I've seen suggestions on what type of wood to use for building racks. (EX: OSB for bottom rails, CDX for top rails)
But they are scattered everywhere. So I thought it would be easier for newbies(like myself) to find it all on one thread.
For me I'll be starting out with a very very small rack of 6 tubes(2 rows of three tubes).
So what type should I use for building?
1. The base.
2. The top and bottom rails.(The sides and the center in between the rows).
3. The sides of the rack.
4. The spacers.
5. And anything else I forgot to mention.
Dirtyone55
July 28th, 2009, 06:17 AM
Not treated
Lights Out
July 28th, 2009, 06:28 AM
Assuming you're using dr11 tubes, I'd go with 1 row of 6 tubes, especially if using spacers. Personally, I wouldn't bother with spacers, but you'll here differing opinions on that one.:lolbash:
2x3 for the ends and bottom.
3" strips of 5-ply cdx for the top and bottom rails.
For a base, you could stake it with eye screws and rebar or attach it to a plywood base.
Good luck.
LO
RollerDJ
July 28th, 2009, 07:34 AM
With mine, I used to sections of mdf I had laying around for the front and back parts. Rails were some scrap 1x2's I had laying around. Bottom was 2x4's, and no spacers between tubes.
Arthur Brown
July 28th, 2009, 11:13 AM
Take a pallet to pieces -use the bits!
I found a pallet from plasterboard which is two side fork access, so I had some thick pieces for the bottom and ends, and some thin pieces for the rails. It fits 2" tubes perfectly!
Blaze
July 28th, 2009, 01:34 PM
Here is what I believe proper rack design should be. Although you will get a lot of opinoins on the subject. Again, this is just my 2c.
- Top rail - Strong (something like a 2x 3 or that nature)
- Side rails - Strong (2x4 could work although I like the pallet idea)
- outside side rails - wood to protect the outside of the side rails and
to keep them from splitting.
- Bottom - Strong (again can be 2x4 or something)
Most Important (my opinion)
- Bottm Rail - Weaker wood to allow for proper blowout.
- Spacers - I like to use 1" spacer in direct relation to the dia. of the tube. So a 2" rack design would get a bunch of 2" spacers.
- Make sure you put a spacer between your end tubes and the side rails so the end tubes are not just resting against the side rails. If the side rail comes un done then you can have some serious trouble on your hands.
The idea here if a shell goes off inside the tube then you want the weaker piece at the bottom so you don't have an entie blow out of the bottom rail.
Here is what what could happen when a shell goes off and the bottom peice is strong.
If the bottom piece is strong such as a 2x4 or something. You usually get an entire blow out of the bottom rail which is bad becasue this potentially messes with the integrity of the rack and the mortars could fall over. Again, this potentially. If a shell goes off you want to make absolutely sure you have done everything to keep the rest of the tubes facing upward and away from the crowd.
The attached photo is from pyrogear.com and part of their destructive testing. This give a good example of what you WANT to happen if a shell goes off in the tube.
I hope this helps.
- Blaze
Blaze
July 28th, 2009, 01:45 PM
Take a look at Camjoe63 post "yet another rack design"
Very good pictures and IMO a solid rack design.
- Blaze
pyrobocaj08
July 28th, 2009, 08:35 PM
Can we make this a sticky? it has some great points for new coming rack designers and makers on what wood types and what not. how to assemble them correctly is also good in this thread. thank you. :lol:
Dirtyone55
July 29th, 2009, 06:23 AM
Can we make this a sticky? it has some great points for new coming rack designers and makers on what wood types and what not. how to assemble them correctly is also good in this thread. thank you. :lol:
I think it would be nice to see a section, kinda like a library. There is one on Passfire that has a lot of info. I am not saying to have that same info obviously, but I think it may be a good idea to have a section for racks, fusing, safety, and maybe a FAQ section. Maybe there could also be a list of suppliers by area & what they sell. To get on that directory list, you have to support the website in some way. Just my thoughts.
