Careers
Cantilever Racking
Organize, store, and retrieve long or bulky items like pipes, profiles, lumber, metal sheets, and moldings.
The product
Cantilever Racks: Optimal storage solution for lengthy or oddly shaped loads
The cantilever racking system, available in structural steel and designed for medium- to heavy-duty applications, accommodates long and bulky loads such as metal profiles, plastic pipes, and lumber. Engineered for superior strength, stability, and safety, its multi-level storage offers durability and a scratch-resistant finish with a professional style.
Interlake Mecalux’s cantilever rack features bases and load-bearing arms bolted to structural columns, providing unobstructed front access for easy, direct picking. This strong, versatile, and robust structure adapts to various types of warehouses and products with special dimensions.
Advantages of Cantilever Racking
- Handling of a variety of loads: The system’s parts and accessories can be adjusted to fit different types of long and bulky loads with various weights and sizes.
- Direct access and clear visibility: The racks allow users to easily see and reach stored items right away.
- Easy to assemble: The system is built with modular pieces, making it quick and simple to put together. Additional sections can also be added if needed in the future.
- Space optimization: Racks can be installed on mobile bases to create a high-density system, which saves space while still allowing direct access to each item.
- Safety features: Cantilever storage racks include vertical bracing and stops for stability and strength.
The cantilever racks are the only ones that can store our 13-to-23-foot-long profiles
Cantilever Rack applications
For companies that store pipes, profiles, and other types of long and unwieldy loads
Cantilever racking creates versatile structures that perfectly adapt to store a wide variety of goods with special dimensions. Therefore, cantilever racks are essential in multiple logistics and production centers.
Warehouses with extra-long products
Cantilever racking ensures the optimal storage of long loads such as pipes, profiles, and moldings.
Storage for non-palletized products
Warehouse cantilever racks provide an optimal solution for storing loads with dimensions that are unsuitable for palletizing, such as wooden boards and steel sheets.
Storage of bulky, non-uniform loads
Cantilever rack systems adapt to the storage of unwieldy merchandise of different weights and sizes.
Cantilever racking configurations
Highly versatile solution for diverse storage needs
Cantilever storage racks offer various configurations to meet the needs of different warehouses. Options range from single- and double-sided units to mobile systems designed for high-density storage.
Single-sided cantilever rack
Racking with access from one side only. This option is typically installed along a wall to maximize available space.
Double-sided cantilever rack
Racking units that allow storage from both sides of the column. These types of cantilever structures are used in the intermediate aisles of a rack block.
Mobile cantilever rack
Cantilever racks can be installed on motorized mobile bases, increasing storage capacity without requiring additional floor space. The bases move along rails embedded in the floor.
Case studies
The perfect solution for storing extra-long profiles
Gaviota, a manufacturer of blinds and awnings, has equipped its warehouse with cantilever, pallet and drive-in racks. Goods are classified based on various criteria; thus, for example, extra-long profiles are stored on cantilever racks. Read more
Giménez Ganga expands its storage capacity by 48%
Giménez Ganga, a leading manufacturer of contemporary solar protection solutions and ceiling coverings, has modernized its logistics center in Sax, Spain. The company has installed mobile cantilever racks to optimize its warehouse space without losing direct access to the goods. Read more
Mecalux installs a special mobile cantilever rack solution for metallic profiles in Tiverton (UK)
Example of Movirack Cantilever for Hepco Motion’s Warehouses designed by Interlake Mecalux and other examples of storage systems. Read more
Cantilever Racking components
Interlake Mecalux cantilever racks are manufactured from structural components. This provides them with high capacity for loads and resistance to deformations due to impacts.
The basic components of the cantilever storage system include columns, bases, bracing (to stiffen the structure and ensure its stability), and the cantilever arms that bear the loads.
The cantilever rack incorporates a series of tried-and-tested components that strengthen the structural assembly’s sturdiness and reliability. This ensures the physical integrity of warehouse associates and safeguards stored merchandise.
Columns
Each column model features punched holes for easy arm placement at 4-inch intervals. For base connections, six or eight holes spaced every 2" can be used. Welded tabs will allow the connection of horizontal and X-bracing. This design allows for flexible configuration and secure assembly.
