Tube Shelves
Having things needing to be shelved, I could have bought shelves. That isn’t that fun though, so I built some configurable, honeycomb style shelves using cardboard tubing.
Materials:
- Quik-tube or similar cardboard tubing
- screws+nuts
- Saw
- Drill
Steps:
- Buy Quik-tubes. You can find these at Home Depot or other building materials stores. They come in a variety of sizes from 8” to 12” in diameter, in 4’ lengths.
- Using a saw cut down the tubes to the desired shelf depth. 9” works well, notebooks being 8 1/2” on a side.
- Lay out the desired shelf configuration flat on the ground in a hexagonal pattern. Mark where the pieces meet for the screw holes on both shelf pieces.
- In order to stay upright when stacked the tube pieces need to firmly attached to each other. Using small screws and nuts allows for easy assembly and later reconfiguration. Drill (or poke) holes in the tubes as marked.
- Assemble flat on the ground using the small
- Erect. Make sure it’s against a wall, because it’s not the most stable.
- Fill with stuff. (Not too much stuff though, see Postscript).
Postscript
A few things I’d do differently.
- Find a sturdier material if possible. The Quik-tubes were a little flimsy, and become more egg shaped on the bottom when you actually put things on the shelves. If that is desired you can just call that a feature. Perhaps PVC pipes.
- Paint it. Do something to make it a little more visually interesting than the Quik-tube logo.