Wire Shelf

See also bin

Important 2019 update: I mostly standardized on Seville. However, around 2019 Seville changed its manufacturing from China to Taiwan. Unfortunately, the quality seems to have gone down. Hopefully this is a temporary set back as things are re-tooled, but I may have to revoke my recommendation for them. I will give Seville credit though as they responded to my concerns and seemed genuinely interested in resolving the issues. The issues are:

• Shelves arriving damaged / insufficient packing
• Sleeves are slipping
• Changed post slot scheme (ex: bottom slot eliminated). They are no longer compatible with my existing scheme

Vendor	Post thread	Post wall thickness	Wire thickness	Post markings	Notes
Alera	3/8-16 x 1-1/2
Costco	3/8-16	1.4 mm		5th bottom double notch	Misc brands. All the same?
shelving.com	1/2-12
Metro
Quantum
Seville				1st bottom double notch
ULINE		1.4 mm		2/4 numbered	Verified 1.4 mm Threaded? Castors actually snap in

FIXME : need to clarify threading. Some are intrinsic, others are inserts (inner + outer thread)

Thread?

• Alera: 3/8" x 1-1/2". TPI?
• 3/8-16 sounds like is the standard thread
• Shelving.com: 1/2-12
  • [1]
• Verify uline threading before buying more

General tips

If an insert slips, it will usually partially shear the notch, making it unsuitable for heavy load bearing. Consider replacing it or at least inspect it

If you are having trouble with inserts slipping, support them from the bottom as you gently hammer the shelf down. Once its on a bit, the insert shouldn't slip. Of course, be careful not to pinch your finger

Assembly: I generlaly find it easist to assemble the first shelf horizontally to insert the poles. I lightly tap them in and then stand it vertically to fully set them. I setup subsequent levels by snapping in all four inserts and then gently lowering the shelf down, being careful not to knock them out of place. All four are lightly tapped in, checking for slips. If they look good I fully set all four

Seville makes pre-cut plastic shelving covers

U-Line makes metal inserts intended for ESD applications. These presumably are stronger than the plastic ones (although a lot mor eexpensive)

U-line shelves have bigger wheels and locks on all four of them (other brands typically only 2/4 wheels lock)

You can get extenders to make taller shelves (but be careful of making it unstable)

Wheels may unscrew over time. Consider check them, especially if you roll them around a lot. This may cause them to fail in high load applications. Note: U-Line wheels snap in, so they do not have this failure mode

Attach rackmount PDUs by screwing t-slot to the cross supports

Metro sells clips to hang things

Avoid mixing sleeves from different vendors within a shelf level, and especially don't pair them on a single pole

Component

Liner

60 x 24" liner study

Vendor	Model	Description	Size	Material	Link	Notes
Seville		Seville Classics 2 Individual Smoke Gray Fitted Shelf Liners, Designed to Fit 24” x 60“ Wire Shelves
		Alera ALESW59SL4824 Shelf Liners For Wire Shelving, Clear Plastic, 48w x 24d (Pack of 4)
		AKRO-MILS AW2460LINER - Clear Shelf Liner for 24-inch X 60-inch Chrome Wire Shelf - Pack of 4

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EUBA582/

• Seville Classics 2 Individual Smoke Gray Fitted Shelf Liners, Designed to Fit 24" x 60" Wire Shelves
• Ordered these before
• Was okay, although would like stiffer, like I've seen on metro shelves
• polypropylene
• 0.02" (0.5 mm) thick

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EUBA582/

• Alera ALESW59SL4824 Shelf Liners For Wire Shelving, Clear Plastic, 48w x 24d (Pack of 4)
• Thickness?
• Material: clear plastic
• Looks like it might be textured or better grip

https://www.amazon.com/Akro-Mils-AW1236LINER-12-Inch-36-Inch-Chrome/dp/B00L4ECVZS/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1515825400&sr=8-13&keywords=wire%2Bshelf%2Bliner&th=1

Sleeve

Called:

• Metro: "Metro Industrial Shelf Sleeve" (ref)
• Another source called it "Plastic split sleeve"
• U-Line: shelf support

