<diatribe>
There was once a time when ready-made, sturdy, and durable baskets for storing LP records were easily procured from behind any gas station, corner store, or supermarket in the form of the lowly milk crate. In the days before 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and the newfangled MP3 players, vinyl was king and this was readily evident for a dairy industry that saw it's crates disappear in such large number they were bleeding money, prompting them to change the size of their crates to prevent a 12" LP from sitting happily in it.
Today, the LP has largely waned, but the shrunken milk crate remains the standard, frustrating record collectors searching for a strong but cheap storage crate for their records. Crates similar to those of the olden days can be had for cheap, but they are an inferior breed to their elders, being made of thin and flimsy plastic. When I went looking for a suitable alternative to the venerable milk crate, I found myself looking at a pile of discarded newspaper racks. Their grating would work well.
</diatribe>
Anyway, in this Instructable I'll show how to make steel mesh baskets suitable for keeping records in. I used plastic coated sections of an old news stand (the same stuff as from my bike rack), but "hardware cloth" is a very similar material that's available from hardware stores and if you can find some that's squares are 3" you can easily use that and paint it to your liking. These baskets should last a lifetime and can hold around 50 12" LPs without a problem.
There was once a time when ready-made, sturdy, and durable baskets for storing LP records were easily procured from behind any gas station, corner store, or supermarket in the form of the lowly milk crate. In the days before 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and the newfangled MP3 players, vinyl was king and this was readily evident for a dairy industry that saw it's crates disappear in such large number they were bleeding money, prompting them to change the size of their crates to prevent a 12" LP from sitting happily in it.
Today, the LP has largely waned, but the shrunken milk crate remains the standard, frustrating record collectors searching for a strong but cheap storage crate for their records. Crates similar to those of the olden days can be had for cheap, but they are an inferior breed to their elders, being made of thin and flimsy plastic. When I went looking for a suitable alternative to the venerable milk crate, I found myself looking at a pile of discarded newspaper racks. Their grating would work well.
</diatribe>
Anyway, in this Instructable I'll show how to make steel mesh baskets suitable for keeping records in. I used plastic coated sections of an old news stand (the same stuff as from my bike rack), but "hardware cloth" is a very similar material that's available from hardware stores and if you can find some that's squares are 3" you can easily use that and paint it to your liking. These baskets should last a lifetime and can hold around 50 12" LPs without a problem.
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Signing UpStep 1: Cut out metal grating
The first thing you need to do is cut the outline of your basket out of the metal grating. Using a grinder, hack saw, or in my case bolt cutters, cut a pattern similar to the one in the last photo below out in your material. The below pattern uses 3" squares, so you may need to modify it if your material is of different dimensions. The second and third photo show the donor panel and the grating freed from the frame.
After cutting out the outline, you'll probably want to file or grind the ends of the cuts smooth since they're probably going to be pointy or sharp.
After cutting out the outline, you'll probably want to file or grind the ends of the cuts smooth since they're probably going to be pointy or sharp.
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