Just an update on my attempts to build can racks using hot melt glue:

Even though I have LOTS of cardboard boxes in my apartment, only a couple of them would unfold to form a single large-enough piece that I could use, and even these left large pieces that were too big to throw away but not really big enough to do anything else with them. In addition, I could not get the cardboard to fold properly, meaning none of the pieces really fit well together. If I used thinner cardboard, things might be different, but I was using what I had on hand.

When putting the scrap pieces on my recycle pile, though, I realized I had TONS of another material: chipboard. That's the type of cardboard that's used to make cereal boxes, Kleenex boxes, etc. It's all been building up over winter, because I haven't been able to haul them off to the recycling center with all the snow. (I don't have enough dogs to pull the sled, and the cats just glare at me when I try to harness them.) I have successfully made four racks out of old cereal boxes. Here are some tips (you can use any kind of chipboard; I'm making one out of all the Kleenex boxes I saved over the winter; I'm just saying "cereal box" for simplicity):

1. Start by making templates. Tracing the patterns onto the cardboard goes a lot faster than measuring with a ruler and hoping everything is square.

2. When you unfold the cereal boxes, you'll find a lot of folds and a lot of end pieces that aren't really square. Not to worry. This is what will make the cardboard stronger. For example, when I placed my "side" template on the unfolded cereal box, I placed it so it included the bottom and side flap, the fold for those flaps, and the gap between the two. After cutting the piece out, I took some of the chipboard left over from making the template; placed it over the can rack side so it covered the space between the flaps and as much of the fold as possible, and hot glued the piece to the can rack side. This stiffened the can rack side as well as covered that space between the flaps. This patched side will become the outside of your can rack.

3. Hot glue large pieces to the other elements that you cut out in order to strengthen them and keep them from "flapping".

4. Mark the places on both insides of the can rack sides, where you will be gluding shelves. This will make the gluing process MUCH easier and faster.

5. I found it easier to start by gluing the lower shelf to one of the sides first. Next, glue the middle shelf, then the back, then the other side. My apartment's built-in pantry shelves are too short to allow me to put in the upper shelf; however, that is something easily added later.

6. Make sure the front part of the lower shelf (as well as the front part of the center shelf) meets up to the front of the assembly. This will make it easier to glue the shelves to the fronts covers (the "Upper Front" and "Lower Front"), increasing the stability of the unit.

7. Painting the assembled can racks with a latex paint will both increase the strength of the unit significantly, and will also cover all the logos and things you might not want people to see about your eating habits, esp. when you're bringing a new girlfriend to your place for the first time. Sure, the fact that you're sensible enough to be prepping and organized enough to be rotating your canned goods are both pluses ("Hey, maybe I WON'T have to do his checkbook for him!"), but do you really want her to see how many "Count Chocula" boxes you've accquired? ("Those? No, no,... those came from ... the neighbor. Yeah. They're from the neighbor's kids. It's a crime what she lets them eat, really.")

8. A correction to the sizes I put in my earlier post: Lower Shelf -- 4 5/8 x 10 1/8.

9. Also, to make the "Can Pull Out Notch", at the front of the side measure 1.5" and 3.5"; mark. Measure and make a line 1" in from the front, and then measure and mark 2" and 3" along that line. Mark the angled lines from 1.5" to 2"; then from 3.5" to 3", and cut out along those lines.

Now that I'm practiced, and using the templates, from start to finish takes a little over two hours to assemble a can rack. Painting takes about 45 minutes per coat; two coats minimum. I'm slowly but surely getting rid of all the chipboard that I've been accumulating, as well as using up those cans of latex paint that I've been meaning to throw out all these years.

got this link from the krazy coupon lady and i LOVE this idea. we are moving and i have a ton of cardboard laying around. i just fnished asking my brother in law where i could take all this cardboard to get rid of it. i think i'm going to be making me, my mom, my sister, and my brother some of these. thank you so very much for the tutorial.

OK. Phew! I finished up the first one, using the original directions. As I was gluing the last piece on, I realized that it was going to be too long to fit on my pantry shelf! (TFB, I'm using it anyway.) But that gave me the push I needed to get another one done ASAP. I did some quick calculations if anyone wants to duplicate my efforts. This is for the vegetable can bin; all measurements are in inches:

Sides -- 10 x 10 (2 needed)
Back -- 6 1/8 x 10 (1) (I made this an inch larger to give more area for gluing to the sides)
Upper and Center Shelves -- 4 5/8 x 6 3/4
Lower Shelf -- 4 5/8 x 10
Upper Front -- 3 3/4 x 6 7/8
Lower Front -- 1 1/4 x 6 7/8
Angle ("wood block" -- I used a strip of cardboard) -- 1 1/2 x 4 5/8

All the lengths A through E are the same. All the construction instructions are the same. Here are a few caveats when working with hot glue:

1. Keep your cats away from the hot melted glue. It's hard to get out of their fur, the fur clogs up the nozzle, and you'll get dirty looks and demands for extra treats and petting (once they're over being p*ssed at you...)