Image outer	Image inner	Type	Material	Inner ridges	Outer notches	Center mark	Arrow	Notes
		P1	Plastic	2	1	Sprue, sunken	Thick	U-Line
		P2	Plastic	1	0	Sprue, small,	Thin
		P3	Plastic	1	1	Eject, deep	Thick	IIRC these are Seville
		P4	Plastic	1	1	Eject, shallow	Thick
		P5	Plastic	2	1	Sprue, eject	Thick
		M1	Metal	1	1 for clip		None	Requires external clip

"Type" is an arbitrarily name I came up

The two ridge ones are nice. Who makes these? At first I thought it was Seville, but I recently ordered some sleeves as well as got some shelving and confirmed neither had dual ridge. Maybe they did originally but don't now? Strong evidence for them having dual ring is that their posts have one more level than other brands, which would be needed if you had two ridges.

Aha! Its U-Line. Seville page doesn't show the two notch, but U-Line page does

Outer notches are presumably for helping locate pole notches. IIRC one had two outer notches but now I can't find this

Extender

[2]

• 3/4" Screw In Wire Shelving Post Inserts
• If SOURCE is equal to OTHER then the Post Insert is made for a 1” post with a 1.2mm post thickness.
• If SOURCE is equal to COSTCO then the Post Insert is made for a 1” post with a 1.4mm post thickness.

[3]

• Think 3/8

[4]

• 1/2-12

ULINE

• How to make work?
• Maybe should add on using a different, safer brand

Vendor

Costco

Standard issue: low cost, good quality, fits the bins good. Biggest disadvantage: only one size

Did the plastic retainers switch to only one groove or are those from the quantum unit?

U-LINE

Result:

• More expensive than Costco
  • XXX: did I check if they have a low cost "standard issue" model?
• Similar quality
• Best options: sizes, ESD, carts, etc

Metro

Their high price has, unfortunately, generally scared me away. However, I believe these are the "original" wire shelving brand and are likely high quality

Quantum

Much lower quality than Costco or u-line

• Light duty
• No casters
• Only 4 shelves per set (vs 6) despite more expensive
• Supplied the one notch retainers?
  • Must take care to click them properly on marker levels (2 close notches)
  • Don't hold as well

[5]

• Also 70U
• 22
• 22
• 24
• 2 (bottom)

Seville

Standard issue lab bench / storage

Seville Classics 5-Tier UltraZinc NSF Steel Wire Shelving /w Wheels, 24" D x 60" W x 72" H

1-Inch Slip Sleeves Plastic Slip Covers (8 Pairs / for 2 shelves)

72" high pole pair

Wheels

Seville vs Costco

They look similar at first glance but have some important spacing differences Probably best not to mix these, but you probably can as long as you observe the different notching scheme.

Item	Costco	Seville
Castor production mark	Wheel support	Wheel itself
Castor bearing shield color	Light blue	Dark blue
Castor attachment	Spacer nut	Direct screw
Pole insert notches	1	2	2 should grip better
Pole notching	40 notches	41 notches (per extra grip)
Pole double notch spacing	Narrower	Wider
First double notch	1st bottom	5th bottom	Costco 1st notch equivilent to Seville 2nd notch

Bin storage

If you just need to store short (6") and tall bins (8"), Costco (always 48 x 18") is lowest price for good quality shelving. However, if you also want to use shelving as workspace and want to store large bins (12"), reccomend using 60 x 24", such as made by Seville. U-Line quality is also good (possibly better), but much more expensive and Seville is good enough for most things.

Bin terminology:

• Short bin: 16-1/2 x 10-7/8 x 6" (ex: Akro-Mills 33166GREY)
• Tall bin: 16-1/2 x 10-7/8 x 8" (ex: Akro-Mills 33168GREY)
• Large bin: 20 x 15 x 12” (ex: quantum DG93120)

Shelf terminology:

• Large shelf: 48w x 18d x 72h" (ie Costco)
• Small shelf: 60w x 24d x 72h" (ie Seville)

Height combinations:

• 14 unit pitch
• * 2x short bin high
  • 1x tall bin high (with space wasted)
  • 1x large bin high
• 20 unit pitch
  • 3x short bin high
  • 2x tall bin high (with some space wasted)
• Top stacking no more than
  • 3 short bins
    • Typically 2
    • Usually not though as top is reserved for larger objects
  • 2 tall bins
  • 2 large bins

