Paint (or something) on flexi rack rods?

[HyKlas]

Finished the stand yesterday so I'll grab a few things from work. We have lots of wire loom and stuff like that. Whatever I end up with, it's going to have to be split. I'm not levelling this again unless I have to.

 

[longgone]

at the plumbing section of a hardware store they have sponge foam insulation hose. It's for water pipes. It comes in many diameters. It is slit along the length so that you could apply it to a finished rack. Just cut to length. It's really inexpensive.

 

[spooon]

I got some vinyl tubing to use as 'inserts' for between the rod and the wooden shelf. I was originally going to cut pieces of it to also use for covering up the threaded rod between the shelves. The paint I bought didn't work out though--it never dries on the tubing. But I ended up liking the bare rods so I left it at that.

I like the tubing idea though, so if I were set on covering the rods I'd either try a different paint or get some vinyl wrap for them.

 

[Descartridge]

Hy, if you paint the threads, you can forget about flexibility.
Also, adjusting them up or down is less painful if you use wire brush wheel chucked up in a portable drill. That is what I did adjusting 64 bolts in an 8 shelf flexirack.

 

[Onebean]

Black oxide might be a good solution. Unfortunately, you would have to take the rack apart. Industrial coating places apply black oxide, and it looks pretty nice. It's super thin, so you would retain the ability to adjust or add shelves in the future. It's pretty scratch resistant too. We have black oxide applied to quite a bit of stuff at my work, and it's not horribly expensive.

Onebean

 

[Old Guy8]

I have no experiece with it. Gun blueing. I worked with a guy who made rifles and muskets. Believe blueing can be brushed on. Could be wrong. Just noticed I'm eight months late to be of help.

 

[VolvoHeretic]

I would build 'U' shaped pieces wood that just slide over the threaded rod and nuts.

 

[Poultrygeist]

A cheap option is to cover the threaded rods with PVC. You can spray it black or some PVC even comes in black. You could also use smaller threaded rods and with everything bolted down you'd have even greater stability.

The original Flexi speaker stands used large PVC pipes.

 

[Kylejones89]

I agree with the general consensus. Paint will chip regardless of what you put on if you ever plan on adjusting them. If you do paint them, Sand blast, then epoxy prime them before paint. Then it will be durable and stick for decades.
I would go with a forced oxidation ( bluing, blackening)if I wanted the easiest method that left the threads exposed.

 

[Old Guy8]

I do not think there is much chance that painted threads are going to pass through the nut. Given if class 2 or 2A thread tolerances and paint is not going to evenly coat threads.
Black oxide or blueing finishes are options.

 

[4thChoice]

Using black oxide thread rods to make my rack with. Still a work in progress, so no pics yet.

 

[John James]

Using black oxide thread rods to make my rack with. Still a work in progress, so no pics yet.

 

[BillWojo]

I built mine with 5/8 black oxide rods and hardware. It's 3 wide and 42" tall. The shelves are from a commercial flexi rack manufacture, my buddy picked up 4 units with 3 shelves each but they were low. I traded some stuff for them and just purchased new rod cut to length from McMaster Carr. The shelves are staggered, with the center section being lower. Looks pretty cool.
I'll see if I can edit this with a cell phone pic.

BillWojo

 

[BillWojo]

Ok, got a pic. Yea, it's a mess on that rack. The center shelf on top holds my Mac MC40 monoblocks and you can see I have way to much gear. A work in progress.

BillWojo

 

[avionic]

Convoluted wire loom tubing.

 

[SounderMN]

I know this is an old thread. But I stumbled on it and thought I'd share what I did. I went to the hardware store and bought a chrome shower curtain rod, cut it to length (this was tough, so I paid the hardware store like $10 to cut it for me on their metal chop saw) and slipped it over the rods. It looks much better than bare threaded rods. Only issue is that it's not very adjustable. They need to be pretty close to the same length to get level. So, for future readers who stumble on this thread, here is a pic. It's an old pic, so equipment has changed, but you get the idea.

 

[bimasta]

at the plumbing section of a hardware store they have sponge foam insulation hose. It's for water pipes. It comes in many diameters. It is slit along the length so that you could apply it to a finished rack. Just cut to length. It's really inexpensive.

I used this idea. Looks good, can be removed in two seconds when necessary, and cheap enough to throw away if you change height and need longer pieces. Many diameters available. And it doesn't look like foam unless you're looking very up close. Some have printing on the outside, avoid those obviously. Also has many other uses around the house you won't even think of until you do. I use it on the sharp front edge of my laptop to cushion my wrists, for example.

And two lengths under a turntable provide very effective isolation — or any other component, though power amps may be too heavy. Costs almost nothing compared to other isolation devices.

'U' shaped pieces wood that just slide over the threaded rod and nuts.

A fine option aesthetically. Thin MDF or masonite is unobtrusive; sprayed black it kind of disappears — while a nice veneer (easy to apply to such small pieces) can give the entire rack the look of fine cabinetry.

 

[motorstereo]

I used this idea. Looks good, can be removed in two seconds when necessary, and cheap enough to throw away if you change height and need longer pieces. Many diameters available. And it doesn't look like foam unless you're looking very up close. Some have printing on the outside, avoid those obviously. Also has many other uses around the house you won't even think of until you do. I use it on the sharp front edge of my laptop to cushion my wrists, for example.

And two lengths under a turntable provide very effective isolation — or any other component, though power amps may be too heavy. Costs almost nothing compared to other isolation devices.

I also used this method and even gave mine a coat of black spray paint. Another plus for the foam is you don't have to worry about the foam scratching the electronics when moving gear around to change interconnects.

 

[dpcornell]

This guy did a fabulous job using brush on gun blue: https://imgur.com/gallery/LjjYc

 

[BillWojo]

I purchased mine from McMaster-Carr after shopping around as they had the best price AND they have it already black oxided. Looks great.

BillWojo