Crackerjack
July 29th, 2009, 06:45 AM
You can avoid the hassle of using MDF for the bottom boards if you just make sure what ever wood you use is even with the top of the plugs in the tubes or lower - if you have a blowout, it's just open air as long as you leave a little space between them.
MotoShifta
July 29th, 2009, 10:33 AM
You can avoid the hassle of using MDF for the bottom boards if you just make what ever wood you use is even with the top of the plugs in the tubes - if you have a blowout, it's just open air.
That's what I did, it just seemed safer to me that way. I haven't done any destructive testing on it though.
xelxguapo
July 29th, 2009, 11:07 AM
Thanks everyone. Great to see all these suggestions on one thread. Definitely a big help.
Blaze
July 29th, 2009, 11:27 AM
You can avoid the hassle of using MDF for the bottom boards if you just make what ever wood you use is even with the top of the plugs in the tubes - if you have a blowout, it's just open air.
Crackerjack,
I like that idea. Tell me what ya think about this one.
I was thinking how could I save a little $$$ in my rack design without risking safety. Here is what I came up with.
- Do not have a bottom rail - Instead on your bottom piece of wood and use a 2" forstner bit (see picture below). You can drill a bunch of 2" holes (if using DR11) and space them out accordingly. You would still have your top rail and spacers
- Then you would just place your DR11 down through the top rails and the tubes would sit in their respective holes. They would NOT sit deeper then the plug. The standard plug is about 1.5" so you could make your hole that deep so just the plug is sitting in the hole.
- If you wanted to further strengthen the tubes you could screw the tubes in place from underneath making sure they do not go all the way through the plug.
This would eliminate the bottom side rails altogether thus reducing cost and weight.
You can pick up a 2" forstner bit for about 15 bucks.
I'm going to test version and post it here Sunday.
Thanks,
Blaze
TurboGTU
July 29th, 2009, 03:26 PM
Take a look at Camjoe63 post "yet another rack design"
Very good pictures and IMO a solid rack design.
I agree. look at the 6 shot, 8 shot, and 10shot .pdf, they give you a supply list and you can pretty much figure out assembly by looking at the pdfs.
ofcourse, if your going to build a fixed position rack, ignore the eye hooks part and just use screws to mount the racks to a base's.
I was thinking how could I save a little $$$ in my rack design without risking safety. Here is what I came up with.
- Do not have a bottom rail - Instead on your bottom piece of wood and use a 2" forstner bit (see picture below). You can drill a bunch of 2" holes (if using DR11) and space them out accordingly. You would still have your top rail and spacers
- Then you would just place your DR11 down through the top rails and the tubes would sit in their respective holes. They would NOT sit deeper then the plug. The standard plug is about 1.5" so you could make your hole that deep so just the plug is sitting in the hole.
- If you wanted to further strengthen the tubes you could screw the tubes in place from underneath making sure they do not go all the way through the plug.
This would eliminate the bottom side rails altogether thus reducing cost and weight.
I like that idea too, but one problem that I think could come up is, if a shell were to flowerpot, the mortar would either hop, or if you screwed it in (like I believe should be done with any rack), it would send all that energy through the bottom piece, and the shallow point where the piece was drilled out would create that "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" effect, and possibly snapping the bottom piece, causing the possibility of the rest of the mortars to point the wrong way, etc...
only way I could think to prevent this is to glue a strip of plywood atleast 1/2" thick and screw through that, or use a piece of wood atleast 3" thick to use as a bottom piece.
I might be wrong, but I wouldn't chance it.
Crackerjack
July 29th, 2009, 09:15 PM
- Do not have a bottom rail - Instead on your bottom piece of wood and use a 2" forstner bit (see picture below). You can drill a bunch of 2" holes (if using DR11) and space them out accordingly. You would still have your top rail and spacers
I made some racks like that about 5 years ago...had an excal that someone loaded upside down :brick: rip the hole rack to shreds and sent live tubes bouncing around - if there was a 2x bottom plate with another 2x or 5/4 board sitting on top with the holes, it would be alot safer. Those racks ended up being ALOT more effort than they were worth IMO.
