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INTRODUCTION
It is always a good idea to have bulk food supplies available in case of an emergency. There are a couple challenges to keeping a well stocked emergency food supply. One challenge is how to minimize the space required to store the food supplies. Another challange is how to turn over your emergency food supply. Ideally you want to eat the oldest items and replace them with new items. Without a good strategy for turning over your food supply you could (and probably will) end up with a lot of expired food.
Canned goods make good emergency food supplies. The shelf life of most can goods is in excess of a year and most can goods can be eaten cold. There are a couple issues with storing can goods. First, most commercially available metal or plastic shelving has a shelf space of 12-18". Even stacking cans 2 high leaves a lot of unusable space above the cans, and cans stacked 2 high are unstable without some base material (such as cardboard) between them. Bumping the shelving can cause cans to fall and become damaged, significantly shorting the can's shelf life. Another issue is turning over your can stock. Ideally you would use the oldest cans and replace them with new cans. Minimizing the unusable space above the cans makes it a pain to get at the oldest cans which typically end up at the back of the shelf when fresh stock is place in the front.
This is where the gravity fed can FIFO (First In First Out) helps. The can FIFO works by dropping new cans in the top which work their way to the bottom (via gravity) as the oldest cans are pulled out the bottom. There are many different commercially available can FIFOs typically made of plastic or plastic coated wires. I found the commercially available can FIFOs to be very cheep in construction and some what expensive at $1 or more per can stored. Additionally, I did not find any FIFO can storage systems that would allow the area above the cans to be used without iminent collapse of the cheep plastic. Thus, I decide to make my own.
NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR and THIS PROJECT
I am not a wood worker by trade or by hobby. I have hacked many functional items from wood, but do not have extensive wood working tools or training. I would be very interested to hear how this project could be made better from individuals with more wood working experience. Ultimately, the can FIFO presented here, though not a work of art, is very strong, functional and can be made with some simple wood working tools.
DISCLAIMER
This project requires the use of tools. You can hurt yourself with tools if not used correctly. By attempting this project you are taking sole responsibility of your actions. The author holds no responsibility for any positive or negative consequences of your actions if you attempt this Instructable. Use your head, if something does not seem safe DON'T DO IT! If you fail to use your head and things go bad, then man up and accept responsibility for your actions. I HATE HATE HATE that I even need a disclaimer but we live in a litigious society for better or worse (mostly worst IMHO).
INTRODUCTION
It is always a good idea to have bulk food supplies available in case of an emergency. There are a couple challenges to keeping a well stocked emergency food supply. One challenge is how to minimize the space required to store the food supplies. Another challange is how to turn over your emergency food supply. Ideally you want to eat the oldest items and replace them with new items. Without a good strategy for turning over your food supply you could (and probably will) end up with a lot of expired food.
Canned goods make good emergency food supplies. The shelf life of most can goods is in excess of a year and most can goods can be eaten cold. There are a couple issues with storing can goods. First, most commercially available metal or plastic shelving has a shelf space of 12-18". Even stacking cans 2 high leaves a lot of unusable space above the cans, and cans stacked 2 high are unstable without some base material (such as cardboard) between them. Bumping the shelving can cause cans to fall and become damaged, significantly shorting the can's shelf life. Another issue is turning over your can stock. Ideally you would use the oldest cans and replace them with new cans. Minimizing the unusable space above the cans makes it a pain to get at the oldest cans which typically end up at the back of the shelf when fresh stock is place in the front.
This is where the gravity fed can FIFO (First In First Out) helps. The can FIFO works by dropping new cans in the top which work their way to the bottom (via gravity) as the oldest cans are pulled out the bottom. There are many different commercially available can FIFOs typically made of plastic or plastic coated wires. I found the commercially available can FIFOs to be very cheep in construction and some what expensive at $1 or more per can stored. Additionally, I did not find any FIFO can storage systems that would allow the area above the cans to be used without iminent collapse of the cheep plastic. Thus, I decide to make my own.
NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR and THIS PROJECT
I am not a wood worker by trade or by hobby. I have hacked many functional items from wood, but do not have extensive wood working tools or training. I would be very interested to hear how this project could be made better from individuals with more wood working experience. Ultimately, the can FIFO presented here, though not a work of art, is very strong, functional and can be made with some simple wood working tools.
DISCLAIMER
This project requires the use of tools. You can hurt yourself with tools if not used correctly. By attempting this project you are taking sole responsibility of your actions. The author holds no responsibility for any positive or negative consequences of your actions if you attempt this Instructable. Use your head, if something does not seem safe DON'T DO IT! If you fail to use your head and things go bad, then man up and accept responsibility for your actions. I HATE HATE HATE that I even need a disclaimer but we live in a litigious society for better or worse (mostly worst IMHO).
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MATERIALS
One 4'x8' sheet of 3/8" or 11/32" finished plywood
Small 9/16" nails or staple gun with small brads (see pic above)
4d finishing nails
Wood Glue
TOOLS
Pencil
Tape measure
Square
Hammer
Drill
1/8" and 3/8" drill bits
Reciprocating saw
Circular Saw (optional)
Polyurethane (Spray or brush)
COMMENTS
Make sure the plywood surface is sanded and smooth. A rough surface and knot holes may keep cans from rolling smoothly causing them to jam rather than roll. I purchased a 4' x 8' sheet of "Finished" birch plywood for less than $20. It was more than double the cost of the cheapest grade 3/8" plywood, but I think it was worth the extra cost.
One 4'x8' sheet of 3/8" or 11/32" finished plywood
Small 9/16" nails or staple gun with small brads (see pic above)
4d finishing nails
Wood Glue
TOOLS
Pencil
Tape measure
Square
Hammer
Drill
1/8" and 3/8" drill bits
Reciprocating saw
Circular Saw (optional)
Polyurethane (Spray or brush)
COMMENTS
Make sure the plywood surface is sanded and smooth. A rough surface and knot holes may keep cans from rolling smoothly causing them to jam rather than roll. I purchased a 4' x 8' sheet of "Finished" birch plywood for less than $20. It was more than double the cost of the cheapest grade 3/8" plywood, but I think it was worth the extra cost.
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Honey do List. : )
You said you aren't a pro woodworker but your work is excellent. I know what I'm doing tonight in my shop.
I'll paint mine instead of poly but other than that, I'm copying your design.
Again Great Job, now it's off to the shop to see what I can do with this idea.
Dan
P.S. a plunge router and table saw will make short work of the cuts.
I like how you put the poly on before assembling. That's a a great idea for this particular project. The only thing I will probably do different is use screws instead of nails (along with glue still, of course).
Very nicely done though, thanks for posting this!
i could not find drywall screws smaller than 1-1/8", so I resorted to put them in on an angle. Meanwhile, a friend was driving in 3" screws until flush, and then taking a hammer to the protruding tip. They broke off cleanly.
Now if I need a 3/4" wood screw, I'll nick a drywall screw and snap it off in the vice. You have to pre-drill the holes in this case without a point, but it works out otherwise OK.
Nails, on the other hand will bend, rather than break off cleanly due to the lack of hardness if you try to shorten them this way.
The other problem is that they don't seem to have the deep and aggressive thread profile that I prefer in my drywall/decking screws. It's a small picture though.
If you had a router table or an angle-cut sled for a table saw and a dado stack, you could make the plywood joints using dadoes instead of the thru-joints you used. But with 3/8" plywood that doesn't give much room for the dadoes, so you'd have to move up to 3/4" ply, which would double the cost.
Ring-shank nails might be a good option too. They'll bite more into the wood than finish nails and shouldn't require as large a pre-drill hole as screws.
Also, if you have a decent sander, you can buy the unfinished plywood and save yourself a couple bucks. Just sand the parts where the cans would contact. If it were me I probably wouldn't put polyurethane on it, simply because poly is to help protect the wood from abuse and make it look "prettier," both of which aren't really concerns with this project IMO.
This isn't something that needs to be pretty - it sits in a pantry. It just needs to work, and work when you need it most. I think you've accomplished that, even without advanced woodworking knowledge. Kudos.
Thanks.
*Clang! Clang!*