DIY: 250 Game NES Storage Rack for 25 bucks

[camarotuner]

This is awesome. Go to home depot (or lowes, or whereever). You need 3 8 foot long 1" by 6" pieces of no. 2 pine. You also need a 4' x 2' piece of backing material. I use caulk board but whatever you want to use, go for it. Just box the backing piece (2 foot sections on ends, 46 inch sections down the middle). You'll need 3 more 46 inch sections for the shelves. Frame it up square and space them 5 inches apart. NES games fit perfectly sideways, each shelf holds about 63ish game carts for a total of just about 250 carts.

If you're a Genesis guy, replace the 1" x 6" with 1" x 4" and space them closer and the rack holds about 425 Genesis carts. Haven't tried it for anything else yet but due to the low cost of 1x4's and 1x6's plus the pre-made 4x2 backing pieces this is a basic design you can duplicate quickly and have them all look like they belong together. I haven't done the math exactly but one of these would hold several hundred atari/intellivision/coleco carts also.

[Joe West]

show us a pic of the finished storage rack.............................

[super nes]

Ya if you wouldnt mind showing a pick of it i would really like to see it.

[Baloo]

Didn't Sega make a Sega Genesis shelf that held like 25 games?

[tubeway]

Yeah, but... but... can't you just buy a cheap media shelf for 25 bucks that would hold the same amount? Granted, it probably wouldn't be quite as sturdy, nor would you get the same feeling of accomplishment after constructing it....

[skaar]

I'd like to see a pic or two myself.

[Superman]

Sounds useful and sturdy! It also sounds like you could probably bolt it to a wall and make it solid.

[Rev. Link]

I'll add to the pic requests.

I wonder if I could modify it to hold more..... My NES collection is getting out of hand.

[camarotuner]

OK can anyone tell me how to put a picture into a thread? I use photobucket if that helps. Actually I'd love to know this period. Would love to add pictures to my posts in the "finds" thread every month.

Oh and to the can it be expanded, yes and no. Yeah hell I could build one of these that would store the entire US library all on one and wall mount it. It'd look absolutely sick. But it'd cost you more than building 3 of these shelves, which would also hold the US library (or close enough). I just like this design because it's easy, and really cheap since the size of the materials are lower cost than others.

[Rev. Link]

Photobucket should have the image code right there under each thumbnail in your list. Just copy and paste it into a post here.

[camarotuner]

Picture A shows the whole shelf. Picture B shows how the carts fit. LMK what you think.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu277/camarotuner13/Picture002.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu277/camarotuner13/Picture001.jpg

[Hitman Tyler]

That looks pretty sweet... :) :) Job well done.
Now all you need the Nintendo Neon Light Display and you really in business!

[camarotuner]

I was actually given one of those neon Nintendo lights, I hated it. It generated a LOT of heat when on. I could have just left it on the wall not lite but eventually I'll have a "game room" to setup and then I'll worry about how to decorate. Right now, I just wanted somewhere to put my NES games (my primary focus on collecting). Now granted, I'm at 14 games and built a case for 250, but hell gotta start somewhere.

Plus I build things for a living, it's kinda in my blood and I really do enjoy it. Though if that was for a customer I'd have used better wood and used a planer to remove those gaps at the ends.

[Flack]

Do you think those pine pieces will bow in the middle due to the weight? I built some DVD shelves using basically the same technique and they are starting to sag in the middle a bit.

[skaar]

I've got an 11 x 12' room about to become available in my house I'm considering turning into a Room 'o Doom/den. This gives me ideas, thanks for sharing. How are you mounting them to the wall - is that a hook at the top or are they screwed on there?

[carlcarlson]

I built two vertical CD style shelves for my NES games. They are four feet high and I think one foot across (enough for two columns with one piece of wood between). I put half inch long bits of dowel down the sides as pegs for the games to sit on. Having vertical shelves saves on space and the dowels allow each game to sit on their own so I can remove one without any problems.

[camarotuner]

1 inch thick pine maxed at 48 inches across will hold the weight of the games that will be set onto it without bowing IF the shelf is properly attached to the backing material evenly across. Without the support of the backing material, it'd eventually bow. If you want to be really sure about the whole thing, 1/4 inch backing would give you a significantly higher crush weight than the piece I'm using.

As for mounting, anchors. I prefer the spring type. Only caveat, if your drywall sucks, it'll rip right out. Better would be using clips (that I'm using, triangle type) they mount to the back of the shelf with standard screws. Then just mount those to the wall on the existing studs.

As for doing a whole room, man that'd be fun. You could either run a bunch of these, seperated for differant systems, and built with that sizing in mind. A really cool one would be to do one whole wall as a shelving unit. That however, would be very tricky and kill the resale value because honestly, who the hell would want a whole wall of shelving except us nuts.

Anyone has any specific questions, feel free to PM me. I love gaming, my NES is like a family member, but building is in the blood.

Oh and anyone wanting these to be really sweet, use better wood. I built this to prove you could build pretty nice shelving without spending a fortune (25 bucks). If you wanted to do this really high class like, just buy better stuff.

[emceelokey]

How is that hanging up on your wall? Is it just those three hooks? If you fill that up the game may be too heavy for those to support it.

[camarotuner]

The hooks are attached to d-rings which are drilled into the studs.

[Joe West]

nice looking shelf...............

[Rev. Link]

Yeah, I dig that a lot. I can totally see the potential in it if you wanted to sand it up real nice and slap some kind of stain/paint on there. Kudos.

[Goodwill Hunter]

Do you think those pine pieces will bow in the middle due to the weight? I built some DVD shelves using basically the same technique and they are starting to sag in the middle a bit.

As was said previously, making the shelving permanent and nailing it to the backing board is the key to preventing bowing. I made floor-to-ceiling shelving units similar to these about 5 years ago, and there is no noticeable sagging as of today:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38837

I also included a detailed construction guide if anyone was looking for some additional help in building their own custom made shelving units.

Rich

[skaar]

As was said previously, making the shelving permanent and nailing it to the backing board is the key to preventing bowing. I made floor-to-ceiling shelving units similar to these about 5 years ago, and there is no noticeable sagging as of today:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38837

I also included a detailed construction guide if anyone was looking for some additional help in building their own custom made shelving units.

Rich

I remembered your posts and your thread - thanks for relinking to that. Still happy with them or would you do anything different if you could do them again from scratch?

[Goodwill Hunter]

I remembered your posts and your thread - thanks for relinking to that. Still happy with them or would you do anything different if you could do them again from scratch?

I would have attached the bottom boards at more of an angle, so they would more forcefully press the tops of the units against the walls. On the units where I have a lot of figures and crap on the extended shelves, they start to lean away from the walls, and I have had to anchor a few to the walls to steady them. Other than that, no problems at all.

Rich

[NES_Rules]

Custom built shelves are definitely the way to go in the long run. I've made a couple myself, but I went the extra cheap mile and used recycled wood for mine.
This was the first one I built, the vertical pieces were left over from some other project and the horizontal pieces came from a sawmill demonstration at the county fair (they threw the boards away and I snatched them up).
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9397.jpg


This was my second shelf, obviously much bigger and has adjustable shelves. The 2" pieces are actually from waterbed frames I picked up in the trash, the horizontal pieces are scrap pieces from other projects and from the backing material.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/DSCN9866.jpg

Total cost for both projects was like $20 for the screws and backing material on the second shelf.

[kainemaxwell]

Quite the impressive collection and shelving!

[andrew_77751]

the custom shelves are amazing.