Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The $20, 286 pot paint rack (wall mounted)

  Yep, you heard me.  $20 will get you this 4ft x 2.5ft wall hanging paint rack.  It is bottle agnostic, so you can store GW, Valejo, P3 and any old kinda paint bottle you want. No way, you say.  Yes, way, I say. The key here is laziness and letting someone else do all the hard work for you.  And here is how it's done...

You will need;

  • 1 - 2x4 sheet of pegboard (~$9.00 at Lowes or Home Depot)
  • 33 - 36" 5/16 Dowel rods (The job is way easier if you get 3/16" dowels rods, but they seemed a little too flimsy for me) ($0.59 at Michaels Hobby Supply or $0.79 at Ace Hardware)

Tools you will need;

  • Drill (easy) or Drill Press (easier) with 5/16" (or 3/16") drill bit
  • Table Saw (easy), band saw (easy), jig saw (harder), hand saw (damn! buy a band saw!)
  • Sweat
  • spray paint (optional)

Now, follow along with the pictures...




 The holes in the peg boards are on 1 inch centers.  For each side piece and the middle piece, you need three full holes.  The key here is to cut the pieces so that the holes line up and the strips are flush on at least one side (the back so it stays against the wall nicely)


  You can see here the first strip I cut out.  I centered the cut 1/2" between two sets of holes and let her rip.  This way the three strips line up nicely.


 Next, I marked each strip with an arrow to show the top and the back of the rack.  This way I could be sure about the holes lining up correctly.  I also used the 5/6" dowel rods, and here I have drilled out the hole in the peg board to 5/16" and stuck a dowel in to make further drilling easier.  Drilling on the drill press took me about 30 minutes for all the two rows of holes.

  Remember the marks I made?  When you drill the holes, only drill the holes on the two rows to the FRONT of the rack.  No need to drill the rear holes.  That extra room is just there to give the bottle a little room as they lay back.  I did drill out the very topmost rear hole and the odd, 33rd dowel goes into that hole.  I used that to hang the rack on the wall.


  Here are my dowel rods.  I used the 5'16" because they felt sturdier, and I like sturdy.  It meant I had to drill all the holes in the peg boards out to 5/16" but no big deal.  The 3/16" holes would have been drilled out as well, because they are slightly to small to thread the rods through.  At this point you have to chose the length of the dowel rods.  They come in 36" lengths, but I cut mine down to 30" to better fit the space I had for the paint rack.  Longer rods = more paint pots.

  I also sanded the raised edges off the peg board strips to make painting go a little easier.


  Now comes the fun part.  You get to thread the rods through the holes you drilled.  You can see how I did mine.  For the front row, count 2 holes down from the top, then thread a dowel rod skipping two holes each time.  Same for the middle row of holes, but one hole higher than the front.  You can see how it makes a 'ledge' for the paints to rest on, and kinda lay back.  Thread through each of the pegboard strips, trying to keep the middle strip centered.  You will have to fiddle and cajole the rods to line up, fit through the holes perfectly on the ends and keep the middle strip centered.  If you manage all that, it's beer time.

  When I was on the last 4 rods my wife mentioned something about vaseline to make it go in easier...  I threw something at her...


  The semi-finished piece.   All the rods are centered and in the correct holes.  I did not glue any of this because the fit was tight and the paint would keep anything from moving anyhow.


  Sooo, I used spray paint on mine.  Krylon gloss black to be exact.  I wasted 2 cans and part of a third.  Might have been easier/cheaper to brush it on.  Alot of wasted spray on this.


  And the close up.  All different brands of paint pots lean back and stay in place pretty nicely.  I hung mine by just screwing 4 4inch screws into studs at the top and hanging that 33rd dowel rod in the rear top row on that.  Seems to be holding up ok.

  Nobody says your version has to be 4ft by 3ft, you can use the general idea here to make any size you like.  Having the pegboard pre-drilled holes saves a gob of time and made this project take  about an hour of real work time and some paint drying time...  easy-peasy lemon-squeezey.

Enjoy!

13 comments:

  1. I came here because I mis-read it as "$20,286 paint rack". I'm a little disappointed not to find a gold leaf coated, pimp my ride style paint rack that actually paints your miniatures for you through a mind interface unit.

    But the $20 paint rack instructions are pretty cool too.

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    1. I just noticed that too. Misleading, a bit... :)

      If I made one for that kinda cash, it better spit out codexes and new races as well!! LOL

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  2. Saw a link to this off BOLS and for once I am glad I actually went to BOLS!

    This idea is amazing! Im going to give it a shot next week on a slightly smaller scale (space is tight in my hobby room).

    Now to go convince my Dad to let me in his workshop, lol!

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    1. Tell him it won't take too long, and certainly won't harm any tools! Really, there is not much to it ! Enjoy it!

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  3. This was the highlight of my day. I am so making one of these as soon as I'm free. I'll post a link unless I don't have time or I forget.

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    1. I know that feeling!! Good luck, and enjoy it!

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    2. i will be having some of that action great stuff there bill keep up the good work will be adding you to my blog roll wolvesinarms.blogspot.co.uk
      luke

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  4. Most welcome! Enjoy it, it really works well.

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  5. I shared this with the folks over at C'MON and of the painters there are pretty excited and impressed! Nice job once again!

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  6. Thanks, I appreciate it. I have done the same! (blogroll, I mean :)

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  7. 8 years later, this is still helping those in the hobby. Thanks!

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  8. TVs look boring sitting on a table of any kind. TV stands and tables are bulky and for all the “aesthetic appeal” they supposedly bring, they are champions of cluttering up your living room. Let’s be real, there is no functional reason for you to add another bulky piece of furniture to your living room- if you can avoid how to mount a tcl 65 inch tv? find here.

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  9. My husband has around 500 warhammer paint bottles. Let’s just say I really miss the space in the art room and I really hate it when my two year old gets ahold of said bottles. I believe you have just saved my husband’s marriage and my sanity!! I’m making one this weekend! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!❤️

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Please feel free to leave comments, positive or negative. I am a big boy, I can handle it. Thanks for your thoughts, always much appreciated.