Rollers Ease Plywood Storage

Rollers Ease Plywood Storage

Before I installed these rollers, sliding plywood in and out of my storage rack used to wear me out. It also damaged the edges of the sheets. Now plywood sheets glide in and out.I cut the 2-1/2-in.-dia. rollers from 3/4-in. hard maple on my drill press using a fly cutter. You could also cut them on a bandsaw with a circle-cutting jig. I drilled out the centers to 17/32 in., so they would spin on the 1/2-in. hex-head bolts I use as spindles.My rack consists of four evenly spaced blocks attached to uprights and a 4-in.-wide x 6-ft.-long solid-wood backboard. The backboard is screwed tothe wall; the uprights fasten to a board mounted on the ceiling.

Before assembling the rack, I laid out and drilled holes in the uprights and backboard for the hex-head bolts. I counterbored the backboard’s holes for the 1/2-in. nuts that the 7-in.-long bolts screw into. After screwing the blocks to the backboard and installing the nuts, I screwed the assembly to the wall. Then I screwed each upright to the block on the floor and the board on the ceiling. Installing the rollers and their 1/2-in. washer spacers was the last step. I slid them onto the bolts before screwing the bolts into the backboard’s housed nuts.