2. Mark **everything** out ahead of time. When I was using the white glue, I could move things like the shelves around to get things lined up. Hot glue sets within 30 seconds. You need to get it right the first time. I had to rip out one side of a shelf because I put in one side higher than the other. If I had marked BOTH sides, that wouldn't have happened.

3. Did I mention the cats?

4. My glue gun is a "mini" kind. It still wasn't small enough to get inside the box easily. And when I had to put in a new glue stick, forget it. I used those times to seal up the exterior exposed edges, as noted in the instructions.

5. Be careful of "glopping". I had some problems where the cans wouldn't always roll through. Turns out a spot of glue was in the way.

6. From starting to cut the cardboard to final gluing (not counting dinner breaks and cat emergencies) it took about 3 hours. I'll paint them tomorrow, and start putting them to use. The small one will hold 9 cans. All it cost is time and a bunch of glue sticks. And a number of cat treats.

7. Be careful using hot glue around your cats. Did I mention that already?

I'm trying to make one this weekend. While waiting for this last batch of glue to dry I slapped myself: This is what a hot glue gun is made for!

So I'll be making another one in a couple of days, using the hot melt glue. I'll LYK how it works.

I ran across your site last week and saw this tutorial. (loved the site!!) I printed the pdf file and then went on to other things. I had promptings throughout the week to get busy and make some rotation racks. Sooo, today was the day. I made 3 different racks, using the white boxes in which our #10 canned foodstorage comes, and e6000 glue. They turned out great. Can I teach the procedure of making this Rotation Rack as a RS Activity?everyone can and should make at least one, but they get easier as you go. Thanks so much, Starr Christie

You can definitely teach this at a RS activity! I am planning to do the same thing next month :)

I'm forwarding this to my husband's honey do list.

can you tell me what you mean by a quick-drying tacky or gel type of glue. I'm not very familiar with glues...a brand name would be so helpful. Thanks. Also, how have these held up for you long term? any changes you would suggest? Thanks

Go to a hardware store and look in the section for caulk. It will look like a tube of caulk but be glue instead. My hubby is the one who does most of this so I don't know the exact brands or anything. My shelves have held up well, but I have heard people say if you paint them they will be even stronger.

So, I found this site because my cousin was talking about how she is going to work on her food storage/preparedness and so I came to check it out. To my surprise, when I watched the video of Jodi's new can rotater, I found "hey, I know that girl". Hi Jodi, it's Hockey Scott's wife Melissa. So glad to have stumbled onto your website (what a happy random coincidence) and I'm going to add you to my links because you gals have a great thing here. ps - I think my co-workers all think I'm an idiot because I just made such a big deal about this new found connection and made them all watch the video so I could declaim "I know her"

Hey Melissa, that is so funny! I'm glad you find our site :) If you want to impress your friends even more, we were just on Studio 5 today, check it out! http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=8253097 hehe.

I am having trouble disciphering the pdf file. On the "sides" row, what is "F 9 144)&B10X11 1/2" mean? What do the "F" and "B" stand for? I am a little slow I guess . . .

I have to admit, my husband deciphered this for me. But I think it is the front and back measurements.

Sides and back have different rows . . . Hmmm . . . I don't know why this is so hard to click in my brain! I used your measurements for the soup can rack that you made. (THANK YOU BTW) Those turned out great! But then I went back to the chart to try to make a couple of the large fruit can sized racks and can't figure out the sides row. Has your husband made any of those for you? Maybe I can beg you for the measurements for those? :) This is SUCH a great idea--and I have TONS of cardboard to make these all day long! I want to get my pantry nice and stocked full of these!

Here is a link to a more robust solution:
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-...

How many cans can these things hold. I just buy canned food by the cases at Winco foods. And teh stack the newest case under the others. I would like to see these built on a scale that would hold enough cans for 3 months food storage.

Mine holds 12 soup cans. You could modify it to be a little longer and allow it to hold a few more cans. The versions for larger cans would hold less cans.

