Hi Guys, I recently purchased Glenn Snyder shelves. At the time of my purchase I didnt realize that I will need some of the pieces cut to a specific length. Has anybody tried cutting these shelves on their own? Any success and how? Thanks Guys.
The shelving is described as "extruded aluminum" in their website. Aluminum is a soft metal that can be cut with ordinary woodworking tools. A hacksaw, a backsaw, or a chopsaw with a fine toothed blade will do. Even a sabresaw in a pinch. If you are using a hand tool you should use a carpenter's quick square to align the tool, in order to insure a 90 degree cut. Always use eye protection if you are using power tools. Those are metal particles flying around not just sawdust.
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
It cuts very easy with a hacksaw,i put the shelves in a miter box & cut them.
Having bought about 1,000 feet of used extruded shelving, I will offer some suggestions.
If you should cut your shelving, consider the length of the leftover piece. Will you be able to re-use it elsewhere? Is it too short to be re-used on its own?
Whoever previously owned my shelving (I don't know because I bought it at an auction) had cut several of the pieces in lengths that were maybe perfect for them, but left pieces that were anywhere from 6 to 10 inches long, which were unusable. They were too short to go between the studs in my walls and really looked bad when combined with another piece of shelving. I ended up recycling these extremely short pieces.
On the other side of the equation, many of the cut sections worked out great with my application, as I was able to combine several of the shortened lengths with full size lengths and get total shelf lengths that were just right for my walls (without doing any additional cutting).
The former owner must have run his shelves 6 high, as there were 6 of each of the shortened sections, which again worked out great for my application.
NWL
when cutting extrusions rap the area tobe cut with masking tape so it will make a cleaner cut. mark your cutting place on the tape, youll get less saw chips and a smoother cut, cut slowy,use a fine as tooth blade as can be found,carbide tip perferably.
My "shelving" is just naked 3-foot lengths of O27 track supported by small steel angle brackets. The brackets fit snugly between the rails and the curled up edges of the ties. A small fender washer bolted between the rail flanges and the bracket holds the track firmly. The brackets are screwed to a sheet of 15/32-inch plywood, which is much firmer than gypsum board and makes it unnecessary to match the brackets to the studs.
Bob Nelson
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