Hi, welcome to my first instructable.

I'd like to show you how to make a simple wall mounted timber/storage rack that's simple, scale-able and easily configurable. This design can be made as small or large as you like. The best thing about it is it's made from scrap timber and uses standard sizes.

What I've made is only a small rack to fit in a specific location. However you could make this as large as you like and use 90x45's if you prefer. This rack was also a temporary thing (when I say temporary, it'll be there 12 months or more) until I can move the other material from under it. However making something like this now, you can use and move it to another location later.

What You'll Need:

Tools:

Timber Saw (Hand Saw, Drop Saw, Bench Saw)
Drill and various drill bits
Drill or ratchet screw driver
A string line and level (not necessary but handy)

Materials:

Structural timbers (70x35 or larger depending on how much weight you want your rack to hold) for rack slots and rack supports
Structural Plywood (I used 12mm, you can use larger or lighter depending on the weight)
Construction adhesive (Selleys Liquid nails or similar)
Screws (for rack supports)
Large screws or lag bolts to hold rack to wall

Notes and a word of warning: Realistically, I know the rack can handle quite a lot of load (how much? Not sure). The construction method and the choice of materials is really up to the individual making this. I'd recommend over engineering than under. That being said I'm not liable for how you use these instructions. And no, it probably won't hold a vehicle up!

Step 1: Make a Jig

Because you'll be making a few of these, I'd recommend to make a jig for the placement of the parts so it's repeatable. Of course depending on what timbers you use, what default spacing's you'd like will determine how your jig is set out. And how big your jig is depends on how big your rack will be. I've only made this one with three positions and only a fairly small rack to fit in a specific location.

The one above, I've used 70x35 as the rack supports (recycled off the old saw bench) and these are attached to a piece or scrap MDF. There's a stop piece at the top to align everything. The pieces on top are the actual spacers for the rack. You can make these as long or short as you like depending on what you want to store.

Step 2: Assemble the Rack Parts

The instructions are probably a little arse-around but, cut your spacing pieces (use your wood size of choice - 70x35, 90x35, 90x45 or whatever you like). The easiest is to use a drop saw, but a hand saw will do, just takes longer. The side supports are made of 12mm ply. I ripped these down on a table saw to the size of the timber I was using (70x35). You can also cut your rack supports and make these as long as you like (within reason). Obviously, the longer they are, the more strain it puts on the rack). I made mine about 400mm long.

Now place the rack spacers (70x35) into the jig. It's important to have the grain of the timber going up the rack (as in the photo) otherwise if you drill into the end grain it may crack or split when you add the weight of materials to the rack..

Apply some construction adhesive to the spacers in a zig-zag fashion. Place the outer ply support on, then drill and screw the support in place. Once one side it done, remove it from the jig and do the same on the other side (only not using the jig). You'll end up with a wall support as in the last photo.

Note 1: If you were only making a light weight rack you could use all ply, even for the rack supports.

Note 2: Leave the construction adhesive to dry for the recommended time (normally 24hrs) to reach full strength. You could mount the rack on the wall and leave to dry for recommended time before loading the rack.

Step 3: Mount Your Rack

I've just mounted this rack to a cross beam support. I later added a couple of pieces of ply at the bottom to help the whole rack from not twisting the structure too much (not shown) as there wasn't anywhere to mount the rack other than the top support. However if you were to mount these to a wall you could just screw through the spacers and mount directly into the structure. You could also use a larger washer on the mounting bolt to help distribute the force over a larger area.

A word of WARNING: Mount the screws directly into beams or structure. DON'T mount into a flimsy substrate such as plasterboard or paneling that isn't secure. The last thing you want is for a rack full of material falling on top of you.

Once mounted, place your 70x35mm rack supports in where you'd like them (they should just slide in, or with a little help). I mounted one up top and one at the bottom (see next picture). The good thing about this system is if you want to store more stuff and the supports aren't long enough, just cut longer ones! (provided you have the rack firmly secured).

Note: I've also added some plywood stops to the end of the supports to help stuff stay on the racks (like the pipes from rolling off - see final picture).

Step 4: The Rack in Action

This is the rack loaded up. It's currently got a few 2mx90mm pipes on top to hold various smaller items (aluminium angles, wood molding). It's also holding up about 10-12 3.6mx90mm cornice, a 4mx6m roll of vinyl flooring and various piece of timber until I can move them somewhere else. It's probably got something in the ball park of over 50kg on it (maybe more).

Hope you enjoyed the brief tutorial and good luck.