Great idea. We are planning a class in Relieft Society to teach the sisters how to make them. Had a great repsones to this. Here in Canada it is to expensive to have rotating shelving shipped. Thanks again

I did cut the slots and slid the cardboard shelves, worked great. Used duct tape and works perfectly, make sure you secure the shelves you are sliding with the tape as well. And the best part is you don't have to wait for anything to dry! THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS! it made may day!

This is the coolest thing ever!!! I can't wait to make one! Thank you so much for everything.

The paint makes the whole thing more sturdy...think about a roller brush that you didn't remove last time you painted. It's not going to budge! Although all white boxes are prettier there is function behind painting them. Great blog.

You and your husband have officially rocked my face off!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to figure this out for us, and documenting it so well. As I've mentioned before, I'm such a visual learner, and this is perfect for me. I can't wait to give it a try. And now all I have to do is figure out another way to spend all that money I was planning on one day spending to buy racks... Thanks again Jodi. You're so sweet.

for those who are less handy with the glue - I made a mocked up version using tape. I used a strong strapping tape that worked just fine.

I would suggest drawing a mockup of the placement on the inside of the carboard, to make sure you get the placement right.

Another suggestion would be to insert toothpicks through the sides and into the cardboard shelves to hold it in position as it dries.

I don't see the little piece of wood in your can rack that it shows in the original instructions. Can you just forget that? Being not so handy, I was wondering how I'd get the pieces of wood. Now, cardboard, I have. I want some of these!!! Thank you for the instructions.

dicity

Thanks for sharing, I been wanting some of those fancy racks, but just haven't brought myself to spending all that money for them, I have even ask my husband to make me some, well how I have a pattern, maybe I could do it, or I'll just hand it to him and say go for it....Thanks

I've wanted to do that in my pantry since we built it, but hubby is to busy so this is something I can do myself.
Great idea using cardboard.

Joanna, the first one took about 3-4 hours because we were trying to decipher the plans, document the process, take pictures, etc. Plus we didn't have the right kind of glue. For the next ones my husband is going to make a template and use that to cut out all of the pieces at once. He thinks he can whip them together in just a few minutes!

ps. How long did it take you to build the first one?

For all of you that need cardboard, come on over to my house! :D We have so many boxes in our basement (I swear it's a fire hazard), that I could probably set up a side business making these. @@

I wonder if instead of just gluing the shelves inside, you could cut slots into the sides, make the shelves just slightly wider, and slide the shelves into the slots in the sides. Hmmm.... I have enough cardboard, I should try it that way.

Great post! My husband has made two for me and I'm patiently waiting for more. I need to call a store and get more cardboard though. Great photos. Y'all did it slightly different than we did, I'll have to show my husband so he can see if he wants to adjust how we did it.

Thanks again!

I'm going to be asking Jodi's husband to make these for me too... Grandma Lori, maybe you should too

It looks kinda hard to do cold turkey. I wish someone would just make me some. Some of us aren't married to handy guys-just handsome.

Try TheCanOrganizer.com they are cheap and work great!

Yes guys the best part is it truly is free (except for buying some glue if you don't have any good glue on hand). I just couldn't justify buying those expensive racks but I wanted to be able to rotate through them easily. And a big wooden shelf seemed like a pain as well. This was EASY!

This rack holds 12 soup cans. My pantry can actually fit a little longer of a rack so my husband is going to make more for me that are a little longer and would hold one more can per row so up to 15 soup cans. Obviously the racks for bigger cans would hold less. He's going to make me those too so I'll update as we get them done (he is going to be a busy man, lol, but he's been being really sweet about it)

I too thought that you used wood and then I noticed it was cardboard. Way to be resourceful. I know when I go to costco I always end up with a few boxes. Now I know what to do with them. Just one question. How many cans does it hold?

Tell your hubby he ROCKS!!! That is sooo cool. When I first saw it and you said it was free .. I was like yeah, you had to buy the wood, THEN I saw you made it out of cardboard - FANTASTIC! :-) Just may have to try this sometime! :-D

WOW!!!!!thank you for sharing these idea I love it!!!!

know I will put my husband to do that for me jajaj!!! love it love it!!!!!

Wow! what a great idea!! I have some cardboard and will be using it for my new rack. Thanks for sharing with us.

Jodi - very cool. Tell your hubby that I am impressed (like he cares :>)

All I can say is you made a video at 2 am. I am so too old for that!

Thank you for this great idea! I am going to find some cardboard this week and make a few! Thanks again!!! Have a great week!

totally AMAZING!!! Thanks for the detailed instructions. It really helps to see the pictures, it looks doable.