subject: A Look At Cantilever Racking and Its Design [print this page] A Look At Cantilever Racking and Its Design
Anyone who has a limited space for storage, whether at home, in a business or even a warehouse will soon come to realize the importance of planning and the installation of shelving options, such as that of cantilever racking. Of course there are also a number of options to choose from when seeking such a storage solution, however cantilever racking can at times represent the most effective in load storage as compared to other options.
Essentially the cantilever racking system that is installed within any setting is based upon the supporting uprights, which are most often bolted to a supporting wall, upon these uprights the arms of the cantilever racking solution are fitted. However this is where an extremely important calculation comes into play. Within this important design and implementation of any cantilever racking option the actual load of the materials that will be shelved or racked there must be calculated in order to ensure that the cantilever racking is in fact strong enough to support these items.
When implementing the cantilever racking option one may also consider placing shelves on the supporting arms too, which is often the case when many smaller items need to be shelved or stored effectively, however most often the arms alone are used when storing and shelving items on such a racking option. The latter is often times utilized within the storage of long items, such as piping, lumber and so forth. It is vitally important to place any items, whether it is the stock, inventory or shelving itself correctly on the supporting arms in order to ensure that the weight distribution is correct and thereby maximize the storage load of the cantilever racking system itself. The most important aspect of the specific solution here is that the load deflection should be equally distributed to ensure the integrity of the storage option here.
In considering the supporting arms of a cantilever racking system the resultant load that will be stored there should be considered, in that the depth of the load should never exceed the length of the arm, and these should in fact be equal when considering the design and selection of the arms of this type of shelving and racking system. Storage of items on the arms requires the correct placement, and the depth of the items being stored must not exceed the length of the arm, and in the case of a load depth being considerably shorter than that of the arm itself then the load should be centered on the cantilever racking arms, and not placed on the edges of the arms, which is often a common mistake within the warehousing setting. The height of the supporting uprights requires specific calculation too, and the planned loads and items that will be stored there must be considered before design and implementation.
