal on this one? Looks like maybe not. In that case, reinforcement would be essential to hold heavy records in this configuration.

MrBuhl

@mhardy6647 as I recall you're correct - the supporting shelves in this configuration are the pegged ones - another reason I applied the thin plywood to the back (also used some decent wood glue and brad nails along the shelves for extra oomph). Better safe than sorry.

Though I thought a lot of the collapses were with the larger 4x4 and 5x5 units - where the pegged shelves were vertically placed and allowed the units to flex side to side? Either way - totally agree - a little cheap reinforcement doesn't hurt, and actually improves useful qualities as well. Pooh certainly agrees.

leftwinger57

Doc, the Ikea is to high and I'd like to keep my console. Mr. B I just don't have the room for a stand alone box set like that. Again needs to be on the console graduated going up.Something like this,of course only smaller.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0LEVvRFtyVVEjAAcCMnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTBsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?p=library+magazine+racks&back=https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=library+magazine+racks&hsimp=yhs-003&hspart=mozilla&ei=UTF-8&w=720&h=486&imgurl=www.colecraftcf.com/wp-content/uploads/library-magazine-rack.jpg&size=30KB&name=library-magazine-rack.jpg&rcurl=http://colecraftcf.com/index.php/library/miscellaneous-furniture&rurl=http://colecraftcf.com/index.php/library/miscellaneous-furniture&type=&no=3&tt=120&oid=e815a865bf27b870091505230065a17c&****=library-magazine-rack&sigr=120mldf96&sigi=120r5tobg&sign=10p2b88u5&sigt=103vg5ole&sigb=1323cnqun&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003

MrBuhl

Gotcha @leftwinger57 - something like the top of this piece without the legs would be an easy build if you're moderately handy, you could build to suit height-wise and width-wise too, might be an option. Could even stain to match.



These wine boxes are kinda cool and would be dirt cheap too... especially if you're into wine at all... I think I even have a nice one I could start you off with I swiped from a restaurant.

ken brydson

Milk crates are awesome. Add some cinder blocks and you're golden...

gce

ken brydson wrote: »

Milk crates are awesome. Add some cinder blocks and you're golden...

Ahhhhhh milk crates and cinder blocks...when life was so easy.

mhardy6647

gce wrote: »

ken brydson wrote: »

Milk crates are awesome. Add some cinder blocks and you're golden...

Ahhhhhh milk crates and cinder blocks...when life was so easy.

You need orange shag carpeting and a ficus plant, too... and maybe a nice Breuer chair and a Nagel print on the wall.

chumlie

These work quite well for me.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O1APF0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

vcwatkins

mhardy6647 wrote: »

gce wrote: »

ken brydson wrote: »

Milk crates are awesome. Add some cinder blocks and you're golden...

Ahhhhhh milk crates and cinder blocks...when life was so easy.

You need orange shag carpeting and a ficus plant, too... and maybe a nice Breuer chair and a Nagel print on the wall.

Ficus plant! LOL. That's hilarious, man.

SCompRacer

These crates from the container store are great. Tall enough so the albums don't stick out, like $13 each in white or black. You can stand them up and stack them upright (bases lock into tops) or stack them on their sides, although I wouldn't stack them too high on their sides. They have the longer wood crates too.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/crates?productId=10005526





I built this one, holds ~ 300 albums. There are similar available in one piece. I built this in two pieces, large dowels hold the top section it in place. Heavy duty wheels under it so it rolls easier loaded; two fixed, two caster, like driving a car. The two piece makes it easier to pick up and relocate, with no records in it of course.