Sizing Prongs.....?

[VaughnT]

It definitely pays to put your best foot forward, or in this case, to only publicize work that you've done your level best on.  

 

The customer that saw my hooks on another forum (and bought a slew of them) just dropped me an email and wants some racks to "hang up my rakes n shovels on the side of the shed".  Of course, I'm very happy with repeat business, but he's kind of blindsided me with the specs for the racks.

 

The email'd drawing shows just a flat back plate with three pairs of prongs coming off of it at an upward angle of a few degrees.  The only absolutes he's given is that the back plate is to have bolt holes drilled on both 16" and 24" centers so he can mount it to any of his walls.  And the prongs are supposed to be sixteen inches long.

 

From day one I've been thinking that he just wanted something to hang a few tools on, but now it looks like he's needing mass storage for an industrial/professional application.  While I don't have any problems building to this standard, I'm worried about the strength of the long forks under a load.  I was thinking one or two tools per fork, not a half-dozen or more.

 

I'm planning on a 50" back plate made from 2"x 3/16" stock.  I don't see extra thickness being necessary because it will be lag-screwed to the wall in at least three places by a pair of screws.  

 

Sizing the prongs, however, is giving me worries.  Initially, I thought either 3/8" or 1/2" hot rolled round stock, but now I'm not satisfied with that.  At 16" of length, that's a lot of room for a lot of tools to get stacked up.

 

Am I wrong for wanting thicker stock?  Worrying too much?  Would thick-walled pipe be a better option?

[matto]

3/8" or 1/2" bar stock will be just fine.

[dognose]

1/4" back plate won't hurt you, always better to over engineer than have regrets later. Just out of curiosity, how will the prongs be fastened to the plate? Mortise and tenon would be happier with the thicker stock and would probably look better as well.

[John B]

You could use flat stock instead of round, would give more x section at the weld/tenon

[DSW]

If you are worried about bending, go with flat stock turned the tall way.  Also if you want it to be a bit more decorative, you can always taper the stock, so it's tall at the wall, and narrow at the end.

[bigfootnampa]

As I always advise... SAMPLES, Samples, samples!!!!  You could mock up a test in a half hour!  Load it with tools and see for yourself!!!!

[VaughnT]

I hadn't thought of using flat stock stood up.  That would definitely give me the strength on the vertical plane....

 

The customer loves the "old fashioned" look and doesn't want to buy brand new hangers because they look new.  Of course, he's also balked at the ballpark price I quoted him, apparently thinking that 36 feet of steel and a couple hours of my time can be had for pennies.  "I wouldn't mind you using rebar if it will bring the price down."

 

If the project goes through, I'll definitely be doing a simple weld to join the forks to the back plate/s.   

[rthibeau]

if rebar is okay.......than 5/8" would be dandy for the prongs........drill holes in the flat bar back piece to fit the rebar prongs and plug weld from the back side......use a ball pein hammer to texture the back bar and after clean up will look great........texture of rebar and textured back plate. My two cents...... :)