Your rack construction will depend on how they are going to be used as well...if you build them in a "modular" fashion, it makes them alot easier to change how they're configured for a show. Sometimes you may want a lot of fan racks - other times more straight up stuff.
smoke bomb
July 29th, 2009, 11:59 PM
Folks, look through and read the the info in the racks & launchers section. There is a lot to be gained from the info here. It will show you the good and the bad, the why and why nots of building racks. So far there have been several tecniques posted in this thread that are not the best of ideas. They could even be unsafe.
xelxguapo
July 30th, 2009, 12:22 PM
Folks, look through and read the the info in the racks & launchers section. There is a lot to be gained from the info here. It will show you the good and the bad, the why and why nots of building racks. So far there have been several tecniques posted in this thread that are not the best of ideas. They could even be unsafe.
I have gone through this section, and read many different threads on how to build a rack. Some are just different opinions, but they are all good for learning.
The reason why I started this thread was to try to have as much information in one thread as much as possible. It would be nice for a newbie (like me), to be able to see one thread with lots of different info.
Also, it would be helpful to explain why you think several techniques are the best of ideas or unsafe. It's not to put anyone down, but it would be nice to know someone's opinion/constructive criticsm. After all, isn't this about learning? It would suck for someone new to come to this thread and see that comment, and have no idea which techniques might not be a good idea and why.
On a side note, I have seen camjoe's blueprints and I'm probably going to use it. Very very detailed.
Blaze
July 31st, 2009, 02:27 PM
I made some racks like that about 5 years ago...had an excal that someone loaded upside down :brick: rip the hole rack to shreds and sent live tubes bouncing around - if there was a 2x bottom plate with another 2x or 5/4 board sitting on top with the holes, it would be alot safer. Those racks ended up being ALOT more effort than they were worth IMO.
Your rack construction will depend on how they are going to be used as well...if you build them in a "modular" fashion, it makes them alot easier to change how they're configured for a show. Sometimes you may want a lot of fan racks - other times more straight up stuff.
Personally I think camjoe's rack designs are pretty much the best/safest around and the ones that I use.
That being said...
My suggestions were merely a thought as to discuss rack design. As rack builders/pyros we are constantly looking for better ways to improve upon an idea and if that idea is bad then I'm completely fine with that...on to the next idea.
I'm glad you gave reason "why" the design was flawed. If one does not comprehend "why" the design is bad then one really never understands or grasps the entire concept of safety which is what were really after in the long run.
Thanks,
Blaze
RollerDJ
July 31st, 2009, 02:46 PM
Personally I think camjoe's rack designs are pretty much the best/safest around and the ones that I use.That being said...
My suggestions were merely a thought as to discuss rack design. As rack builders/pyros we are constantly looking for better ways to improve upon an idea and if that idea is bad then I'm completely fine with that...on to the next idea.
I'm glad you gave reason "why" the design was flawed. If one does not comprehend "why" the design is bad then one really never understands or grasps the entire concept of safety which is what were really after in the long run.
Thanks,
Blaze
i agree with this. it's just a LOT of work though. better start building now. :lolbash:
xelxguapo
July 31st, 2009, 02:47 PM
I'm glad you gave reason "why" the design was flawed. If one does not comprehend "why" the design is bad then one really never understands or grasps the entire concept of safety which is what were really after in the long run.
Well said.
Flatland
August 1st, 2009, 06:56 AM
Also no pine boards with a HT stamp on them.These boards are heat treated to kill pine borer beetles.The heating process cooks out a lot of the moisture and some of the pine sap as well , it makes the boards brittle and break easily.They are found often on pallets that go overseas where this is a requirement.