Bases
Constructed from the same structural profile as the columns, the base features a welded plate that facilitates connection to the column using either six or eight bolts. When installed, it becomes the first loading level.
Arms
These structural profiles support stored goods. They are designed with a 2° upward slope and welded to a connection plate that secures the arms to the cantilever column using four bolts.
Horizontal and X-bracing
Horizontal and diagonal bracing positioned within the vertical plane of the racking to prevent the columns from buckling or leaning. Horizontal cross-bracing must be installed in all bays within the same unit, while diagonal X-bracing is added to the bays as determined by the standard design or based on seismic calculations.
Lateral guides for forklifts
Rails installed in the aisles to safely delineate the circulation of side loading forklifts, which are commonly used with cantilever racking.
Cantilever Racks accessories
Accessories to enhance the versatility of cantilever storage racks
Arm and base stops
Interlake Mecalux’s cantilever arms and bases are pre-drilled to facilitate the installation of a pipe stop holder and rod, which act as stoppers to prevent loads from rolling off the cantilever rack.
Continuous decking
Panels mounted on cantilever arms create a continuous, gap-free shelving system that accommodates boxes, packages, and pallets of various sizes.
Catalogs
FAQs
Cantilever racking systems, also known as cantilever pipe racks or cantilever lumber racks, are specialized storage solutions designed for handling long and bulky items. Built with durable columns, bases, and cantilever arms, these racks provide strong support for heavy loads. They are ideal for storing materials such as pipes, tubes, lumber, and sheet metal, as well as larger, awkward items like automotive and aircraft parts.
A cantilever is a structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. In construction and engineering, it is commonly used in bridges, balconies, and shelves, where one side is anchored firmly to a vertical support while the other side projects outward without any additional support. Cantilevers are also used in rack systems, especially in warehouses for storing long, bulky items like pipes, lumber, or metal bars.
A cantilever rack is a structure designed for storing and handling a wide range of long or odd-sized loads. These include metal pipes and profiles, plastic tubes, wooden boards, and sheet metal.
Yes, by installing continuous shelves, made of metal or wood, on the cantilever arms. This design provides a stable surface capable of supporting pallets of different dimensions, as well as boxes and containers of varying sizes.
To determine the maximum cantilever rack capacity, several factors need to be considered: the load’s length, the number of arms supporting it, the number of storage levels, and the height of the cantilever columns. Interlake Mecalux’s heavy-duty cantilever racks can hold up to 8,300 lb on a 24" arm, while the columns can support up to 22,500 lb per side when using 24" arms evenly spaced along the column height.
Interlake Mecalux’s cantilever storage racks offer column heights ranging from a minimum of 8 feet to a maximum of 38 feet, with standard height increments available in 2-foot intervals.
Interlake Mecalux’s cantilever shelving solution offers base and arm lengths ranging from a minimum of 2 feet to a maximum of 6 feet, with standard length increments available in 1-foot intervals.
Interlake Mecalux’s cantilever racking solution offers horizontal and X-bracing widths ranging from a minimum of 2 feet to a maximum of 8 feet, with standard width increments available in 6-inch intervals.
To properly design the arrangement of arms and columns in cantilever systems, it is important to account for factors such as the size, weight, and rigidity of the goods, the handling equipment used, and allowable tolerances. Each load must be supported by a minimum of two arms, and goods may extend beyond the arms by up to 50% of the horizontal distance between them. This ensures stable support and even load distribution.
Goods are typically stored and retrieved using forklifts, particularly side loaders, which are designed to handle long or irregularly shaped loads by lifting and transporting them laterally. When placing loads on the cantilever arms, it is crucial to ensure they are properly centered to prevent any contact between the forks and the arms. For heavier loads stored in heavy-duty cantilever racks, larger handling equipment, such as overhead cranes, may be used to accommodate the weight and ensure safe material handling.
Yes, combining cantilever racks with Interlake Mecalux’s Movirack mobile bases allows the system to increase its density while maintaining high selectivity.
Mobile cantilever racks can be installed in various types of facilities. The assembly process involves embedding rails into the floor, allowing the bases to move smoothly along these tracks.
Up to 16 mobile bases can be installed consecutively. To expand the storage system, a fixed cantilever rack must be set up at one end; from there, an additional set of 16 bases can be incorporated.
Ask an expert