Greatings all. I have a bit of a complex situation, which has led to to this forum. I will try and give as much background info as I can.
I am presently building a shelving unit in my garage. The unit is basically a series of cleats on the wall, spaced every 3.5" starting at the celing and going down the wall.
Upon these "cleats" I will hand shelving units ranging in depth from 12-15 inches. My brackets are rated at 250 lbs each, but take that with a grain of salt.
I would like to build a rolling library ladder to access the top shelves. A library ladder is a ladder that rolls side to side on locked casters, and is then attached in some way at the top. In this case, I plan to use some black pipe and the ladder will have rollers at the top. I have attached a rough sketchup picture. In that picture I have the ladder wheels rolling in a track, but I have done some more thinking and would really love to have to roll on a pipe instead, but you can get the point of the way things will work.
The ladder is 10 ft tall. The ladder will be at ~70 degrees. My questions is, as I climb the ladder, what is the maximum downward force that the ladder will exert on the edge of the sehlf (ie the downward cantilever force). I need to have a rough idea so I know if my shelves can take the force. I don't feel comfortable "just trying it out" for fear of death or hospitalization.
To echo the statements made previously in this forum, "Why reinvent the wheel?"
There are companies out there that currently offer a solution to what you are trying do accomplish.
It is against forum policy to send you directly to the manufacturer's website, but use your favorite search engine and look up "telephone - rolling ladders" and check out any listings that include the name "Putnam." They have detailed drawings on their website to assist you.
Ron
The reason is simple. Those solutions are several hundered dollars, and the material cost is much, much less. Also, none of the solutions (there are only 2 US companies that make such products) allow you to mount the pole hardware to a shelf. In most cases, the bar hardware is mounted to the wall and the "books" are recessed in the wall. This is sort of a different application. Besides, if we all settled for things designed by someone else, life would be utterly borring.
Why not sacrifice a tiny bit of shelf height for one shelf and have the "legs" on the top of the ladder extend to the wall. Have the pipe bolted to the wall and "V" groove wheels rolling left to right on it. That way any and all load is taken against the wall.
The "legs" can angle-braced back to the ladder and you can have a hook section at th end to wrap around the top third of the pipe to prevent the ladder running off the pipe.
Lemme try a rough sketch. Back in a minute.
Here ya go...
Last edited by PinkertonD; 07-02-2012 at 06:41 PM.
A very interesting thought Pinkerton. I have spent litterally hours thinking about how to best complete this project and your idea certainly has merit. My dad recommended using garage door track (2") and I could bolt that directly to the wall and then I could use garage door rollers to sit in the track. Those garage door rollers would extend from the top of the ladder platform (refering to your top picture).
The only down side to this setup is the ladder would not be easily removable and stowed away when not in use.
I think I will have to experiment and brainstorm a bit more.
Last edited by Rowanze; 07-02-2012 at 08:31 PM.
OR . . if you take the second sketch by PinkertonD, rotate the wheels so the plate holding the wheels is at the bottom, you could then easily go up from your pipe top rail with cables or fixed braces to the trusses or ceiling joists of the garage. The ladder would then not even need attachment to the shelf, only at the far ends to eliminate any swing of the pipe. Hopefully, your floor does not slope toward the garage doors as mine does!!
Just leave the end of the pipe open so the ladder can be run off one end. Have a loose bolt that drops through a hole in the end of the pipe so the ladder can't be removed accidentally with someone on it.
Using door tracks could be tricky as they are only designed for loading vertically. Any angular loads would probably lead to binding and a very frustrating time sliding the ladder along especially if someone was standing on it.
Try a google on this...
diy rolling ladder
Lotsa good ideas there.
A well-made garage floor should do exactly that. Water flowing downhill and all ...Originally Posted by allouissious
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