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Question Storage for Sheet Materials

visual800

visual800

Active Member
To save floorspace I would stack vertical. A larger sign company here have 1x1 square tubing "racks" built and they would slide the material in
 
R

Reveal1

New Member
Visited one of my friendly competitors who stores vertical, but uses an adjustable wood frame to apply horizontal pressure on the boards to keep them from bowing. Clever.
 
Stacey K

Stacey K

I like making signs
I use vertical the long way. I have pieces of Alumalite in which I rest the coroplast and aluminum on. I haven't had the Alumalite bow but the coro and aluminum do if it's not laying against something flat.
 
T

TrustMoore_TN

Sign & Graphics Business Consultant
As has been mentioned, vertical saves space, but I think the question should be whether you are direct printing to the stored sheets, or just mounting graphics. If you're direct printing, you're going to have problems with bowing over time. Add in temperature differences and it will be a mess.
 
T

TimToad

Active Member
BlueMoonATL said:
As has been mentioned, vertical saves space, but I think the question should be whether you are direct printing to the stored sheets, or just mounting graphics. If you're direct printing, you're going to have problems with bowing over time. Add in temperature differences and it will be a mess.
Click to expand...

That issue is easily cured with a few cheap clamps and a little care being taken. Our vertical rack has 6 "slots" in it for our most commonly used sheet goods. We do our best to place new full sheets as close to one side of the slot and once stored, a stiff sheet of mdo or acm is placed behind the full stack and the clamp(s) holds it all perfectly snug and compressed.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
We store most of our flat stock, flat. Built this 5' x 11' about 9 years ago. With the flatbed needing everything to stay as flat as possible, this seems to be the most obvious way. We can slide right out of that onto our feed rollers for the flatbed. We have many vertical bins for cutoffs and other stuff all over the place. Keeping things flat is a priority around here.
flatbed storage.jpg


As you can see, we also built a loft around the ceiling which we can stand upright, if need be. That is 8' x 70' then turns and goes another 8' x 38'. Lotsa stuff up there. Many members here have seen this setup when they were at the shop. Hot as h*ll up there, too.
 
2B

2B

Active Member
it all depends on the amount of storage space you have.
Yes, the flat option is best but not always possible.

we use a horizontal system that is angled, think of a panel saw, with large caster wheels. this has 8 slots that are accessed from the end and allows quick checks to inventory status.
This way we can move as needed and lets us get close to the door for receiving substrates

here are some other ideas
https://signs101.com/threads/ideas-for-substrate-holder.69211/
 
Boudica

Boudica

Back to "educational purposes"
We have some vertical racks that I keep off-cuts in, and a couple of years ago we got some horizontal shelving from Uline - it's perfect for cases of foam core and coro.
 
H

Humble PM

If I'm lucky, one day I'll be a Eudyptula minor
Can't wait to do before / after pics with our new move in the spring. Moving into a basement, just under 1100sq ft, ramp access to loading dock, and going to cover the production area with a whole heap of these bad boys.
As soon as contractors are out of work area, time to build storage for 8x4's, well as homes for all the media (we offer far too many options on papers, but our main client base is photographers, artists, galleries...), and new 10x5' benches.
 
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