3in and 4in rack building

[Tgwinn]

I'm starting the process of building 3 inch an 4 inch racks with HDPE tubing. Does anyone have some blueprints on building safe racks? Any tips or ideas would be appreciated.

[displayfireworks1]

I'm not sure how many you are going to build. My suggestion is that once you decide what size and tube quantity you go with, make them all exactly the same. For example all 3 inch ones are 10 tubes and x number of inches etc. This way when you make your finale and place them close to each other you can make a tight box on all sides. I am not an expert on this and I have seen a lot of variations. I always liked the Zambelli setup. It all equals 10 from 4 inch up. The 4 inch pipe is a rack of 6. Hence 4 plus 6 =10. The five inch pipe is a rack of 5. The six inch pipe is a rack of 4. For the 3 inch pipe, I have seen more racks of 10 pipes and rarely see a 12 pipe of 3 inch. Places spacers between each mortar if you can.
Maybe someone has some standard dimensions they can post to help you along

[Tgwinn]

I'm all about simplicity. Im probably going to hold off on the 4in racks til next year. Planned on 3in rack of 10. After the first rack was made, I planned on cutting all the lumber to length and attaching A to B. B to C and so on. I've watched alot of your videos and the box makes most sense!
Just trying to feel out some DOs and DONTs on the build.

[joewad]

3 inch HDPE are the easiest. You do not have to "rip" your base or end rails. A 3 inch hdpe fits exactly within a standard 2x4. Other questions to ask your self, are you going to handlight as individual shells or e-fire each (A standard case of 3 inch is normally 72. Will you be using pre-made finale strings which, in 3 inch, usually consists of 60 shells or 6 strings of 10.

I agree with Dave on the rule of 10 but stopped at the 5 inch level. I'm kinda by myself on loading and setup, a couple hernias and 1 aneurysm later you tend to learn. My 6 inch racks are only 3 guns deep as opposed to 4. My 2.5 inch racks are 12 deep (finale strings of 12 used) which is similiar in length and weight of my 10 shot 3 inch rack. My 4 inch racks are 6 deep.

Good luck, think it out, you'll be fine.

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Agree with what Dave & Joewad said. All of our racks are 48" in lengths so that we can mix a tube size if necessary. All of our shows are efired, so building out a square of 4 racks to hand light is not a consideration. Making them a consistent size makes for neater and more efficient truck packing also.
We follow the "rule of 10" also. Our chains are special made to our specs, so the 2 1/2" are in 10's---not 12's.
There are several "how to" videos out there. This is one of the better ones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvyns0TrVws

[joewad]

Agree with what Dave & Joewad said. All of our racks are 48" in lengths so that we can mix a tube size if necessary. All of our shows are efired, so building out a square of 4 racks to hand light is not a consideration. Making them a consistent size makes for neater and more efficient truck packing also.
We follow the "rule of 10" also. Our chains are special made to our specs, so the 2 1/2" are in 10's---not 12's.
There are several "how to" videos out there. This is one of the better ones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvyns0TrVws

Glad you posted that video. I downloaded it when I first started building my first pro racks. Viewed it often. Forgot to provide in my response.

[Tgwinn]

Thanks for the input guys. I've watched that video a few times, probably gonna build pretty close to that.
I'm on the fence, this will be my first year with 1.3 product so I dont know if I will be hand lighting or ematching yet. Most likely ematch.

[Tgwinn]

With the spacers as Dave mentioned. I've seen 3in racks with no spacers, spacers between ever tube, and just one in the middle splitting it 5 and 5. Any reasoning or need?

Also heard you dont need spacers until you get to 4in. Any truth to that??

[PyroJoeNEPA]

Our 3" racks do not use spacers--we have both HDPE & Fiberglass. The fiberglass tends to have a little "wiggle room" depending on how the tops of the guns are constructed--so, we use a piece of plywood for a spacer between gin # 5 & 6 to tighten it up. Anything bigger than 3" has spacers.
Some states have regs on spacer size, but if you are not shooting commercially, it doesn't matter for you. The standard "rule of thumb" for spacers is that the spacer should be at least half of the diameter of the tube.
There are guys out there that will insist you have to have spacers--even for 1.75" 1.4g consumer shells. Well, lots of people stay at motel 6 also!

[joewad]

As Pyrojoe, anything bigger than 3 inch has spacers. And I'll leave a light on for ya.

[IndianaPH]

Tgwinn, I'm in the process of building some 3" through 6" racks. I have a drawing of the 3" rack and drawing of the jig I am making to build them. I should be able to post it this weekend. Like others have said, I am building all of my racks 48" wide to aid in setup. I'm allowing a 3.5 inch x 3.5 inch hole for each tube, so I will need spacers on my racks. I will be using 2x4's on the bottom and ends. I am using 1/2 inch plywood for the sides.

[Tgwinn]

Our 3" racks do not use spacers--we have both HDPE & Fiberglass. The fiberglass tends to have a little "wiggle room" depending on how the tops of the guns are constructed--so, we use a piece of plywood for a spacer between gin # 5 & 6 to tighten it up. Anything bigger than 3" has spacers.
Some states have regs on spacer size, but if you are not shooting commercially, it doesn't matter for you. The standard "rule of thumb" for spacers is that the spacer should be at least half of the diameter of the tube.
There are guys out there that will insist you have to have spacers--even for 1.75" 1.4g consumer shells. Well, lots of people stay at motel 6 also!

Thanks for the information, so when I get to my 4in racks I should have 2in spacers then

[Tgwinn]

IndianaPH, let me know when you post it. Would like to check them out. I'm gonna start cutting pipe for my mortars tonight!!

[IndianaPH]

IndianaPH, let me know when you post it. Would like to check them out. I'm gonna start cutting pipe for my mortars tonight!!

Tgwinn, PM Sent.