Width combinations:

• 48" width
  • 4 standard bins across
  • 3 large bins across on top with some overhang
  • 2 large bins across plus 1 standard bin fits tightly, but only if lid removed
• 60" width
  • 5 standard bins across
  • 3 large bins across

Lab bench, normal

• Use large shelf
• Stackup
• 8
• 33
• 14
• 14
• 2 (btm)
• Fits (large shelf):
• Workspace level, 6 large bins, , 20 small bins
• Workspace level, 40 small bins,

Lab bench, dense

• Use large shelf
• Experiment to see if I could tolerate the higher and smaller workspace in exchange for more storage
• Result: works okay as standing desk (which is what I usually do anyway). Didn't feel it too cramped
• Stackup
• 8
• 33
• 20
• 20
• 2 (btm)

Lab bench, legroom

• Like above, but omit the second shelf (ie the first that is not the bottom)
• I use this on my soldering workbench as well as one general sitting workbench

Dense bin storage

• Stackup
• 14
• 14
• 20
• 20
• 2 (btm)
• Fits:
• Small shelf: 52 small bins (4 * (3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 3))
• Large shelf: 65 small bins (5 * (3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 3))
• Note: skips bottom rung. Wastes a little space but makes easier to reach low items and keeps spacing more consistent

Closet short unit

• Cut 10U off for closet (60 U)
• Stackup
• 14
• 14
• 14
• 16
• 2 (btm)

Following were various proposals for storing bulk metal and other material. I played around with arrangement a little, I don't recall which I settled on

Material storage 1

• NOTE: 11 shelves required w/ only 6 shelves standard issue
• Stackup
• 4
• 4
• 12 (irregular material)
• 14
• 14
• 4
• 4
• 4
• 4
• 4
• 2 (btm)

Material storage 2

• NOTE: 10 shelves required w/ only 6 shelves standard issue
• Stackup
• 5
• 5
• 10 (irregular material)
• 14
• 14
• 5
• 5
• 5
• 5
• 2 (btm)

Material storage 3

• Stackup
• 7
• 12
• 14
• 14
• 7
• 7
• 7
• 2 (btm)

Material storage 4

• Stackup
• 20
• 14
• 6
• 7
• 7
• 7
• 7
• 2 (btm)

JM

Basically how I personally use these

As stated earlier, I started out using Costco (always 48 x 18") shelving but moved to Seville 60 x 24" depth because:

• Allows me to use one level as workspace. 18" felt too cramped
• Fits 3 large bins. Depth aside, 48" can't easily fit three lidless bins, while 60" comfortably fits them with lids

For microcopes I tried to use larger U-Line shelving because I thought I needed more space and they appeared to be more sturdy. However, I've sense realized 24" depth really is enough in practice and I did in fact manage to damage the last shelving unit with k2scope. I suspect 24" depth would be more reinforced and in fact would fit the microscope after all.

For bulk raw material storage (ie things like aluminum billet, t-slot, etc) I'm currently using Costco shelving. Since its narrower I think it probably handles the weight better, and generally I prefer a smaller area due to the clutter of misc scrap pieces. Finally, I have a lot of Costco shelving surplus after they were displaced by 24" shelving, so it practically works out.

Units I've used:

Vendor	Model	Link	Width	Depth	Height	Type	Notes
Costco	925395		48	18	72	Shelf	Storage Doesn't handle large bins well Sample images
Seville	SHE24605Z	Link	60	24	72	Shelf	Bench / storage Can hold 3x large bin "Seville Classics 5-Tier UltraZinc NSF Steel Wire Shelving /w Wheels, 24" D x 60" W x 72" H"
U-Line	H-1521	Link	60	24	41	Cart	Capacitor "Heavy-Duty Wire Cart - 60 x 24 x 41" Used with ESD kit (link) to keep grounded
U-Line	H-2949-34C	Link	48	36	34	Shelf	Microscope Added supports (link)
Sandusky	MWS482438	Link	48	24	38	Cart	General use "Sandusky MWS482438 Adjustable Wire Shelf Cart with Pull Handle, 800 lbs Maximum Capacity, 48" Width x 38" Height x 24" Depth, Chrome" Hard to assemble. Are other brands better?