How the rack goes together
The designer models one joint pattern. Front and back are matching frames. Lip supports run the depth of the rack and give the bin lip something to sit on. This page is that pattern in build order. Cut lengths come from your cut list, not from this article.
Lumber, as the tool assumes it
- Buy full-length 8 ft boards, 96 inches. A precut stud is about 92⅝ inches and will come up short of the packing math.
- A “2×4” is actually about 1½ by 3½ inches. Measure a board before you buy a stack. The frames use that 1½ inch face toward the person sliding a bin in. The 3½ inch dimension runs front to back on the frame members.
- Top and bottom rails are therefore only 1½ inches tall. Uprights use the same orientation.
- Any finished piece longer than 96 inches is called out in the designer. That piece needs a splice or a longer board. The tool does not design the splice.
- Default cleats are also 2×4s, turned the other way: the 3½ inch face is vertical, and 1½ inches sticks into the bay. The lip sits on the top of that cleat. You can switch cleat stock in the designer to a 2×3, a 1×2, or a 2×2 ripped from a 2×4. The cut list follows that choice. Ripped 2×2s are not a separate purchase. They come out of the 2×4 count.
The two frames
There is a front frame and a back frame. Each one has:
- one top rail and one bottom rail, running the full outer width;
- one upright per bay boundary. That is columns + 1 uprights. Two bins across means three uprights on the front and three on the back.
Uprights stand between the rails. They do not run past the rails and lap over the outside. The rail is the full width. The upright is cut to the inside height. The cut list names these parts: front upright, back upright, front top rail, front bottom rail, back top rail, back bottom rail. Front and back mates are the same length.
Uprights are evenly spaced. The opening between them is the bay. On an intermediate upright, the next bay starts on the other side of the same 1½ inch post.
Cleats, and how a bin sits
Each bay has a left cleat and a right cleat at every row. The count is rows × columns × 2. An outer upright gets a cleat on its inner face only. An upright between two bays gets a cleat on each face, one into each bay.
Each cleat runs the full outer depth of the rack, from the front face of the front upright to the back face of the back upright, so both ends have wood to screw into. The cut list calls these lip supports.
The bin does not rest on a shelf under its bottom. The body passes between the inner edges of the two cleats. The lips land on top of the cleats. Depth slack, if you set any, leaves equal space in front of the bin and behind it.
“Show pieces” in the cut list draws pencil marks where another part meets that part. Those marks are the layout for uprights on a rail and for where a cleat crosses an upright. Cut the marks from the list for the rack you are actually building. A different bin count moves them.
Screws
The materials list counts two screws per joint. A joint is either an upright end against a rail, or one end of a cleat against an upright. Every cleat has two of those end joints, front and back. The designer does not specify screw gauge or length. Use a wood screw that enters the second piece solidly and does not blow out the far face. Predrill if the end of a 2×4 starts to split.
The equipment list in the designer is a miter saw or circular saw, a table saw (required if you rip cleats, optional otherwise), a tape, a pencil, a rafter square, and a drill/driver.
A build order that matches the joints
- Set the bin and the layout in the designer. Read every warning. If a piece is over 96 inches, stop and change the layout or plan a splice before you shop.
- Buy the board count in Materials, not a guess from the finished lengths. The count includes kerf and the wastage percent. Wastage is extra stock, not a second structural system.
- Cut the parts. Set your kerf in the tool to the blade you are using before you trust how the pieces pack onto each board.
- Build the front frame flat on the floor. Bottom rail down, uprights between the rails on the pencil marks, top rail on. Square it. Equal diagonals are the check. Two screws at each upright end.
- Build the back frame the same way.
- Stand the frames parallel. Outer face of the front to outer face of the back should match the rack depth in Dimensions.
- Install lip supports, bottom row first, while you can still reach. For each bay, one cleat on the inner face of the left upright and one on the inner face of the right upright. Wide face vertical, seat on top. Each cleat screws to the front upright and the back upright.
- Set one empty bin in a bay before you drive every remaining screw home and before you fill the rack. The body should pass between the cleats. The lips should sit down on them and not hit the uprights. If it binds, recheck the tape and the slack. Forcing it racks the frame.
After it stands
The model stops at the wood skeleton. It has no back panel, no feet, and no ledger to a wall. A tall rack, or a rack with weight in the upper rows, can tip when a bin is pulled. Fastening it to wall studs is separate hardware the cut list does not include. A floor that is out of level twists the bays. Shim only if you understand that shims are not what the screw count assumed, and anchor after the bin test-fit.
The designer also shows a rough weight for the lumber you buy, waste included, and a finished-rack weight with the dimensions. Those are wood estimates. They do not include the bins or what you put in the bins.
Measure first if you have not: how to measure a bin.