My DVD Storage Solution (1 Viewer)

[Josh_Hill]

Thats beautiful man! Just beautiful!

 

[Jason Smalley]

I just want to say that writing the instructions on how to construct this is much more difficult than designing and building it in the first place. But, for those patient, brave souls, the "plans" can be found at the following locations: Link Removed. I must warn you though, it will take a while to load becuase there is about 930k of content (mostly pictures). I scaled them down on the page so if you select "Open Image in New Window" you will get a larger image. I did an alternate version with more compressed images, but I did not like the quality and it only saved about 250k. If necessary, I can make an archive available so you can download a folder to a local drive and access it directly off your computer. Email me if that is desired. Email me.
Good luck!

 

[Tony_Faville]

Jason-

Thanks for all your effort in getting this info out to us, you definitely went above and beyond for us. Will be building my rack in about 2 weeks.

Thanks again.

 

[Matt Stone]

Yah...thank you so much for the great info!

One more question...it might have all been address, but I missed it if it has...how much did all of the parts cost?

Thx man!

 

[DavidEC]

Jason-

Other than the cost of the set up...( Found cost being about $60)

How many DVD's does a single shelf hold and or the full unit?

Just a note... I had been thinking of the same basic idea but using metal electrical conduit, because I did not think that PVC pipe would hold up under the weight of the DVD's!

Also in your online plans (unless I missed it) you do not address the length of the support feet of the unit. But just guessing from photos that is an added 8 to 10" of pipe?

Now is this needed on both sides or do you allow the wall to become the upright support?

Also do you feel that 0.5" PVC could support the DVD's for a slightly smaller unit?

Also are your cut list piece count correct?? Such as the 10" pieces? I count 8 per upright X 3 = 24 yet you call out for 30 each??

By the way great plans!!!!!

 

[SHAWN SZILEZY]

Jason,
Very ingenious indeed! What's your major?

 

[Alex S]

Wow, great job Jason. !
Thanks for all the work.

 

[Jason Smalley]

The entire unit holds 620 Keep Cases. Each 36.25 inch shelve holds 62 Keep Cases.
I briefly entertained the idea of using 3/4 inch pipe, but found out that it was extremely impractical. I imagine that 1/2 inch would be completley out of the picture. The only way I see it working is if you work out some way to support it from the inside (such as a wooden down or some similar piece). Conduit could be interesting, I've never used it.
The support feet on my Double Wide unit are 9 inches in front and about 5 inches on the back. On the single unit, all four feet are 4.5 inches long (I was running out of extra pipe). While it is not as rock solid as the Double Wide, I have not fears about it tipping over. So there is a wide degree of freedom here. I haven't actually calculated the torques involved, but as long as your feet fall between 6-9 inches. Personally, I would err on the longer side.
I willing to believe I may have typed an incorrect number in the supports. Let me think. For the Double Wide there are six 10 inch vertical supports per shelf times four giving a grand total of 24. I guess I will have to double check the rest of the quantities. Sorry about that!
And finally, sorry to dissapoint, but my majors are Biology and Secondary Education. My minors are Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry.

 

[DavidEC]

And finally, sorry to dissapoint, but my majors are Biology and Secondary Education. My minors are Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry

Shoot! And I thought that you were a working 'Plumber' with the way that you chose your building supplies...

Hey with your majors... you might be better off learning how to be a plumber by trade.. at least around here they are better paid than people in the medical feilds.

--David:b

 

[JulioL]

Question: Can PVC pipe be painted somehow? Most of my furniture is black. White PVC would look a bit odd.

 

[Jeff_Krueger]

I believe you can also get PVC that is already black.

 

[BrianShort]

That's actually ABS pipe that is black... but I'm sure it would work fine.
for that rack. Very nice work My collection is rather small (less than 100 discs) so I dont need anything like that yet. Maybe in a few years
Brian

 

[Emery B]

I just got through building one of these from the TubeZ page and it is AWESOME...mad props go to Jason!!!
I would revise the numbers needed for building the single unit, however...I used the numbers on your page and didn't use much of it (14 1x10 pipes is too many..I only needed 11)I would update the original Raw Materials (copied from the web page: )...
Raw Materials:
14 - 1x10 PVC Pipes
20 - 1 inch PVC Crosses
16 - 1 inch PVC Tees
24 - 1 inch 90¬ƒ Elbows
6 - 1 inch End Caps
...with the quantities I actually used:
11 - 1x10 PVC Pipes
10 - 1 inch PVC crosses (3.5" crosses as you recommended)
14 - 1 inch PVC tees
24 - 1 inch 90 degree elbows
4 - 1 inch end caps (for 4 feet)
Obligatory pics:

