RACKMAN PALLET RACKING SOLUTIONS
Rackman offers Pallet racking solutions that fit the needs and physical requirement of your business. Designing Pallet racks can be a complicated process. It becomes essential to ascertain the physical limitations and usage of these racks before chalking out a design.
A detailed study of the physical environment, the equipment used for moving and storing, size of the pallets, type of pallets, storage products, etc., provides the basis for pallet rack design. There are three basic components that make up the basic frame namely; the columns, the struts and the load beams. The columns and struts are fabricated together to form the upright, hence as a user, there will be only two basic components – the upright and the load beams!
DETERMINING THE LENGTH OF LOAD BEAMS
Every pallet will be resting on two load beams, therefore while creating the pallet rack design, it becomes imperative to know the kind of fork lift trucks that are or will be in use.
When using a Counter Balanced Pallet Truck, the following needs to be considered for design;
- 1. The maximum width of the load or pallet (imperative to choose the larger of the two)
- 2. The quantity of load between the upright frames
- 3. Standard allowance for about 4” between each load and 3” between the loads and the upright frame
In the case of an Outrigger Pallet Truck it becomes necessary to design the width that matches the load or the outrigger whichever is larger. The other considerations can be the same
DETERMINING THE BEAM CAPACITY
In lieu of offering customized solutions to clients, the beam capacity from Don Racks is based on weight of the load, number of pallets that will be used and type of pallet to be used (metallic, wooden or plastic).
BEAM CAPACITY = LOAD WEIGHT X NUMBER OF PALLETS
The beam capacity thus derived is used to determine the type of beam. For instance, single level pallet racks may require less beam capacity and vice versa in the case of multi level systems.
DESIGNING FRAMES
Depth – The depth of frames needs to be at least 6” lesser than that of the dimension of the pallet stringer (3” increments are recommended)
ROW SPACER LENGTH = (NO. OF PALLETS (OR) LOAD OVERHANG X 2) + 6” (APPROX)
To ascertain the ‘wall fix length’ adding 6” to the load overhang or pallet will do.
Upright Height – While determining the upright height of the frame, it is important to consider the following;
- 1. From the floor level, consider the height of the pallet and load to the height of the beam
- 2. Clearance leverage to be provided for bottom of the beam and top of the load
- 3. Thickness of the support beam
- 4. Number of shelves and levels
Capacity – The frame capacity is based on the quantity of load that is supported by the shelf beams, the necessary vertical shelf spacing, the number of levels on the bay and the number of bays per row.