Another Flexi Rack

I know that part of the beauty of the flexi rack is that it is supposed to be quick, cheap and easy to build. But this one was going in the living room, so it had to look good. After cutting all the shelves and rounding over the edges with a 1/8" roundover bit in my router, I drilled the holes for the threaded rods. I carefully sanded and filled the edges of the MDF, so there wouldn't be any pinholes. Then used a couple coats of blonde shellac for sanding sealer, and painted with several coats of semi-flat black spray paint.

I wanted the rods to look like they belonged to the rest of the project so I used some string to hang them form my garage door and gave them a couple light coats of black paint as well.

I polished the brass acorn nuts and brass washers for the top, and sprayed them with lacquer to prevent them from tarnishing over time. The rest of the hardware (except the all-thread rods) is stainless steel, and was used as-is. So much for the cheap part of building a flexi... between the brass and the stainless, I spent about $200 on the hardware.

I bought all the hardware form McMaster Carr. They have an excellent selection, and very good customer service. The materials arrived just a couple days after I ordered, the shipment was complete, and well packaged.

What I learned from this project: When you paint all-thread, don't turn it end for end when you use it. I found after I had assembled the rack that the paint had covered the threads better on one side than the other, but I really couldn't see it while I was painting. Unless your looking for it, it doesn't show in the finished product either, but I know I could have done better.