My total cost for building one of these (including buying a PVC cutter from Home Depot and using my existing tape measure, marker and rubber mallet)?
HOME DEPOT PRICES:
PVC cutter = $12.95 (I bought the BrassCraft T002 Ratcheting Hose & PVC cutter--perfect for 1" PVC!)
11 1x10 1" PVC pipes at $ 1.55 each = $17.05 (although I bought 14, you will only need 11)
10 1" PVC crosses at $1.51 each = $15.10
24 1" 90 degree elbows at $0.39 each = $9.36
14 1" PVC tees at $0.49 each = $6.86
4 1" end caps at $0.41 each = $1.64 (got these at Lowe's...HD didn't have any )
TOTAL (not including tax...YMMV) $ 62.96
BTW, I cut the front feet to 6" and the rear feet to 5".
Great design!! Everyone go and build one of these!!

 

[Jason Smalley]

Emery,
I think it is so cool that you made one of the units! It is so weird though. I've never seen one outside of the context of my room, as a result, your unit looks much smaller to me. Those darn vaulted ceiling screw everything up!
Sorry about the wrong numbers there. As you may have guessed, I simply copied the numbers from the top and meant to modify the numbers. Obviously I forgot to. I threw it together rather quickly one Sunday afternoon. :b I have since changed them you as suggest. I hope you kept your receipts.
Besides the numbers screw-up, were the instructions easy enough to follow? I had a really difficult time writing them and I feel that I assume too much. To me the design is pretty self-explainatory, but I'm slightly biased. If you have any other suggestions that might help others, I would be more than happy to incoporate those changes into the page.
Enjoy your new rack!
Jason

 

[Keith_R]

Jason, that is an awesome design. I don't need anywhere near that kind of storage space yet (46 DVDs) but I am having lots of problem with my current shelf holding my DVDs properly, perhaps I may have to build a smaller modified version of your shelf design. Great work though.

 

[Emery B]

Jason,
I built the rack mostly by carefully studying the numerous photos you provided on the TubeZ page. It was from the pic of the single unit that I determined that I only needed 10 crosses, not 20. I still bought 14 pipes cuz I had no way to know how much pipe would actually be used. No biggie...maybe I'll expand it into a double unit one day!
The instructions themselves seemed a bit fragmented, but after reading and rereading them carefully I was able to extract the most important facts like the 3.5" cross, pipes go into the fittings only 1" hence the need for 2" couplers, and the exact lengths of the pieces necessary. It wouldn't hurt to maybe refine the page into a step-by-step checklist to make things simpler for those who haven't worked with PVC before (like me! ) I was thinking that maybe some PVC cement would be required, but I used none. The 2" coupler pieces fit very snugly indeed. A coupla taps on the mallet on loose joints should be all that is necessary to keep the thing together over time.
I didn't cut every piece out before assembly...I simply cut the biggest pieces that would be needed first (the 43.25" back shelf pieces) and then trimmed some 2" couplers with the leftover pipe from each 5' segment that Home Depot cut for me at the store (that's the only way I could get them home in my car anyways...no way I was getting a 10' length of pipe in there, much less 14! ) I then just cut each piece as needed and assembled as I went.
I too am surprised (though not displeased) at the final size of the finished unit. The whole thing stands about 54.5" tall from bottom to top. I would add the real world dimensions of the finished product to your page (and feel free to use my pics for scale--the doorways will help).
EDIT: One more correction--I count the number of 2" couplers needed at 24, not 32 for the single unit. I am not 100% sure though...I didn't cut em all at once; just cut em as I needed them. Might wanna double check by examining your own single unit. Also only 10 of the 36.25" shelves are needed as opposed to 20 obviously. The vertical support and back support numbers look accurate.
Thanks again for the inspiration!! My hand is still sore from squeezing the PVC cutter!!

 

[Emery B]

Funny thing, this weekend I made a window box for flowers out of my leftover PVC pipe (had to buy more tees and elbows though) and attached it to a wood railing outside our living room door (where a deck would go on a townhouse)...I'm thinking of all kinds of ways to make stuff out of it! Thanks again Jason for the inspiration!!
For fun, I'll take a pic of it later and post it here...

 

[Rob T]

I got a new shelving unit today

It looks like the one on the far left, but in cherry.

 

[Mark McAlister]

Do you think that if you shortened the width of the unit, that it might be able to handle the weight of VHS tapes?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Mark: You'd probably have no problems if you supported it on the inside with a basic wood dowel. My local Home Depot had 4 foot dowels (3/4" thick) for $1.53. I'd looked into them for lightsabers for a fan film:b.