So today I was bored, decided to take a lunch break and go browse around at Lowe's for materials for a couple ideas I had been throwing around my head for a pipe rack.

I wanted it to be cheap, easy to assemble, and expandable/configurable. This is the best solution I came up with, and just as I thought the pipes fit in it perfectly!!

The materials list is pretty easy, two 24" x 8" return air vent grills! A whopping $10 ea! Add to that some 1/2" by aprox 1/2" MDF leftovers out of my scrap bin that I used for offsets to lift the grills off the wall a bit. Some double sided sticky tape to hold them on with and walla! Instant expandable/configurable wall mounted pipe rack, that doesn't look too shabby for any man cave!!

The Materials:

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Here is where I sticky taped the small blocks of MDF scrap to the backs for equally spaced offset from the wall. This give the pipes more room for the bits to slide into.
(I predrilled the holes in the center blocks for the mounting screws to match the holes in the grills):

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Here it is mounted on the wall, no pipes:
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With pipes. I liked them better bowl down. And since I use the softy bits, they fit better with the vent grates facing downwards. If I wasn't using softies, I would recommend facing the vents up to keep the pipes more secure!

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And here is another shot, with my Ben Tolman print, and my baccy cabinet. This is now just to the left of me here at my desk in the cave!

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The slots are actually spaced perfectly to hold pipes! With the vents facing down, the buttons slide in and out easier. They are very secure in there! The best part is I have tons of room left for additions. I can just re-arange how the pipes are positioned and spaced to hold just a few pipes or a bunch!! I think it came out pretty good!
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Very cool idea. Looks like it turned out great. :-)
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VERY INNOVATIVE!

Nice work.
Maybe not my style but gets the wee brain cells active and this is a great idea ..
Thanks for the pics
Tom
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Nice idea. I would worry about the metal scratching the stems though.
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looks like he has the rubber bit protectors on them all.
cool ideal.
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Yup, I'm a clencher and a chewer appearently! Found that out with my first cob! I figured from then on when I got nicer pipes I better use the softies!

The grills are powdercoated though, so it's not really like its bare metal scratching across them if you weren't using the softies. If you weren't using them, I would invert the vents so they were facing upwards, then its just a matter of setting them into the slots. The slots aren't really putting any pressure on the stems, you wouldn't have to force anything into the slots they would just set. I don't think this pressure would be any different then any other rack that you lean or set a pipe into really.

With the softies a bit more pressure is applied to them due to the extra thickness they add. However its on soft rubber instead of the stem itself. Thats why I faced the vent slots downwards, it makes them easier to slide in and out with the softies on.
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big D, did you see the "KC herf" topic yet?
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Neat idea thanks for sharing it.
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Yup, I did! I'm just not sure if I will be able to make it or not.. Getting out away from the house on the weekends can be damn near impossible! I don't want to commit to anything just yet because my wife changes my plans for me pretty regularly! I intend on sneaking away for a couple hours if at all possible, I'm just not sure yet. :|
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